Tyrone have become the dominant force in Gaelic football in the new millennium.
This has not happened by accident. Their first ten year plan was launched in the mid-90s. The massive document was a masterwork, dealing with every conceivable aspect of the GAA in Tyrone. The authors were not simply visionaries, but brilliant admini
strators. The ideology of the strategy was therefore matched by its logic. There was a detailed plan for the schools, from primary to second level, for all clubs, for integration between the clubs, schools and the county, for development squads, for fund raising etc. The structures were swiftly set in place and the work began.
It was implemented with military precision, with the ideals of the GAA to the fore: volunteerism, the amateur ethos, self-help, community based work. The basic idea was simple but brilliant. Get it right at local level, and this will in due course translate into success on the bigger stage. The first ten year plan has ended, the second is already in full swing.
Participation is at saturation point. The schools are flying. Every primary school child in Tyrone knows every senior player since apart from everything else they visit the schools in rotation. Every primary school child in Tyrone has a county jersey. The grammar schools are monopolising their competitions. It used to be St. Pat's, Maghera and St. Coleman's. Now it is an annual carvery between Omagh CBS and St Pat's, Dungannon. St. Pat's pipped them to it this year, leaving them with three apiece in the decade, including the foot and mouth year when they shared the trophy.
Likewise their vocational schools teams, both at school and county level, sit proudly atop the medal charts. Crucially, their clubs are flying in all divisions. Greencastle, a tiny club outside Omagh were the All-Ireland junior champions in 2007. Stewartstown Harps, an even smaller club, were junior finalists the year before. Last year, The Rock, a place you've never been and which does not appear on any 'sat nav' - Ulster's Bermuda triangle if you like - continued the trend by winning the Ulster junior championship, before going on to narrowly lose the final. The current Ulster intermediate champions are Trillick. The list goes on.
Interestingly, they are also flying in the scor. The innovators of their master-plan were right. This massive local work has led to massive participation. This massive participation has caused the games and ideals to flourish. The knock-on effect for them at county level has been astonishing. In the period covered by the first plan, three All-Ireland minor titles, and two senior titles were annexed. Their senior team has assumed the aura that once was Kerry's. Young footballers nowadays dream of the red and white, not the green and gold. When Christy Cooney spins the glass drum, no one wants to see their name pulled out against the Red Hands.
Flourishing
Tyrone represent the ideal. This is a magnificent thriving GAA county, where the cultural and social ideals are flourishing. The Celtic tiger is of no importance. When you go to Tyrone, you never hear anyone talking about mortgage rates. The only recent example of negative equity in Tyrone was when they went four points behind to Kildare in Croke Park.
I like to think of them as emancipating the GAA. It's not simply that they have freed the country from the yoke of Kerry and the others. Far more importantly, they have given all of us in the country the blueprint for preserving our ideals and ways. Better than that, their key people have shown a willingness to help other counties to follow their lead.
In Derry for example, we have had enormous hands on help from Tyrone in setting up our new long term structures at every level. In effect, we have copied their plan. In 1957, the British government set up a Royal Commission to investigate the criminal laws and engage in root and branch reform. The Commission took nine years to complete this most laborious and complex task at a cost of £25million. The result was the 1967 Criminal Law Amendment Act, which is perhaps the most sophisticated and wide ranging piece of legislation ever drafted. The following year, the Irish government changed the first paragraph, and photocopied it into law. Tyrone's ten year plans are available on request.
Tyrone are the rebels of Irish life. They stand against the capitalist obsessions of the modern world, where the individual is king. They are working tirelessly to entrench that sense of community which is the essence of civilised life.
Cork meanwhile are not rebels. They only had one after all, and they shot him. This is the group that embraces the ideals not of the GAA, but of the GPA, clutching their lucozade bottles to their hearts during interviews, telling us how much they love the jersey, while planning to go on strike. They might as well be Cork City FC.
I for one will be cheering for Tyrone on Sunday. All Ulster Gaels should do the same.
