Ricey Retires

[Ciarrai_thuaidh]

He was a briliiant man-marker at his peak to be fair, tight, good on the ball, moved it quickly etc. Selfless team player.
He was also filthy though, some of the incidents he was involved in, dropping knees on McEntee, spitting etc...are just not on and Tyrone fans know it I'm sure. Seemed quite unhinged at times to be honest. This year as Tyrone were warming up in Killarney, he came over to the terrace side and started having verbals with a fan for example. 

[imtommygunn]

Putting him back to corner back in 03 was possibly oneof harte's best ever moves imo.

Wasn't really a corner back but had the nastiness to do a good enough job. Tyrone have always struggled for corner backs since fay devlin and he was key to helping this.

Hard to like him but 3 all irelands and being a key player in each one not to be sniffed at.

Always did wonder what he was saying to corner forwards...

[moysider]

Putting him back to corner back in 03 was possibly oneof harte's best ever moves imo.

Wasn't really a corner back but had the nastiness to do a good enough job. Tyrone have always struggled for corner backs since fay devlin and he was key to helping this.

Hard to like him but 3 all irelands and being a key player in each one not to be sniffed at.

Always did wonder what he was saying to corner forwards...

You know well what he was saying.

[Ciarrai_thuaidh]

Putting him back to corner back in 03 was possibly oneof harte's best ever moves imo.

Wasn't really a corner back but had the nastiness to do a good enough job. Tyrone have always struggled for corner backs since fay devlin and he was key to helping this.

Hard to like him but 3 all irelands and being a key player in each one not to be sniffed at.

Always did wonder what he was saying to corner forwards...

You know well what he was saying.

Rumour has it he once asked Conor Mortimer for his number in the middle of a game...the Mort went giddy with excitement and never touched the ball for the rest of the game.

[BennyHarp]

And you seem such a classy bloke yourself Stew!

[trileacman]

A superb player, who could run rings around anyone during the glory years. Every county had their villians and Ricey was ours. Not that he ever did anything too bad, just people were looking for excuses to crucify him. The McEntee incident was terrible though.

He was your villain, fair enough, we had Francie as our's, the difference in the two men was night and day, one was hard as nails and uncompromising, the other was a slabber cheap shot artist who was an ugly human being on and off the field.

I have posted my details on here when challenged before so i won't do it again, I will say this though, I hope that tr**p gets whats coming to him and to me he, along with mcmenamin, is one of the biggest scumbags ever to play gaelic football at ANY level, never mind senior!

If you were so indifferent to doing it before then why would it be so hard to do it again?

[trileacman]

He was a briliiant man-marker at his peak to be fair, tight, good on the ball, moved it quickly etc. Selfless team player.
He was also filthy though, some of the incidents he was involved in, dropping knees on McEntee, spitting etc...are just not on and Tyrone fans know it I'm sure. Seemed quite unhinged at times to be honest. This year as Tyrone were warming up in Killarney, he came over to the terrace side and started having verbals with a fan for example. 

He engaged with some of the darker arts of the game but then so does Glavin, Mark McHugh, Ger Brennan and Aidan O'Mahoney. If you categorise one of them as filthy then you have to be fair and realise what some other players get up to is equally as abhorrent to you.

[Íseal agus crua isteach a]

And you seem such a classy bloke yourself Stew!

Was thinking the same myself.

I heard ricey puts a lot of hard work into underage teams. That should never be under estimated. Any way, most Tyrone people that I've met that knows him say he's a wild nice fella. Don't know him personally but I just loved the way he played during a game.  He could just pop up any where grab a point, then head full of the pipe back down the field to his position. Some boy. I will always remember in the 2005 final after big Thomas O Se grabbed and smashed Kerry's second goal and looked like they would turn the game a round. Comenth the hour comenth the man up comes Ricey running the full length of the field to assist in the move where wee Peter nicked a point from a fierce tight angle. That settled any Tyrone nerves that day and they pushed on for home. For me that point was as good as a goal. Sad to see him go but as they say time batters on for all of us.

Will be for me always one of the "blanket men". All Ireland semi final 2003 will go down in epiphany. Tyrone that day changed the GAA. Then everyone including the hurlers and all started to copy them. I was so impressed with Tyrone that I started to laugh in disbelief at the fierce discipline and commitment in the tackles.

[AFS]

An embarrassing cretin.











                                                                                                                                                                                   Stew, that is.

[rrhf]

Put all the top corner forwards in his pocket at some point.  Was as good a back as o se. Gave great service tO his county. Enjoy your retirement Ricey.

[From the Bunker]

Rumour has it he once asked Conor Mortimer for his number in the middle of a game...the Mort went giddy with excitement and never touched the ball for the rest of the game.

Must have been in 2004! Looks like it had no influence on the result! 

[onefaircounty]

Not that he ever did anything too bad

. The McEntee incident was terrible though.

[J OGorman]

some fierce chat on here. I wasn't Ricey's biggest fan, but the abuse is way over the top. A man slabbers on a football field in front of spectators and the TV camera's during a game when the adrenalin is pumping v a man slabbering behind a moniker on an online forum.?
Some folk cant separate what happens on a pitch to how a person maybe is off the pitch. I'd say there's very few on here who, at one stage or another have been affronted by the way they conducted themselves during a match.

A few of his highlighted misdemeanors that have been highlighted on this thread have no place on the pitch, and I'd say the man himself would be the first to admit that

Civil chap apparently off the field and was practically camped @ their football field 7 nights a week helping out. Will tell you what, always liked seeing his name on the team-sheet when Derry were playing Tyrone for a few reasons. Never wanted Tyrone to have any excuses if we beat them (that's a massy IF by the way). You'd always know there would be a bit of action and most importantly, you'd get to witness if our forwards were up for the battle.

Enjoy your retirement ye Tyrone hooer ;-)

[nrico2006]

A lot of bitter, jealous and seemingly delusional Armagh men on here. I laughed at the comparison of wee civil Francie to Ricey. Big difference was that Ricey was a far better footballer. As for sticking knees into McEntee, while not what you want your players to be at it is no worse than any number of incidents in any given game, or not even as bad as sticking your elbow/forearm in Mickey Kindens ja and leaving him in a right mess

[mackers]

A lot of bitter, jealous and seemingly delusional Armagh men on here. I laughed at the comparison of wee civil Francie to Ricey. Big difference was that Ricey was a far better footballer. As for sticking knees into McEntee, while not what you want your players to be at it is no worse than any number of incidents in any given game, or not even as bad as sticking your elbow/forearm in Mickey Kindens ja and leaving him in a right mess

What utter crap nrico.....Francie Bellew would not get involved in the sledging that McMenamin got involved in every match, would not grab a man by the balls and would not spit at any one.  Do not go down that line...you don't have a leg to stand on.
For the man who said that he had every corner forward in his pocket you obviously did not watch him trying to mark Stevie McDonnell.