Tyrone face Armagh in special charity match on Friday night

CHRISTMAS comes a little earlier than usual for Armagh and Tyrone fans on Friday evening. The old rivals face off at the Athletic Grounds (7.15pm) in a Challenge match to raise funds for the Time2Play James Reel Playpark, which will be located inside the grounds of Silverbridge GAA.

While it’s just a charity game, it’ll be a chance for some lesser known Tyrone players to impress ahead of the McKenna Cup, which starts in January (Tyrone have been pitted in Group B alongside Armagh and Cavan, but they’ll not be involved in the first round of games as they will be on their team holiday in Florida).

James, a cousin of Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney, tragically lost his life earlier this year and the family are working to ensure his legacy lives on. “This is obviously of huge significance for me personally. James was a cousin and we’re a very close family with the McGeeneys and the Reels,” said the Orchard boss.

“I would never really ask too much of the GAA in my life, but I’ve felt like I’ve gave them quite a bit. I suppose this is one of the few times that I’ve asked for something different and I’m very thankful that Armagh, Tyrone and Croke Park have allowed it to happen”.”

The Armagh manager suggests players will be out to impress.

“It’s funny this time of year, friendly or no friendly, there’ll be a lot of people looking to put their paws up. They’ll not be looking at the boys that aren’t there. If you were playing every one of what people regard as your first players, it might be very much a damp squib. But when you’re playing a mixture of fellas who are coming back from injury, fellas who would’ve been on the fringes and fellas who are new to the thing that will feel like they’re not out of place. I’d imagine it would be a fairly pacey game.”

Few know more about the Armagh and Tyrone conflict than the 2002 Player of the Year, who was central to the epic battles during the noughties, when the rivalry peaked. Tyrone have dominated the recent history however, as the Orchard county haven’t beaten their old foes since 2014, the first year McGeeney was involved in the management team.

“We’ve changed nearly completely in those seven years, we’ve dropped down (the divisions) and came back up. There’s always a close rivalry between Armagh and Tyrone. Even though I went to school in Newry I have probably always felt the rivalry with Tyrone more so than Down. I don’t know why.

“Growing up we would have played Tyrone obviously with the minors and u-21s and myself and Peter (Canavan) would have come across each other quite a bit. You’ve always had that edge to the game and there was never much between us, but they had that extra edge when it counted back then.”