Football

I always got on the very best with Mickey Harte, insists outgoing Tyrone chairperson Roisin Jordan

Roisin Jordan's term as chairperson of the Tyrone County Board came to an end on Tuesday night, after Michael Kerr was ratified at the annual county convention. Picture by Mal McCann
Roisin Jordan's term as chairperson of the Tyrone County Board came to an end on Tuesday night, after Michael Kerr was ratified at the annual county convention. Picture by Mal McCann Roisin Jordan's term as chairperson of the Tyrone County Board came to an end on Tuesday night, after Michael Kerr was ratified at the annual county convention. Picture by Mal McCann

OUTGOING Tyrone chairperson Roisin Jordan has insisted she “got on the very best” with Red Hand boss Mickey Harte following her dramatic exit from the post on Tuesday night.

Jordan - the GAA's first female county chairperson upon her election in 2014 - was eliminated in the first round of voting at the annual county convention in Garvaghey, and has been replaced by Carrickmore clubman Michael Kerr.

In her address before the vote was taken, Jordan revealed she was considering legal action over a letter sent to media outlets – claiming to be from an unnamed Tyrone player – accusing the county board of penny-pinching.

Jordan referred to “sinister attempts… to undermine my position” in her address but, when asked if she felt that incident back in February had any bearing on the outcome of Tuesday’s election, said: “I’m going to make no comment on that part of it”.

The Eglish woman also stressed that she had always enjoyed a good working relationship with Harte, despite the speculation that surrounded the long-serving manager’s future two years ago.

Some issues were raised by members of the county executive at the time, such as Harte’s continued refusal to speak to RTE, before he was eventually reappointed for a further two years.

Jordan headed up a three-person delegation from the county executive that met with Harte prior to the extension being ratified, and last night insisted there had never been any issue between her and the Tyrone boss.

“At the end of the day, the way it went was that the county committee made the decision of how many years or what the term would be - it wasn’t me personally,” she said.

“I got on the very best with Mickey, I had absolutely no problems with Mickey. He worked with me and I worked with him and, at the end of the day, I left it down to the decision of the county committee because that’s the governing body.

“They took the vote, whether it was three year, 10 year or whatever. I never had any problems with Mickey and I wish him and the team the best of luck this year coming in, as I do with all the managers.”

During Jordan’s time as chairperson, Tyrone landed back-to-back Ulster titles – the first ending a six-year wait – as well as U21 and U17 All-Irelands in 2015 and 2017 respectively.

Now that her time has come to an end, she was keen to wish Michael Kerr well, and looked back with fondness on the past three years.

“It’s been an honour and a privilege to have chaired [the county board] and I just wish Michael the very best of luck. He’s well capable of the position, he was vice-chair there, and we worked together on the CCC as well,” continued Jordan

“The way I look at it is, you’re there year to year, you do the best you can for your county and that’s what I’ve done. At the end of the day, there was two people stood against me and Michael came out the winner, and I wish him the very best of luck with it.

“I must say I enjoyed the three years. I worked with everyone and had great camaraderie with the people.

“I was honoured to work with great GAA people throughout the county and the rest of Ireland and I thank them for their friendship and support.”