The 2016 season won’t be remembered as a particularly exciting year for Ulster football, especially when it came to challenging for Sam.
With no single representative in the last four we seem to be at a juncture where football in the province isn’t quite at the same level anymore.
Although they will be disappointed with their All-Ireland quarter final exit, it was still a very successful year for Mickey Harte’s Tyrone who appear to be our best prospect to challenge for Sam in 2017.
After four failed previous attempts, to finally beat Donegal on the way to an Ulster title signalled a changing of the guard. Along with promotion back to Division One, they can be pleased with their progress. But Mickey Harte will know that sorting out the free-taking issue and having a functioning full forward line will be vital if Sam is to come back to Tyrone next year.
It was a particularly disappointing season for Malachy O’Rourke’s Monaghan who exited the championship at the hands of qualifier giant killers Longford.
After a soul destroying defeat at the hands of Tyrone, Derry got back on the road again to produce a solid campaign that saw them reach the last 12. They managed to beat Cavan along the way, the team that almost beat the team that hammered them.
After retaining their Division Two status, Fermanagh came agonisingly close to toppling All-Ireland finalists Mayo, but after a super first half performance the big refereeing decisions went against them in the second.
Donegal picked themselves up well after their devastating Ulster final defeat to Tyrone, but after disposing of Cork in impressive fashion, the Dubs were just too good for Rory Gallagher’s men. Armagh, Antrim and Down, all disappointed after failing to win a single championship match.
Down had a particularly poor season but no-one can question their consistency as 11 defeats from 11 games was a pretty familiar pattern that they will want to change in 2017.
2016 was a year with plenty of on field controversy, as officials really struggled in the counting department. One official failed to keep the correct score in the Christy Ring final, whilst another manager and fourth official couldn’t count to seven in a qualifier match involving Armagh and Laois.
It was a particularly tough year for the three men under the most pressure in a game of football; the goalkeeper, the free-taker and the referee. Rory Beggan, Niall Morgan, David Clarke and Rob Hennelly were goalkeepers and in some instances the free-takers who found themselves under immense scrutiny.
It also seemed to be a popular time for retirements with some top players bowing out of the game. Dick Clerkin, Paul Galvin, Gerard O’Kane, Marc O’Se, Alan Brogan and Eamonn McGee all called time on their careers.
Some counties lost one at the most, with the exceptions of Derry who at one stage were burning men like they were wood pellets on an RHI scheme. But perhaps the biggest retirement shock of them all was that of a popular strawberry blonde Irish News columnist by the name of Benny Tierney who will be sadly missed by all of us who enjoyed his quick witted humour.
Come October, the football season ended in all too predictable fashion with Dublin winning back to back All-Ireland titles after a replay. Once again it looked like Mayo might just get over line, but in typical fashion they pushed the self destruct button when it mattered most.
On the club scene Slaughtneil were the envy of parishes up and down the country as they achieved the remarkable feat of bringing home three Ulster Senior titles in three different codes. Here are a few awards that should cover the main talking points from the past year.
Best score: Sean Cavanagh (Tyrone)
As always there were no shortage of contenders for this award, but I’ll look no further than the Ulster Final for this one. I feel it would be hard to look past the two scores that won Tyrone the Anglo-Celt.
For magnitude, technique, distance and execution Peter Harte’s winning score was absolutely superb but for me one stood head and shoulders above the rest.
Sean Cavanagh's equaliser against Donegal was up there with one of the best points I have ever seen kicked on a Gaelic football field. Donegal had absolutely every player back inside their defensive ‘50’. Not only was space at a premium, but Cavanagh managed to escape the aggressive tacking of three Donegal defenders before being pushed back outside the 50 to start coming at the blanket again. Leaders step up in times of need, and Cavanagh didn’t disappoint as he burrowed through a mass of Donegal men to kick the score that would bring the Anglo-Celt home.
Most influential player: Michael Quinlivan (Tipperary)
In Ulster, Peter Harte and Ryan McHugh were consistently brilliant for their teams throughout the championship. Gary Brennan was an absolute colossus for Clare as they enjoyed a terrific season.
Lee Keegan got the player of the year gong and deservedly so, as he gobbled up some of the best players in the game. Sean Cavanagh and Diarmuid Connolly can testify to that. Brian Fenton had a superb year for Dublin whilst Cormac Costello kicked more points from play (0-3) in 15 minutes than any other Dublin or Mayo player managed over both All-Ireland finals.
But for this particular award I have decided to chose a player who could not have been replaced. The threat posed by this big man wasn’t lost on Mayo manager Stephen Rochford, as not only did he play his best defender on him in the All-Ireland Semi-final (Lee Keegan), but he also utilised his biggest midfielder (Barry Moran) as a sweeper to try and curb the threat of the Tipperary marksman.
