Gavin Cummiskeywas with the victorious Tyrone players in Dublin yesterday morning to get their reaction as their All-Ireland victory began to sink in
WE ARE basking in the sunlight outside the Citywest hotel, talking to the amiable All-Ireland goalscorer Tommy McGuigan about yet another rollercoaster Tyrone campaign that ended in the ultimate achievement for the third time this decade.
The roles have reversed with his older brother Brian McGuigan since 2005 when the then 22-year-old was confined to the stand as rehabilitation from a cruciate ligament injury entered its darkest moments.
"I suppose it puts you out for a while but also you kind of lose your appetite for it too. It's hard to get back. When I was 23, 24 I started getting back in but I was unlucky with a couple of injuries. I broke a wrist and again the knee kept playing up. Luckily enough this year I was injury free and had a good year and capped it all off yesterday."
McGuigan happily drifts back through the summer to a period when Tyrone people were lost in despair.
Dare it be mentioned now, but grumblings about Mickey Harte overstaying his welcome after six years at the helm could be heard last June when Down knocked them out of the Ulster championship in the epic battle of The Marshes.
It should be noted that it took Ross Carr's men 160 minutes of pulsating football to finally kill off a Tyrone team without so many key men. Enda McGinley was injured and desperately missed.
Brian Dooher was a yard off the pace and people presumed he was finished. Seán Cavanagh had yet to settle into a number 14 role, specifically designed for the footballer of the year (in waiting), but not yet perfectly honed by Mickey Harte. Tommy McGuigan was just a sub.
All four men are in line for All Star awards.
Now a maturing 25-year-old, McGuigan arrived on the field near the end of normal time to kick 0-6 and force Down back against the ropes.
"It was a funny game. We came off the field beat but we knew there was something there. As soon as we got into the changing rooms we were gutted, downhearted and all but two days later we had a meeting and we just knew we could still go on and win it. We just had to take a different route. We knew we were still in it.
"It was just one of those days when everything goes right. The performance definitely helped my confidence, certainly, for the rest of the year."
As is the Harte way, Tyrone gradually evolved into the team that eventually overcame Kerry but not before a rehabilitation process that included the scalps of Louth, Westmeath (when McGuigan landed another six points) and a poor display against Mayo (when Cavanagh saved them) before rebirth on the main stage against Dublin.
"Westmeath stood to us a lot. They put a lot of men behind the ball and we had to fight for that win. The Mayo game was probably our worst performance this year. We came through with a win. It actually set us up perfectly for the Dublin game.
"In the week in between we knew we had to up our game. We had nothing to lose and Dublin had everything to lose.
"Everything just seemed to go for us after the Down game."
Especially in those defining seconds after half-time on Sunday. Kevin Hughes had just come in for Collie Holmes when he found himself through on goal.
"I saw Hug (Kevin Hughes) going through one on one and I just knew he was going to miss," laughed McGuigan, who needed a moment before adding: "To tell you the truth I thought (Pádraig) Reidy had it. Pádraig seemed to lose his footing a wee bit and I wasn't going to pass up that opportunity."
There are other interesting snippets from Citywest. Team trainer Fergal McCann tells us about the morning of the Ulster final, a day after Tyrone beat Louth in the qualifiers, when Raymie Mulgrew and Owen Mulligan - two regulars who slipped down the pecking order due to injury - sought an extra session.
"They were with me at a quarter past nine the next morning. There was Tyrone people coming up past to watch our minors in Clones and seeing the boys having a work-out that morning. The (other) boys just fed off things like that."
And then there is the Monday night club.
"A session for six, eight, 10 of us," McCann continued. "Really guys who didn't get game time and just to leave them mentally in a good place so they know whenever they are called upon they have done the work.
"The minimum requirement we always look for is work-rate. Honesty.
"You can't ask for much more. There is no secret."
All-Ireland MFC Final
The GAA has confirmed that the replay of the minor football final - at Pearse Park, Longford, next Saturday at 2.30pm - will be all-ticket.
Tickets are available from the participating county boards, GAA.ie and Ticketmaster from this morning.
Stand: €20. Terrace €15. OAPs/Students: €10. Juveniles: €5.
Goal Challenge
A big attendance is expected at Omagh tomorrow evening (5:30pm) when Tyrone take on club side Coalisland in the annual Goal Challenge.
All proceeds will aid Goal's relief and rehabilitation in Ethiopia. It is hoped to surpass the crowd of 14,200 which was present in Dungiven when Derry played in the Goal Challenge in 1993.
