Red Hands to face Orchard men in Ulster Championship opener

TYRONE'S blockbuster clash with Armagh is the stand-out tie not just of the 2026 Ulster Senior Football Championship, but of the entire fixtures schedule for all four provinces.

The fierce rivals were drawn to meet each other in the preliminary round of next year’s series, a mouth-watering encounter and a tough and testing proposition for both counties.

It will be a repeat of this year’s Ulster semi-final, which the Orchard men, as reigning All-Ireland champions, won by a point in a dramatic finish to a memorable game at Clones.

Tyrone will have to travel to the Athletic Grounds for this one, and there will be no home comforts at any stage of the Ulster Championship for the Red Hands, for should they manage to get he better of Armagh, they face another away tie against Fermanagh in the quarter-final.

“The Athletic Grounds, in my experience, outside of Croke Park and a full house, is the best atmosphere in the country,” said recently retired Armagh forward, Stefan Campbell, who was among the special guests at the draw at GAA headquarters.

“If there’s anyone that hasn’t experienced it, I would highly recommend getting a ticket for that one.”

And the winners of that game face the prospect of coming up against reigning provincial champions Donegal in the semi-final.

This year’s beaten All-Ireland finalists will be fancied to get the better of Down in their opener at Ballybofey to set up a possible repeat of the 2024 All-Ireland round robin clash with their north-west neighbours, which Tyrone won at MacCumhaill Park.

There’s no doubt that Tyrone find themselves on the tough side of the draw, which was made at Croke Park and streamed live by the GAA.

On the other side, Derry will face Antrim, with the winners advancing to a semi-final against either Monaghan or Cavan.

The Armagh-Tyrone tie will take place next April, with the Athletic Grounds certain to be packed to capacity and viewed also by a live worldwide TV audience.

There’s a lot of football to be played between now and then, but the championship meeting with Armagh will be at the forefront of the minds of manager Malachy O’Rourke and his players and coaches in everything they do in the manner that they develop a style of play designed to give them the best possible chance of getting the better of Kieran McGeeney’s men.

Next month’s Dr McKenna Cup campaign will see the beginning of that process, with Tyrone to face Armagh and Down in the group stage, followed by a National Football League Division Two series which will see them take on Derry, Meath, Cavan, Louth, Offaly, Kildare and Cork.

The NFL provisional fixtures are currently being considered by county officials, and will be confirmed later this month.

Having reached the All-Ireland semi-final this year, Tyrone are aiming to build on the achievements of Malachy O’Rourke’s first season in charge by going further and lifting the Sam Maguire Cup.

The 2025 Ulster Championship campaign began with a 1-24 to 0-20 win over Cavan at O’Neills Healy Park, the only goal of the game scored by midfielder Conn Kilpatrick, with his Edendork team-mate Darren McCurry hitting seven points and Ruairi Canavan and Kieran McGeary also chopping in with a handful of scores each.

The semi-final attracted a huge crowd to Clones for a bumper encounter with All-Ireland champions Armagh, and a memorable encounter went right to the wire before a late Rory Grugan point saw the Orchard men shade it by 0-23 to 0-22.

McCurry was again on song for the Red Hands with a ten points haul, along with four from Darragh Canavan. Armagh went on to lose the provincial final by a point to Donegal.

On to the All-Ireland round robin phase, and Tyrone travelled to Ballybofey, and stunned the home side with a superb performance and a morale-boosting 2-17 to 0-20 victory.

Both goals were scored by Seanie O’Donnell on a day that gave O’Rourke’s men real belief in themselves, while Darren McCurry contributed 0-7, with a couple of points each coming from Darragh Canavan and Peter Harte.

However, the Red Hands were brought crashing back down to earth in their next game, with Mayo travelling to Omagh still smarting from their home defeat to Cavan.

The Connacht men swept to a 2-17 to 1-13 success on a disappointing afternoon for a big crowd of home fans who had turned out in expectation of another big performance from their side.

Darragh Canavan gave the Red Hands hope with a goal, adding three points as well, and goalkeeper Niall Mogran finished with a 0-4 haul, but the home side was second best on the day.

The concluding group game brought a second meeting with Cavan, and again it was Tyrone who came out on top at Brewster Park in Enniskillen, dominating the Breffni men on their way to a 0-31 to 0-18 success.

McCurry maintained his run of sizzling form with a 0-9 tally, with Darragh Cavan firing over five points, while there were four from Mattie Donnelly and three from defender Rory Brennan.

The result secured first place in the group, sending Tyrone straight through to the All-Ireland quarter-finals, avoiding the fixture congestion associated with the preliminary quarter-finals.

A block-buster clash with Dublin brought the Ulster men to Croke Park for that last eight clash, and they turned on the style, defeating the Metropolitans by 0-23 to 0-16.

An even spread of scorers was led by Morgan with 0-3, with four from Peter Harte, three Darragh Canavan points and two each from McCurry, Kieran McGeary, Peter Teague, Ruairi Canavan and Ciaran Daly.

So the scene was set for a semi-final meeting with Kerry back at Croke Park, and it was a painful afternoon for the Red Hands as David Clifford inspired the Kingdom to a 1-20 to 0-17 win, scoring 1-9 to underline his standing as the game’s greatest attacker.

Darragh Canavan’s 0-7 contribution was not enough to inspire his side to victory over the eventual champions, with two points each scored by Mattie Donnelly, Ciaran Daly, Seanie O’Donnell and Ruairi Canavan.

Ulster SFC 2026

Preliminary round

Armagh v Tyrone

Quarter-finals

Derry v Antrim

Monaghan v Cavan

Donegal v Down

Fermanagh v Armagh/Tyrone

Semi-finals

Derry/Antrim v Monaghan/Cavan

Donegal/Down v Fermanagh/Armagh/Tyrone