The attention that he drew from the opposition defences left more room for the likes of Conor Sweeney to shine, but even with the double marking he still managed to finish the season at number 3 in the scoring charts with an impressive 2-27.
Most comprehensive performance: Tyrone ( v Cavan)
Fermanagh’s first half performance against Mayo was very impressive as they outclassed the westerners in every department. The same can be said of the way Dublin moved through the gears in the second half of their semi-final against Kerry. The direct football played by Tipperary in their quarter final victory over Galway was sublime, as they thrashed the Connacht champions by nine points. Yet Tyrone were a class apart in their Ulster semi-final clash with Cavan. One week they couldn’t hit a barn door, the next Tyrone racked up 5-18, in what ended up the biggest score in an Ulster Championship game in 65 years. After scoring 23 points themselves, Cavan were left shell shocked by a vintage Red Hand performance.
The angriest man: Neil McGee (Donegal)
Pete McGrath was understandably infuriated by the Aidan O’Se dive that won Mayo a penalty in their victory over Fermanagh. McGrath quipped “A county like Fermanagh is just a soft touch.....it wasn’t that he went down, he actually went up and down, which is a dive by anyone’s definition.” The entire county of Kerry were equally angered by David Gough’s officiating in their defeat to Dublin. Meanwhile, big Donegal full back, Neil McGee, saw red on two separate occasions in 2016. In a national league game against Kerry in Tralee he appeared to twist Alan Fitzgerald’s fingers before being rapped for his actions. In their Ulster SFC match against Fermanagh he saw red again as Ruairi Corrigan felt the force of his forearm.
The biggest villain: Aidan O'Shea (Mayo)
With 76 minutes on the clock and a point up, Diarmuid Connolly literally wrestled the ball off Ciaran Kilkenny to get hitting the sideline kick in what should have been the last play of the All-Ireland final. A simple retention of the ball would surely have been enough to run the clock down, but Connolly had other ideas, as he went for glory. This one misguided yet selfish act could have cost Dublin an All-Ireland. It has been reported recently that Mayo's Aidan O'Se was central to the ousting of the previous management team as well as trying to influence team selection and tactics. But I refer back to their qualifier game against Fermanagh. Already booked in the first half, the big Mayo man committed the text book cynical foul on Eoin Donnelly to disrupt the speed of a Fermanagh attack. He should have walked. But a matter of moments later it got worse, as he conned the referee once again, throwing himself to the ground in theatrical style to win his team a much needed penalty that broke Fermanagh hearts.
The biggest curveball: Jim Gavin (Dublin manager)
I didn’t consider the goal-keeping fiasco in Mayo for this award as it was more of a wrecking ball than a curveball. In their drawn semi-final against Tyrone, Terry Hyland made the bold move of playing twin towers David Givney and full back Killian Clarke on the square, before raining missiles on top of them. In the last seven minutes of their first half against Dublin, Eamonn Fitzmaurice plotted a daring tactic. Kerry pressed dangerously high on the Dublin kickout and it worked a treat as they scored 2-1 in that period.
Dublin boss Jim Gavin's decision to drop Bernard Brogan and Michael Darragh McAuley for the All-Ireland final replay took some guts. Had Dublin lost the replay then Gavin’s head would have been on the chopping board. But he made a brave, yet calculated decision based on what he had witnessed the first day. It paid off, as both men made telling contributions when introduced from the bench.
The biggest blunder: Stephen Rochford (Mayo manager)
In their All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Dublin, Eamonn Fitzmaurice made the strange decision to take off his most prolific forward Paul Geaney who had already scored 1-3. The refereeing performance of the usually dependant David Gough didn’t match up to the quality of the match itself. Most of the big calls went in favour of Dublin but the one that really stood out was the full frontal challenge by Kevin McMenaman on Peter Crowley as Kerry probed for an equaliser.
Not only was it a blatant foul but it was also a black card offence, yet the referee deemed it neither. In their Ulster Semi-final victory over Monaghan, Donegal managed to dupe the officials as they played with 16 men for over a minute at one stage. The Christy Ring final where the score was tallied incorrectly cost Antrim hurlers a national title. Then there was the seven subs fiasco in Portlaois, which proved another embarrassing episode.
Mayo manager Stephen Rochford made the call of dropping his goalkeeper David Clarke for the All-Ireland final replay. The decision became a sideshow before, during and after the game that Mayo just didn’t need. The call backfired in spectacular fashion as the replacement Rob Hennelly made a blunder that cost his team a goal and arguably an All-Ireland title.
