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Brendan Crossan: More road in front of this special group of Tyrone players

Tyrone celebrate at the end of last weekend's famous All-Ireland win
Tyrone celebrate at the end of last weekend's famous All-Ireland win Tyrone celebrate at the end of last weekend's famous All-Ireland win

ONE of the most exhilarating Gaelic football matches I’ve covered in over two decades was the 2015 U21 All-Ireland final between Tyrone and Tipperary.

Tipp had moulded arguably the greatest group of footballers the county ever produced - Collie O’Riordan, Kevin O’Halloran, Steven O’Brien, Evan Comerford, Bill Maher, Jimmy Feehan – no wonder they were declared favourites to lift the cup on a rainy night at a heaving Parnell Park.

Although they were nipped at the finish line by their Ulster counterparts it’s testimony to the ability and commitment within Tipp’s ranks that so many of that crew are still lining out for the senior team, while O’Riordan is back playing Aussie Rules.

The first thought that 2015 All-Ireland decider conjures is the breakneck speed it was played at. It was my first proper close-up view of Tyrone’s under belly.

Mark Kavanagh had an unbelievable game. Out of all those players, I thought the classy Errigal Ciaran playmaker was a nailed-on certainty to break into Tyrone’s senior team.

But Kavanagh didn’t make the breakthrough. It’s so hard to predict the trajectory of minor and U21 players.

So much can happen on that precarious bridge between U21s (now U20s) and senior.

In recent conversation, Mickey Harte insists we’ll be hearing more of Kavanagh before too long.

Tyrone had Conor Meyler, Frank Burns, Padraig Hampsey, Rory Brennan, Lee Brennan, Mark Bradley, Cathal McShane, Michael Cassidy and Kieran McGeary – all of whom were either on the field or around the squad last weekend.

Six years on and they've all stayed the distance.

It’s been fascinating to watch the trajectory of each of these young men - their development, the blips, the injuries, the comebacks. The way in which they climbed the mountain to claim the game's top prize was nothing short of remarkable.

Around 2015, Tyrone were labouring somewhat. Mickey Harte managed to get a tune out of the last remaining members of the All-Ireland class of '08.

What he couldn't do was bring in the victorious U21s en masse.

Mark Bradley and Cathal McShane were the first ones to graduate to the senior team. The rest would follow at different times.

There was never any doubt about Hampsey making it. He just had to wait his turn.

Meyler was a conundrum. The Omagh man still had some maturing to do and it was a matter of manager and player working out where best he could serve the team. That process would take time.

It probably took Frank Burns three years to make the breakthrough. He found his home under Harte as a defensive sweeper and announced his arrival in a National League game against Kerry at Healy Park in 2018.

That day, Burns did the best impersonation you’d see of Conor Gormley. He read the game superbly and stood up countless Kerry runners like he’d been playing senior football for 10 years.

“It was as good a performance that we have seen from a Tyrone player at any level over the years,” Harte said afterwards, “and I don’t think Cathal McShane was very far behind him either.”

And there would be no stopping U21 captain Kieran McGeary and the rest.

What helped some of these players grow into fully-fledged inter-county footballers was their Sigerson Cup win with St Mary’s in 2017 of which McGeary, Meyler and McShane featured.

No-one knows the hard terrain of university football better than ‘Ranch coach Paddy Tally.

“I’ve always maintained if you can play Sigerson football at St Mary’s and dominate, you’ll make it at county level because you have to out-perform every single day you go out because we don’t have the resources that other teams have, or the big-name players,” Tally said.

“All those guys would have been outstanding college players, they had the stomach for the fight.”

The tougher the apprenticeship, the better the tradesman. In Croke Park last Saturday there were heart-warming stories in every Tyrone jersey in achieving the ultimate goal.

Just the sheer staying power of the class of U21 was inspiring. They never gave up.

The evolution of Meyler and McShane were awesome narratives along the way.

Even beyond these players, you look at the likes of Niall Morgan - the cocky kid who was roasted in Ballybofey in 2013 for cupping his ears as his game fell apart in the full glare of the national media.

Despite a series of setbacks and difficult moments in a roller-coaster inter-county career, the Edendork clubman got stronger - not weaker, as columnist and former Donegal manager Jim McGuinness twice suggested in the lead-up to this year's All-Ireland final.

Morgan’s willingness to accept pressure in all situations summed up this Tyrone team.

And his world opened up as soon as Brian Kennedy and Conn Kilpatrick were staring from midfield with their hands up in the air.

Darren McCurry stepped away in 2018 with a bruised reputation - only to return to play the shirt off his back in 2021 and leave Croke Park last Saturday evening as the best player on the field.

Conor McKenna's journey back to the holy ground.

Every team needs a Michael O’Neill. The Ardboe man’s two turnovers against Kerry are sure to feature on any highlights reel.

The sheer selflessness and flawless standards set by Mattie Donnelly, and how Niall Sludden became one of the great pick pockets of 2021.

Michael McKernan’s pass with the outside of his right foot to Ronan McNamee that led to Darragh Canavan’s 67th minute score against Mayo.

And what of McNamee? The unrepentant, devil-may-care wing of Tyrone football. Now there's a journey and a half.

And there's still plenty of road in front of this special group of footballers. That's the exciting part for Tyrone supporters.