There were a few concerns that arose from Croke Park at the weekend but the biggest worry of all is that we’re not even looking at the threat Tyrone pose to this championship.
Neither side – Tyrone nor Monaghan – covered themselves in any real glory, but the play-acting and provocation on the Red Hands’ part was particularly sickening.
Now, there has never been any precedent set for what Tiernan McCann did when he flung himself to ground as if Darren Hughes had pulled a hammer on him. So what better way to start with one?
The GAA should take a stand right here, grow a spine and act as a body of the people by making an example of McCann’s embarrassing actions.
Whatever went on during that quarter final with Monaghan, we have a fella here who unashamedly and successfully cheated.
He conned a referee to get another player sent off and he got away with it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3Aqyr433a4
Say what you will about how he has brought disrepute on the game or how he’s setting an example for younger kids growing up and watching this nonsense, but the biggest issue here is that he has cheated and he has prospered.
He’s been caught though. So what do we do about it?
How does the GAA treat cheaters? That’s the question that lies ahead.
Soccer has already blown it. Their penalty of a yellow card for someone taking a dive during a game is pathetic and has had no effect in stamping out the problem in the sport.
Now, we finally have a high profile case on our hands here in Ireland.
We used to shake our heads in pity and laugh when we saw clips from foreign sports in foreign countries of gamesmanship of this kind but, suddenly, we’re confronted with one of our own going against that ethos and honesty that the GAA prides itself on.
We have one stand-out case here that will set the precedent for the next decade.
If Tiernan McCann is treated lightly or any way short of how he should be, then we too will have blown it and allowed this sort of thing to creep in. Now is the chance, once and for all, to make an example – perhaps even a harsh example – to show that this sort of thing will not be tolerated.
Not now. Not ever.
What was more worrying though than McCann’s heat-of-the-moment decision was the subsequent reaction from a large majority of the Tyrone supporters. These are fans who have had time to let the dust settle and look at what happened from a cold and logical standpoint.
But logic hasn’t prevailed. No-one has come out and rebuked what happened. No-one has held their hands up and shown any kind of humility about the whole thing. No-one’s even willing to listen to why this might be bad.
No, it has been an aggressive and relentless onslaught of defence for the indefensible.
The ever so slightly more reasonable are pointing to Monaghan. It takes two. Some are even asking why Darren Hughes was raising his hand.
But the only straight black-or-white question that should be asked is whether or not Tiernan McCann overreacted to get his opponent punished.
And, then, the more serious question is why does anyone think that condoning it or excusing it in any possible way could be good for anyone in Ireland and, most importantly, for anyone growing up in Tyrone?
It certainly doesn’t help when the manager comes out and pleads ignorance owing to technicalities.
“Does anybody know for sure it was the Tiernán McCann incident that influenced [the referee]?”
That was Mickey Harte’s disappointing response. He’s asking what was the offence Darren Hughes was pegged for when, actually, the offence is completely irrelevant. Hughes was sent off regardless. The only question that Mickey Harte should be considering is whether or not his player dived.
But he’s choosing to ignore that, take the moral low-ground, and bog the case down in sideshow technicalities like a pedant losing an argument.
He then came out and admitted that McCann would probably act differently if he was in the situation again. “But I don’t think he’s the first person to ever have over-reacted to anything and I don’t think he will be the last,” was the rationalisation. He needs to be the last.
But perhaps the most worrying thing is how Tyrone’s stunning performance has managed to slip under the radar.
Some of what went on was disgusting but that shouldn’t really detract from what was a scarily effective performance and, indeed, what was one of Mickey Harte’s finest feats to yet again rise with this county.
The problem is that Tyrone natives are defending or ignoring some of the shameful antics because they’re pointing to the performance. The rest of the country are slating the performance because of the antics. They’re not and shouldn’t be in the same bracket. They shouldn’t be anywhere near each other
The diving was pitiful. The performance was something else.
But that they are being lumped together is the problem because we now have two guilty parties: one of which is refusing to even talk about football because of what went on; the other justifying what went on.
And the sooner we start dissociating both from each other, the sooner we can actually have a healthy, unanimous condemnation of diving and gamesmanship. From within the county involved, too.
Tyrone did not win that game because Tiernan McCann got Darren Hughes sent off in injury time.
They didn’t win it because Sean Cavanagh fell two or three times or because of the rest of the off-the-ball niggling. And, yet, because we are pairing their performance with their behaviour, some within the county have found grounds to think things like diving are acceptable. They actually think it’s helping.
And that is depressing.
Winnings all that matters. I'd dive like Tom Daley if it was called for.!!
— Kyle Coney (@kyleconey90) August 9, 2015
They could’ve won without diving. Without play-acting. Without provoking. Without time-wasting.
They would have won.
Their performance was good enough. Their system was solid enough. Their attacking was dangerous enough.
They have bite. They have application to everything they are asked to do. And, by Jesus, they are hungry.
They got relegated in the league designing a system that would stand to them in the summer.
Now, here we are, heading for August 23 and Tyrone and that mean defence still standing tall.
Every time an opposition player pops a ball off, he’s checked, he’s pushed back five yards, he’s harassed. Every time a player in possession looks up, he sees just an ocean of red and white drowning his attacking options and then whippets and tanks alike hounding him out with no relent.
Then they break, at break-neck speed, hammering through opposition walls as if nothing else mattered.
And, as if they really needed anything else in their arsenal, they now have an us-against-the-world mentality again – the sort that led them menacingly to their first Sam 12 years ago.
And they won’t fear Kerry. They never do. They’ll love nothing more than to stick two fingers up to the rest of the country by dethroning the Kingdom at headquarters.
All the hatred in the world isn’t going to change that and coming out and saying Kerry will show them is worth damn all. Because they’re readying for another ambush.
The sad thing is, though, that we could’ve enjoyed their climb if we didn’t associate it with underhand tactics. And Tyrone people too could’ve condemned those tactics if they didn’t credit them for their performances.
In reality, they’re not related. It’s just an ugly drawback of an otherwise excellent team.
But the latter should be Kerry’s only concern. They need to look at the football.
Otherwise, they too will be caught.
The Red Hand county should look at it as well. And make a decision for once that they can win with class. Condemn the antics, flaunt your football. Win with class.
But they need to believe that they can do that. And I don’t think they do.
Not if the reaction is anything to go by.
This springs to mind when I think of Tiernan McCann and Tyrone against Monaghan.#GAA pic.twitter.com/vt5WjM6wp0
— Conán Doherty (@ConanDoherty) August 9, 2015
