Football

No quarter given as Tyrone and Dublin clash for place in the All-Ireland semi-finals

No repeat of ugly scenes of the past says Diarmuid Connolly as Dublin and Tyrone go head to head

17 September 1995; Referee Paddy Russell sends off Dublin's Charlie Redmond. Bank of Ireland All-Ireland Football Final, Dublin v Tyrone, Croke Park, Dublin. Picture credit; David Maher / SPORTSFILE.
17 September 1995; Referee Paddy Russell sends off Dublin's Charlie Redmond. Bank of Ireland All-Ireland Football Final, Dublin v Tyrone, Croke Park, Dublin. Picture credit; David Maher / SPORTSFILE. Referee Paddy Russell sent Dublin's Charlie Redmond off twice in the 1995 All-Ireland Football Final against Tyrone. Picture credit; David Maher / SPORTSFILE.

DUBLIN and Tyrone and went to war in the infamous 2006 ‘Battle of Omagh’ blood was spilled and grudges were stored.

Remember the 1995 All-Ireland final? Charlie Redmond sent off for appearing to headbutt Feargal Logan… In the era before red and yellow cards, Redmond stayed on the pitch and referee Paddy Russell had to send him off again.

Eleven years later it kicked off again. There were four red cards and 14 yellows for a series of vicious all-in pile-ons. There hasn’t been a scrap like it since, although the one in the tunnel in the 2020 game came far too close.

No-one wants to see a repeat of those scenes as these heavyweights come together in Saturday evening’s quarter-final but the Boys in Blue will give the Red Hands nothing and vice-versa.

Tyrone were top dogs when Diarmuid Connolly joined the Dublin panel in 2006 and back then the Red Hand on the All-Ireland champions’ jersey might as well have been giving the Dubs a two-fingered salute.

“The team I came into had a bit of a hangover about that culture,” says Connolly.

“The underhand part of the game, the talking in people’s ears, winding people up… I remember when I came in that summer in 2006 there was a lot of talk about off-the-ball stuff and how to protect yourself and all that sort of thing.

“That was kind of a hangover from the big battle of Omagh.

“We turned up against Tyrone in 2008, probably as the form team coming in after a good Leinster campaign and Tyrone went on and won the All-Ireland that year.

“There was a lot of focus on that off-the-ball stuff and it never actually happened that day. Tyrone might have brought it in past games but whatever happened that day there was no verbals, there was no off-the-ball stuff. They just came out and blitzed us.”

Ciaran Kilkenny pulled the strings for Dublin in the second half against Derry. Picture: Margaret McLaughlin
Ciaran Kilkenny pulled the strings for Dublin in the second half against Derry.Picture: Margaret McLaughlin

Sean Cavanagh, Davy Harte and Joe McMahon got the Tyrone goals as the Red Hands won by 12 points. A half-dozen weeks later, Brian Dooher accepted the county’s third Sam Maguire.

Things changed after that. Throughout the rest of Connolly’s career, Dublin held the whip hand over the ‘Nordies’ and the St Vincent’s forward saved some of his best football for them including seven points in the All-Ireland quarter-final in 2011.

“2011 would have been a big one for us,” says Connolly.

“Tyrone were the team at the time and we were kind of coming and coming and maybe just didn’t believe we could win until we actually did.

“And that game in 2008 was kind of an eye-opener for me. You can’t have all your focus on the other team. We had a job to do ourselves and we were kind of waiting for something to happen from Tyrone.”

Sam Maguire followed Sam Maguire and Tyrone haven’t beaten the Boys in Blue since that game in 2008. To end the 17-year streak, Tyrone will need to rekindle the form that swept them to the All-Ireland title in 2021.

Neither is ranked among the favourites this year but that will change for the winner on Saturday evening and Connolly doesn’t expect any repeat of the black eyes and punch-ups of yesteryear.

“I don’t think that’s even a part of the game anymore,” he said.

“It’s just a lot of man-marking stuff, three-on-three stuff inside, but I don’t see this off-the-ball stuff.

“The officials are very clued into it now and you see it throughout the National League, throughout the championship, they are really protecting the players with the rules, and they’re really enforcing them. That’s what you want to see as a player.”

Diarmuid Connolly was speaking exclusively to BoyleSports as a Gaelic Games ambassador ahead of the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals.