Tyrone aiming to overthrow Kingdom to earn place in All-Ireland Championship final

GAA reports by Francis Mooney

TYRONE'S mission to overthrow the Kingdom and earn a place in the 2025 All-Ireland Football Championship final takes them to Croke Park this weekend for the county’s biggest game in four years.

A first appearance in the showpiece occasion since 2021 is just 70 minutes away, and the Red Hands are ready to launch themselves into battle with one of their fiercest rivals.

It’s down to four, with Donegal v Meath and Kerry v Tyrone the appetising Semi-Final line-up on the Croke Park menu over this weekend.

Both of last year’s finalists, Armagh and Galway, exited at the quarter-final stage. Defending champions, Armagh, lost to Kerry by eight points while Galway went down to Meath by a point.

Donegal beat Monaghan by six points, while Tyrone booked a semi-final place with a seven-point win over Dublin.

Kerry are in the semi-final for a fifth successive year, Donegal are there for a second successive year, while Tyrone were last there in 2021. Meath’s last semi-final outing was in 2009. Kerry and Tyrone last met in the semi-final in 2021 when Tyrone won (3-14 to 0-22) in extra-time.

Kerry will go into Saturday’s semi-final as favourites by virtue of their stunning victory over reigning champions Armagh in the quarter-final, and the quality of their performance on that occasion marked them out as an exceptional team.

Tyrone go into the game under the radar following an unspectacular win over a faltering Dublin side, but they know they have the quality to mix it with the best.

Led by skipper Brian Kennedy, they will show no fear of the Munster giants, with Darragh Canavan, Peter Harte, Darren McCurry and Mattie Donnelly set to play leading roles up front.

Kerry’s much-vaunted attack, led by the great David Clifford, poses a serious threat, but with Padraig Hampsey, Rory Brennan, Niall Devlin and Kieran McGeary ready to stand firm and commit to every challenge, the Red Hands can make it a difficult afternoon for their opponents.

Manager Malachy O’Rourke is confident he has the strength in depth to deal with all the demands that an All-Ireland semi-final brings, and will no doubt seek to freshen things up from the bench at some stage of Saturday’s tie.

“We've used a lot of different players with injury and different things. A number of fellas came in but all the panellists are working really hard and we're more than happy to throw different fellas in when we see fit, depending on who's coming off and things like that,” he said.

And he’s hoping that he can get another bumper return from attempts for two-pointers, with four orange flags raised in the first half alone in the quarter-final win over Dublin.

“It wasn't a case that we came and said, we're going to go for two-pointers. But we have a number of lads who are good at shooting from distance and it just opened up and the boys backed themselves to score.

“But there's no doubt it had a big impact in the first half. It meant that we went in leading by a point but we had four two-pointers which is massive.”

And he believes he has one of the most skilful squads in the country, a group of players who can catch fire on the big occasion.

“You're obviously looking at quality and a good high skill level and everything else, but if you don't have that bite and you don't have fellas prepared to work really hard for each other and there's no such thing as a lost cause, you're not going to win.

“So I’m really delighted with that. In fairness to the boys, they've shown great application all year.”

A mix of youth and experience has proved to be a winning formula for the Red Hands as they topped their round robin group, before moving on with victory over the Dubs.

With veterans Mattie Donnelly and Peter Harte still going strong, the balance is working well for O’Rourke’s side.

“It's a lovely balance to have. The likes of Petey and Mattie and Kieran McGeary, maybe he wouldn't want me bringing him into that bracket.

“But Kieran's an experienced player as well. Just to have that level-headedness in the middle of the chaos, just to make sure to keep the other fellas right and to use the ball well and things like that.

“But as well as that, the two lads, Mattie and Petey, among the panel, they're great role models. The way they've prepared and the way they've looked after themselves over a number of years, it's really good and it rubs off on the other younger fellas coming through. So it's great that they're still there and still able to do it and long may it continue.”

Wing back Michael McKernan missed the clash with Dublin, having suffered a shoulder injury in the early stages of the group tie against Cavan, but O’Rourke is hoping he may be able to play some part at Croke Park on Saturday.

“He’s mad keen to get back out, but we'll have to go with the medical people. But there's no doubt it has improved, even in the last week or so. So we'll give them every chance.

“I suppose there's a chance, but we'll have to see closer to time. But we'll just have to let the medical people deal with that. And if they have felt that he has a chance, great, but we'll be guided by them.”

The Red Hands will take the same approach to the clash with Kerry and prepare in the same manner as they did ahead of the quarter-final against Dublin.

“We're just worried about ourselves. We got relegated in the league, we were disappointed with that, but the championship iss going better and we felt that we were improving.

“The boys were putting in a lot of effort and we just wanted to put in a big performance. And I suppose we've smelt that improvement in a way. And just look, obviously, we felt if we got that we had a great chance of getting through and that's how it turned out.

“But it's very a case of just keeping the heads down and realising it was enough on the day, but it's going to go up a level again for the next day. And we just want to prepare as best we can for that.”