There’s a certain correlation between Errigal Ciaran breaking out of Ulster and good times rolling for Tyrone.
Amazingly, for a county that has won 14 Ulster titles since the provincial club championship was initiated over 50 years ago, more than any other county in that period, only three times have their club representatives gone all the way in Ulster – and each time it was Errigal Ciaran (1993, 2002, ‘24).
On the back of the club’s first title, Tyrone reached the Ulster final in 1994, their first in five years, losing to a more experienced Down side that went on to win the All-Ireland, though they won the next two provincial titles and were extremely unlucky not to go all the way in 1995, losing to Dublin by a point.
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Back then, Errigal’s only two county players were the Canavan brothers, Pascal and Peter. Peter’s sons, Ruairi and Darragh, are stars of the current club side and are already making significant waves with Tyrone. