ANYONE who says the Ulster Championship no longer matters is “talking sh*t”, according to Ronan McNamee who would love to be playing in this weekend’s semi-finals rather than preparing for next month’s All-Ireland Super 16s.
Tyrone crashed out of Ulster to Monaghan in dramatic circumstances a couple of weeks ago, and even with the rejigged All-Ireland format reducing the importance of winning a provincial title, losing to the Farney County felt like any other gut-wrenching provincial loss to McNamee.
“For anybody to tell you that it doesn't matter is talking shit, to put it mildly,” said the Tyrone defender.
“Any day you go out to represent your county, you're looking to win. It was disappointing because we were in such a good place, playing at a good level and playing well. It was just typical of an Ulster Championship game that it went belly-up very quickly.
“You could never have enough Ulster Championship medals because they're so hard to win. Any fella telling you that it means nothing is talking through his hat.”
He added: “Any time we’ve played Monaghan over the last number of years it went to the wire every single time. You’ll do well to find a (Championship) game that has been very comfortable for one side or the other. For as long as I’ve been playing with Tyrone both teams have gone to the well – typical of Ulster teams.
“I’ve been on the Tyrone panel since 2012 and we played them in the 2013 All-Ireland quarter-final and there was nothing in it. They beat us in the Championship in 2014 and then in 2015 we beat them in an All-Ireland quarter-final and there was nothing in it.
“In 2018, we beat them in an All-Ireland semi-final by a point and the 2021 Ulster final went to a point as well. So was it a shock the way it went? Not really. Disappointment at our end that we didn’t see it out but Monaghan, backed into a corner are a dangerous animal.”
Monaghan face Derry this weekend in what is a repeat of last year’s provincial semi-final that the Oak Leaf men won at The Athletic Grounds – a day when Rory Gallagher completely outfoxed former Farney boss Seamus McEnaney on the sideline.
“Obviously Derry are very good and very well set up but as are Monaghan. I feel that they'll have learned from their game last year. They have Ryan McAnespie home from Australia which is going to be a bonus so will they fear Derry? Absolutely not. Would it surprise me if they went on ahead and won Ulster? No.”
As for Tyrone, they’re lying in the long grass awaiting the start of the business end of the season with the new Super 16s, as it has been coined – while watching the rest of the province take lumps out of each other.
“It's the unknown for everybody,” he said.
“It's not unlike the Super 8s. It's going into a group stage and you're going to have a couple of bites at it. But you have to take the positives away from where we're at now.
“Obviously it was frustrating to lose [to Monaghan], but we've gotten the heads down now… The positive thing is that you're getting a few hard weeks of training in that you wouldn't get elsewhere."
While there’s been quite a lot of changes within the Tyrone squad since their 2021 All-Ireland win to now, McNamee rates the talent coming into the squad very highly.
“Obviously there's personnel that has left. With regards to footballing ability, we're probably in a better place. Some of those boys were there for eight to 10 years and there are characters in the changing room that you'd lose and it just takes a wee while for younger fellas to come in and maybe build on that.
“So we're moving in the right direction for sure but like anything it will take time when there's new blood in and boys are just finding their feet. It will take a couple of games or a couple of seasons to find their role. Hopefully within the next couple of weeks and months going ahead, we can find a good spot and work from there.”
