Sport

Kenny Archer: Unfair provincial format means no second chance for Tyrone - or anyone

Kenny Archer

Kenny Archer

Kenny is the deputy sports editor and a Liverpool FC fan.

The man-marking methods deployed against Conor McKenna (background) were Tyrone manager Mickey Harte&rsquo;s main area of complaint.<br /> Pic Philip Walsh
The man-marking methods deployed against Conor McKenna (background) were Tyrone manager Mickey Harte’s main area of complaint.
Pic Philip Walsh
The man-marking methods deployed against Conor McKenna (background) were Tyrone manager Mickey Harte’s main area of complaint.
Pic Philip Walsh

YOU have to feel sorry for Tyrone.

Ah, go on.

Or, at least, read on. Please. I'll throw Armagh hurlers into the mix as requiring sympathy too.

I realise that intro will be a hard sell to anyone not from the O'Neill county, while their neighbours to the east will be more concerned about their success over Derry in the big ball code than any hurling-related unfairness.

Sitting in the press box at Ballybofey after Donegal deservedly defeated the Red Hands on Sunday, I overheard a TV technician commenting 'That was a popular result around the country'.

Shortly after that I discovered that the chair I'd moved into was sodden, and the back of my jeans were soaked. When it's not your day…

The tears shed for the Tyrone footballers by those without any Red Hand allegiance wouldn't have wet the head of a pin, of course.

Yet that doesn't mean they don't have some cause for complaint.

Partly about their loss to Donegal, although the hosts were the better team on the day, but maybe more about the fact that they don't get another chance in this year's Championship. Or at least that they're out after such a difficult outing.

Tyrone boss Mickey Harte may have a reputation as a 'moaner' when in truth he's mostly answering the questions he is asked.

In that regard, he remains far more open and helpful than most managers. Some of them simply refuse to answer tricky questions, others respond with blandness.

Of course he sometimes pushes his own agenda, but most managers do that too.

Harte always says what he thinks, which is admirable, at least in my eyes.

Sure, he sees things through red-and-white tinted glasses, but he usually argues his case cogently and coherently.

Besides, many critics are equally blinkered in their hatred of Tyrone, completely ignoring the wrongdoings of others, focussing only on the 'crimes' of the Red Hands. The BBC NI analysis was fair and balanced, however.

The Tyrone boss was actually remarkably philosophical, almost good-humoured, in his post-match analysis/ interview with the press.

Many a manager might have argued that, by the letter of the law (or at least the GAA's Official Guide), a penalty should have been awarded for a defender touching the ball on the ground with his hand inside the small 'square', as Donegal's Stephen McMenamin (inadvertently) did as he scrambled to prevent Conor McKenna turning a loose ball to the net.

Harte did not do that, nor did he attempt to claim that Paul Brennan should have seen red for his light slap to the head of Michael McKernan before half-time. Again, had there been a strict application of the rules then the decision would have gone against Donegal.

Even his complaints about Neil McGee's methods of man-marking on McKenna in the first half were prompted, perhaps provoked, by *ahem* a certain reporter's clumsy characterisation of that battle, using the phrase 'well-marshalled'.

Otherwise, Harte accepted the defeat, not happily but as part of life and sport.

Maybe that lack of complaint is indicative of his future intentions, that he may step away from the senior post after 18 seasons in charge, perhaps to be succeeded by his assistant Gavin Devlin, with the 2021 League campaign not really all that far away.

Harte's regrets on Sunday were that his Tyrone team didn't take more of their chances – and that their Championship was over after one narrow defeat away to a very good side.

Worse teams than Tyrone will get another go.

The county's hurlers, for one.

The Tyrone hurlers were thrashed the day before its footballers, losing by 17 points at home to Mayo – but the Red Hand hurl-wielders still get another go in the Nickey Rackard Cup.

Somewhat strangely Armagh don't, despite also losing in that round 2A, but at least that was the second Championship outing for the Orchard County hurlers, having won in round one against Leitrim, who – somehow – do go on to round 2B, along with Tyrone .

Indeed, every hurling team is guaranteed at least a second chance. Those in the second tier, the Joe McDonagh Cup, will actually get at least four matches – although there's a certain justice to that, given how that entertaining, hard-fought competition has been largely ignored.

The problem, as ever, is the provincial championships in football.

The lack of any provincial series in hurling in Connacht and Ulster, and the restriction of the Leinster championship's participants to five counties (with the same number taking part in Munster), allows hurling to keep its back doors open.

Football's imbalanced structures mean that Tyrone are out while teams from Divisions Three and Four trundle on in Leinster and Munster, having beaten other teams from Divisions Three or Four.

In his post-match TV interview Harte made the eminently sensible suggestion that perhaps some form of seeding should have applied to the Championship draw.

This column has made that case on several occasions, not just for this extraordinary year.

Such a system would give even greater credibility to the National Football League.

For all the criticism of Ulster football, it will have four teams in Division One next year – Donegal, Tyrone, Monaghan, and Armagh.

Only one of them will reach this year's Ulster Final.

I'd make this case if Donegal had narrowly lost out too; Derry and Monaghan are gone after narrow defeats, the latter after actually drawing in normal time.

In another adverse aspect, Monaghan's conquerors Cavan will have to win three matches to reach the Ulster final – whereas three Connacht sides have to get just one victory to make their provincial decider.

There's the same scenario in Munster, but the fact that Kerry could be out after one match, away to their arch-rivals Cork, isn't right either.

This should have been the year for an open draw in football, or at the very least a seeded one.

Instead, football simply muddles on. The cream will probably still rise to the top, but the presence of so many clots still sticks in the throat.