The signs had been there with this particular Tyrone team for a long time. I remember watching them play Roscommon in a qualifier in Croke Park during last years Championship, and it was evident then they weren't up the standard of the elite teams. In the very next game, Dublin showed Tyrone just how far they'd fallen behind, tearing them apart in Croke Park in front of 60,000 rabid fans. In recent years, Tyrone's once impenetrable defense has lost it's intensity. With so many aging players in the back-line, Tyrone just haven't been able to cover ground and swarm opposing forwards the same way they once could. It has been astonishing to watch Tyrone's defense demise. Kerry's ability to score past them almost at will last Saturday is in stark contrast to the Tyrone teams of the 2000's.
Remember the All-Ireland semi-final of '03? That was Tyrone's coming out party. Tyrone changed the course of gaelic football for the next decade with their performance on that sunny afternoon in Croke Park. They had won Ulster earlier in the year, but no one expected them to do much more. It was supposed to be a Kerry-Armagh final, - a rematch of the previous year's showdown. Tyrone though hadn't read the script, and the went at Kerry an intensity we'd never seen before in gaelic football. The way in which Tyrone swarmed the man with the ball, surrounding and encircling him, like a pack of hungry wolves, was a ferocious sight. They made mincemeat of what was at the time, the countries best forward line, holding Kerry to just six points, en route to a historic victory.
Tyrone's performance that day was the catalyst that has steered gaelic football in the direction of the now popular sweeper system, and the twelve-men-behind-the-ball tactic which Donegal employed to such great effect, last summer.
Over the coming years, Tyrone remained successful but struggled against constant tragedy and strife. Who could forget Cormac McAnallen? He was such fantastic leader at such a young age and seemed destined to go down as one of the greats. His death in March 2004, at the tender age of 24, was a massive loss for Tyrone football, and for the GAA as a whole. Yet Tyrone had a knack of overcoming seemingly crippling obstacles. They came back with renewed vigour in the 2005 National League until their run was halted by a determined and dogged Wexford, in the pouring Portlaoise rain. This was only a minor setback though. Tyrone slowly began to build momentum as the championship wore on. Though the lost a great Ulster final battle to Armagh, after a replay, it was merely a bump in the road. This team was made of sterner stuff. We learned a lot about Tyrone in 2005. The faces that had seemed new in 2003, were now familiar - O'Neill, Mulligan, McGuigan, Gormley. This second All-Ireland winning team may not have had the same defensive presence (Kerry put 2-10 past them in the final), but the played a total team game like we'd never seen before. When they had the ball, there were 15 attackers, when the lost it, there were fifteen the defenders. It was the kind of physically demanding game plan that other team in the country could execute. They would learn to though.
The retirement of Peter Canavan in 2005, and two subsequently disappointing seasons in 2006 and 2007, Tyrone were seemingly at a crossroads in 2008. Were Tyrone in decline? Whatever the answer, it was clear that football badly needed Tyrone by 2008. Two success disappointing finals, had ensued since Tyrone's last appearance, with Kerry comfortably beating both Mayo and Cork. Sure, there had been fascinating qualifier runs, and Dublin and Mayo's semi-final clash had been a classic, but the big day in September needed a real rivalry to sustain the nations appetite. After a very poor Ulster campaign early that summer, the writing looked very much on the wall for Tyrone. It was make of break time. They used victories over Louth and Westmeath to regain their confidence, then squeezed past Mayo by a point in Croke Park. The performances were still lacking, but the hunger and confidence was back. Their next game was one that took GAA supporters around the country by total surprise. Tyrone produced a performance of old in totally annihilating a heavily favoured Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter-final. Justin and Joe McMahon in particular were magnificent, - growing into their new roles a key figures. I remember watching the match in a small pub in Carrick-on-Shannon. There was only a handful of people watching the match, but the message was clear to everyone, - Tyrone are back. They were back and duly beat Wexford to set up another showdown with Kerry in the final. Tyrone would prevail over the Kingdom to win the third and final All-Ireland of their dominant reign.
Tyrone had their chance in 2009 to win a fourth. The had been among the elite teams all year, but the came apart in the semi-final against a determined Cork team, though Tyrone fans will surely always wonder, what if Sean Cavanagh had been fit for that game?
Since then Tyrone's spiral has been downward. They've been overtaken by a young Dublin team, which beat them narrowly in 2010, then dominated in 2011. Last weekend's defeat is the writing on the wall this Tyrone team is dead. How ironic, that the defeat which truly signals the end came against Kerry. Tyrone were never beaten by Kerry during their All-Ireland runs, but on Saturday the were taken to the cleaners. There's something aswell in fact that despite Tyrone's demise, Kerry remain alive. The Kingdom have not been in the best of form themselves recently, but they could well have won the All-Ireland title last September. There's a message in their recent victory over Tyrone. No matter who the challenger, and how good they are, Kerry will always be there. The were there before Tyrone came along, and they'll be there afterwards. That said, they'll have their hands full with Donegal, Cork and Dublin this summer!
This Tyrone team was one that inspired debate. Initially they were 'too rough', one of those Northern teams that are 'far too defensive'. Pundits said that Tyrone 'didn't play football'. Those same pundits soon changed their tune. The effect that Tyrone's period of success has had on gaelic games is the true legacy of this team. Like it or not, the helped ushering in the new, modern brand of gaelic football that we see today. Most importantly of all in sports, they were true and worthy champions. A team that played with fire and heart, that would never give up, even in the most difficult of circumstances. In the end, nobody can ask for any more. Tyrone's All-Ireland winners have done their county proud, and their memory long live in, in the minds of this generation, the way the Down teams of the 1960's do, for the generation who watched them. What better compliment could there be.
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