Tyrone and Kerry -An ever changing rivalry

IN 1932, the GAA in Tyrone was enjoying its first sustained revival when the visit of Kerry for a challenge game was greeted with a sense of enthusiasm that could hardly be imagined now nearly a century later.

It was a game that marked a major turning point for the Red Hand county. Played at Coalisland, trains came from all over Tyrone as well as Ulster for the match between the then four-in-a-row All-Ireland champions and a Wexford team which proved to be worthy opponents.

More importantly from a Tyrone viewpoint, hosting the game wiped out County Board debts stretching back to 1926 and heralded the start of a new era of footballing progress. In a year, they had reached a first Ulster Final.

Fast-forward then to 1981, and there was a similar sense of awe when Kerry next visited. Their challenge against Tyrone in March that year was largely aimed at raising funds for Kerry’s Australian trip. They came, enjoyed the hospitality, held a few coaching sessions and duly comfortably defeated a Red Hand team that included Kevin McCabe, Eugene McKenna, Ciaran McGarvey and Mickey Harte.

For a whole generation of young players brought up in the 1980s, Kerry’s Golden Years was required viewing. But by then, the aura surrounding them among the Ulster counties, including Tyrone, was beginning to fade.

Suddenly, teams like Tyrone began to believe. That belief was bolstered by National League clashes between the counties from the 1970s onwards, and which reached a climax in the 1990s when Tyrone were bidding so determinedly to finally make the breakthrough by winning the Sam Maguire Cup for the first time.

“Tyrone were slower to the ball, and whatever chances they had were wasted by very poor finishing and half-hearted tackling,” read the report of their 1974 clash in the National League semi-final.

But the times were changing. By the eighties, Art McRory, was assembling a talented Red Hand team. They reached the Ulster Final in 1980, won the title in 1984 and were full of confidence when their Division One league campaign continued against Kerry in February 1985.

There was a near-capacity attendance at Healy Park for that clash, reflecting Tyrone’s improving form and the first competitive match in the Red Hand county against the Kingdom.

It was a game which ended in a draw, a Jack O’Shea penalty goal earning Kerry a share of the points. But the gauntlet had been laid, and the following year’s All-Ireland final proved that the days of deference were gone for good.

They lost in the league in 1992, before one of the most memorable wins was recorded in 1998, when Tyrone flew to Killarney for the league clash and emerged with a 1-9 to 1-6 win.

By then, the aura that surrounded Kerry had largely disappeared. Teams like Tyrone were now on a par with them, and this was further highlighted in 2003.

On that occasion, a Red Hand team on course for its second consecutive league title, defeated Kerry by 1-13 to 0-14.

That win, of course, was a prelude to that year’s All-Ireland semi-final. One moment in time from that summer of 2003 summed up the changing face of gaelic football. Tyrone’s never-say-die attitude overwhelmed Kerry, and things would never be the same again.

A snapshot of the league and championship clashes during the past two decades show just how the two teams are now competing from a position of equality.

Take their latest league clash a few months ago as an example. That day, the game was changed to Pomeroy when Omagh became unplayable. It was a keenly contested clash, which was only decided by three goals from star Kerry attacker, David Clifford.

The large numbers of young fans from both counties who surrounded the star forward was testament to his nationwide appeal.

But, unlike in that summer 1932, young Red Hand supporters have their own heroes to cheer in the summer of 2025.

As the race for the Sam Maguire reaches its climax, the pressure is all on Kerry while Tyrone know only too well that the qualities which have served them so well in the past could well do the trick again on Saturday when a eighth All-Ireland final for the county potentially beckons.