TYRONE goalkeeper Niall Morgan says he would walk away from Gaelic football if he didn’t believe he would end his career with an All-Ireland winner’s medal.
Following their gut-wrenching All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Kerry on Sunday, the Edendork man remained defiant about Tyrone reaching the Holy Grail.
“If I didn’t think I would finish with an All-Ireland medal, I would be gone,” said Morgan. “I wouldn’t be playing.
“Whenever I started on the panel in 2013, I was playing soccer [for Dungannon Swifts], I was playing in the Irish League and I was young, first-choice ‘keeper and I probably could have pushed myself on in the Irish League.
“I don’t think I would have ever got across the water but whenever I spoke to Mickey [Harte], he laid out the plans and if I would have thought I wouldn’t win an All-Ireland, I would have said no, point-blankly, and moved on.”
Morgan added: “I come every year expecting to win an All-Ireland and I think if you asked any of the boys, they would be the same."
Tyrone have featured in four All-Ireland semi-finals and one final over the last five seasons.
“Nobody plays this game to be second; getting to the final last year, whenever you are beaten, you might as well be put out in the first round of the Qualifiers.
“You come to win cups and unfortunately this year we fell short.”
Tyrone blew a four-point half-time lead against the Kingdom, losing by three points with Stephen O’Brien’s 56th minute goal proving the difference.
Kerry are now faced with trying to end Dublin’s pursuit of five-in-a-row in next month’s All-Ireland final.
Tyrone may have reached last season’s All-Ireland decider but Harte insisted that his side had improved in 2019 despite falling at the semi-final hurdle.
“Every year, it starts from scratch and your goal is to reach an All-Ireland final,” Morgan said, who must be in Allstar contention after a string of excellent displays this summer.
“Last year was really disappointing to lose. I can’t really remember the ’95 final - I was only four-years-old. So all through ’03, ’05 and ’08 you were sitting in the crowd and Tyrone were winning All-Irelands, that’s just the way it was.
“We finally got back to one last year and this year it would have been great to get back to one, to avenge last year’s defeat. But that’s the way it goes.”
Last Sunday’s second semi-final was billed as the chase for second place after Dublin’s impressive annihilation of Mayo in their last four encounter the previous day.
But Morgan doesn’t believe the Dubs are unbeatable.
“Kerry will have the same attitude we would have had. They will not be going up to Croke Park on the 1st of September to get beaten, or thinking they could give Dublin a game.
“They will be coming thinking: ‘We are going to win this.’ And all the best to them.
“If they move the ball quickly and don’t give Dublin a chance to settle, why not?”
Despite achieving greatness over the last few seasons, Jim Gavin’s achievements with Dublin are very much tempered by the financial advantage they’ve enjoyed over every other county.
But Morgan insists the current Dublin squad deserve to be celebrated rather than derided for changing the face of the inter-county game.
“Everybody points the finger at all the money they are getting. I completely refuse to do that. They have a crop of lads who have come along and are willing to put in the work. If you look at soccer teams and the amount of money that is going into it, it doesn’t make a player work harder on the pitch.
“All credit should be going to that crop of players that are really driving it on and they obviously have a manager now who trusts them in all aspects of the game.
“Sometimes you have to sit back and admire them and say that it is a breath of fresh air that they can go at it any way. If you want to play it defensively, they will go at you. If you play toe to toe, they will match you."
