HE may be from the Tyrone side of the River Blackwater but there’s plenty to bind Sean Cavanagh to Armagh.
Foremost is family itself. His wife Fionnuala is a sister of Armagh defender Charlie Vernon.
He and Charlie will be ex-communicated from each other for the next few days before a potential head-to-head meeting in Croke Park on Saturday.
“My wife was making sure she heated up the chicken to the right temperature last night. Yea, she was actually making a wee bit of a joke about that,” laughed Cavanagh.
“It will be an interesting week, there could be a spare room or two needed but at this stage we have crossed paths a few times and I am enjoying it because this could be the last time I get to play them.
“There will be nothing said [with Charlie] on the pitch. Off the pitch, we obviously know each other very well and we will probably not be chatting to one another this week.
“It will be a few quite days next week no matter what happens but we are both professional people and we know what will happen on the field on Saturday will end on the field.
“Typically, both of us are not the dirtiest of players so I don’t think that we will be leaving too much on each other. That could be easy for me to say now but it could be different on Saturday night but we would have a lot of respect for each other.”
His, and the careers of the Tyrone players that won three All-Ireland titles in the previous decade, would not have been the same were it not for Armagh’s presence on the scene.
From needing a replay to separate them in 2002 until Peter Canavan’s injury-time free decided the 2005 All-Ireland semi-final, there was nothing to split them in a series of unforgettable battles.
“I suppose the 05 semi-final in particular was the most intense game of football that I have ever played,” recalls Cavanagh.
“It was one of those games that people will look back on, and have looked back on, and claim that it was so error-ridden that it could not be defined as a great game, but playing in it, it did feel like a great game.
“You had two teams at the top of their sport going for it as hard as they could, but obviously with Canavan’s free and the way it ended up it was nicer for us Tyrone folk to look back on.
“But for me it was one of the most special games of my career, especially with the circumstances after they beat us in the replay of the Ulster final.
“It almost felt like the end of that three or four-year battle that we had with them up to that point and so it proved.”
Tyrone head back to Croke Park with a real sense of unfinished business. Not only is there the defeat by Mayo last year, but the previous season’s defeat by Kerry, where they spurned a series of goal chances.
That adds up to two potential All-Ireland finals the Red Hands have missed out on, primarily through their own fault, and that is something they are hell-bent on rectifying.
“It was gut-wrenching coming out of Mayo last year. You would sort of hope that when things get tough on Saturday, because I've no doubt Armagh will have their purple patch, that those sort of experiences will help draw the best out of us.
“It doesn't always work out like that.
“We are youthful but the spine, 7 or 8 of the guys have been there since 2013 and have lost two All-Ireland semi-finals and Mayo last year and Armagh in 2014.
“We have a raft of new leaders who are taking this team forward and will continue to take it forward.”
He endured the strangest of sensations midway through the second half of the Ulster final when Mickey Harte took him off with just over 20 minutes left to play.
It’s very seldom, if at all, in all his 16 seasons that he has been taken off so early in a game of such significance but he took the decision in his stride.
“It’s a little bit strange for me, as much as anything else. At this stage of my career, I really am just buzzing to still be part of this team.
“I’ve said it before, I can see the talent that’s outside the 26 of a matchday squad, and the effort the guys are putting in. It’s incredible, some of the guys that aren’t getting a minute of football are really top footballers.
“It’s a good place for Tyrone to be in. I couldn’t tell you who the 26 will be. God help Mickey Harte having to try and whittle it down. I couldn’t probably tell you within 3 or 4 players.
“There’s almost that acceptance that there will be players who’ll start the game and players who’ll finish it. If I’m one of those players that are going to be rotated like that, that’s just where I’m at in my career and Mickey will make those decisions.
“When you see Darren McCurry and Lee Brennan and the quality we have sitting in reserve, you realise those guys deserve game time.
“They’re taking their chances too when they’re coming in and showing what they’re made of. I’ve no doubt those guys will continue to show that on Saturday. I’ll continue to give it my all.”
