SUCCESS tends to breed one of two things: either more success or complacency. Those two extremes were both spoken of on Monday at the media launch of this Sunday’s National Football League Division One and Two Finals.
Tyrone boss Mickey Harte recalled the reaction to his side retaining the Ulster Senior Football Championship in 2010, comparing it to what came the year after, or three years later:
“We won back-to-back Ulster titles and two people came on to the field in Clones.
“The next year when Donegal won it 17,000 came on to the pitch, [then] Monaghan won it and there were 19,000 on it. It was being taken for granted by almost too many people.”
Of course, such differing reactions were understandable, if not excusable. Tyrone supporters had been sated by success, whereas Donegal ended a 19-year wait for provincial success, having lost five finals in between, and Monaghan’s drought was even longer, a quarter-century, which included final defeats in 2007 and 2010, both against Mickey Harte’s men.
Indeed 2010 had brought Tyrone a third Ulster title in four seasons, while in the year that the Anglo-Celt Cup wasn’t lifted by the Red Hands, 2008, they instead collected the Sam Maguire. For the third time in just over five years (six seasons).
It’s not surprising, then, that Tyrone supporters began only to get excited by All-Irelands.
Strange as it may seem now, Tyrone were favourites going into their 2010 All-Ireland quarter-final against Dublin. The Red Hands had destroyed the Dubs at the same stage in 2008 and beaten them in a last eight replay in 2005.
Dublin’s five-point victory over Tyrone six years ago was a stepping stone to the huge amount of success the boys in blue have enjoyed since then, with five consecutive Leinster titles, three All-Irelands, and three League Division One crowns.
They may have lost to eventual All-Ireland Champions Cork by a point in their subsequent 2010 semi-final, but Dublin have shown no signs of easing off from their winning ways since then.
Indeed their veteran midfielder Denis ‘Boom’ Bastick seemed to think it was obvious when asked why he, as a 35-year-old, had lined out in an O’Byrne Cup match in Wexford in January, responding with a smile “Greed”.
He then posed his own rhetorical question, then answering it just to be clear: “Like, why does any sportsperson, why do Kilkenny, stay coming back and winning?
“It doesn't get any less appealing to win an All-Ireland, that hunger, that's always there. That stays there.”
Not always, as so many teams, in all sports have learned, not just Tyrone.
Liverpool supporters used to be disappointed if they finished second – now their title drought has extended beyond the ‘26 years’ jibe they used to throw at Manchester United. As for the Red Devils, they also expected to end up in the top two for around two decades, but now would be grateful for a top four slot.
The complacency of supporters can seep into a side, and/or older players leave and are replaced by younger ones who don’t appreciate quite how tough it is to get to the top – and how many others are working extremely hard to topple you.
The positive for Tyrone is that they have been rejuvenated by the latest batch of youngsters, mostly from last year’s All-Ireland U21 winning team. Skipper Sean Cavanagh still leads the way, having also togged out in January.
Dublin, though, will still be hard to knock off their pedestal.
They aren’t taking their success for granted, they want more of it. In a sense, Dublin’s Championship season only really starts in late July, but when you have men like Bastick working hard from January, or before, there’ll never be room for complacency around that squad.
