GAA:FATHER TIME looked in on this great Tyrone team last Saturday night. He was draped in blue and navy. It ended on the same battlefield where they thrice captured Sam Maguire. It ended on the same patch of grass where they gutted Dublin in 2005 and 2008.
Mickey Harte branded this as a narrow view, but it is already confirmed that several from the three-time All-Ireland winning Tyrone club will not be seen again. Not in Croke Park in August, and certainly not September.
An untouchable era has past then. Seán Cavanagh was the swashbuckling kid back in 2003 so, still only 28, there is plenty more running in the accountant’s legs but he knows a new generation must rise from the ashes of this battering inflicted by Dublin.
“There is no doubt,” said Cavanagh when asked about retirements. “I know for sure that a few guys have said this is their last year so there is going to be a slight change of the guard.”
Who will step off the carousel? Brian Dooher, their great leader, turns 36 on Wednesday. Philip Jordan is only 31 but he nearly didn’t come back this season. Owen Mulligan, 30, walked away mid-campaign only to be cajoled back into the fold. Mulligan, interestingly, was allegedly frustrated about being usurped by the next wave of Tyrone predators.
“There are an awful lot of young players sitting on that bench there, itching at the bit to get a chance to play football,” Cavanagh went on. “I certainly don’t think this is the end of Tyrone. As hard as this is to take, there is certainly the basis of a good team there.”
Harte will remain at the helm for 2012 as he sees “no reason” for that to change despite Saturday’s result.
He did concede that change is coming. “There is always change in every squad, every year,” said Harte. “I think people are a wee bit thinking too narrowly to say that this is a team that is going to disappear all in one go. That’s not the case.
“There are some players who are near the end of their career and they will make a decision that is right for them but there will be no wholesale turnover. As you would look through the team that started today there was not too many elder statesmen who started.”
True, only six of Saturday’s starters ran out for the 2003 All-Ireland final. Yet it has become apparent that Tyrone’s bid for a fourth All-Ireland title was dependant on the second-half impact of men like Dooher, Stephen O’Neill and Enda McGinley. This time when the cavalry bounded into the fray the infantry were already routed.
“We came here expecting more from ourselves,” admitted Cavanagh. “We went out there and the energy and pace and the power of Dublin blew us away. You have to bow down to that whenever you are beaten by a team that is far superior on the day. There is no easy way to lose but it is probably the best way to lose.
“Dublin beat us in all sectors of the field; their energy and their system of play was far superior to ours. We couldn’t match it. It’s definitely the best Dublin team I’ve ever come up against,” continued the former footballer of the year who, as Pat Gilroy said, was silenced by Denis Bastick.
“In the past they scored in waves – they scored five and you scored five. But out there today even when we tagged on a couple of points they were very quick to go up and get scores themselves.”
But, Seán, are Dublin good enough to, well, you know?
“They are going to be very dangerous and I fancy them to beat Donegal. It looks like it is going to be a Kerry-Dublin final at this stage.”
So, maybe, Kerry and Dublin back together again as Tyrone gallantly step aside.
