50 year of happiness and hurt for Tyrone at Healy Park

EXACTLY 50 years ago this week saw the Tyrone’s senior footballers play their very first Championship match at what has become their home venue over the intervening decades.

It was on June 16, 1974, that the Red Hands lined out against Donegal at Omagh’s new park. They had won the Ulster title for just the third time in 1973, and there were high hopes that they would be able to account for their north-west rivals in what was the third meeting between the teams in three years.

Defeat by 1-9 to 0-8 was the lot of the Red Hands on that day. Since then, the debate on whether Healy Park has been a bastion or not for them is one which has rumbled on, depending on the fortunes of the County each year.

Amazingly, though, only in the past three decades or so has the venue become first choice for Tyrone’s matches. The last provincial or All-Ireland Championship home game which wasn’t played in Omagh was the 1982 tie which saw them defeat Monaghan at Dungannon.

Since then, the statistics show that Healy Park – named after the late Mick Heay in 1980 – has indeed been a home pitch on which the Red Hands have regularly excelled. More of the same would do nicely indeed as they prepare to host Roscommon in Championship action there for the first time this Saturday evening.

After that 1974 opening game, the next time Tyrone played there in Championship action was in the historic 1986 run. Tyrone’s progress to the All-Ireland Final that year began with a dramatic late goal which sealed the win over Derry at Healy Park. They defeated Antrim there in 1987 and 1988, and that winning run continued against Armagh in the infamous 1989 clash which saw the Red Hands win by 1-11 to 2-7.

But, while the 1980s produced a 100 per-cent win record of four from four, it was a case of mixed fortunes over the coming years. 1992 against Derry and 1993 against Armagh resulted in narrow losses, before the tide turned in 1994 with an impressive 3-10 to 1-10 win over the Orchard county.

Tyrone’s fortunes were now on the up, and the late nineties saw them regularly make their mark at Healy Park. There were consecutive wins in 1996 and 1997, before a heavy loss to Down in 1998.

For all that, though, Tyrone’s appearances in Omagh were relatively few during the glory years of the early 2000s. Indeed, they played at Healy Park on just four occasions between 2000 and 2010, and only lost once. That game was, of course, the infamous clash against Derry in 2006 when Tyrone amazingly failed to score in the first half.

Monaghan and Armagh were both defeated in 2011, there were three defeats in 2013 and 2014 and wins over Limerick and Meath in the All-Ireland Qualifiers in 2015.

Since 2018 when Tyrone reached the All-Ireland Final, Healy Park has hosted eight Championship games involving the Red Hands in senior football. The win-loss ratio in that period stands at five defeats to three wins, with the third of those coming against Clare a few weeks ago.

The facts speak loudest and the statistics from 50 years of action tell their own story of success and disappointment for the Red Hands.

Overall, there’s a much better win ratio. This Saturday’s match with the Rossies will be the thirtieth Championship clash involving Tyrone at Omagh. Out of all those games over 50 years the county has won 17, lost 11 and drawn one against Down in 2008.

Interestingly, the 1980s and 1990s were the most successful decades. Tyrone won four from four in the 1980s, and four from six in the 1990s. Since the turn of the century, the 2000s produced two wins, two defeats and a draw, the 2010s a 50 per-cent record with five wins and five defeats and the 2020s so far have seen the county win three and lose two out of the five games played at Healy Park.

Whether or not any of this matters when the action begins against Roscommon is also open to debate. It probably won’t have much of an impact, as the Red Hands bid to reach the Quarter Final and maintain their modern reputation as formidable opponents who annually make their mark in the later stages of the provincial and All-Ireland championships.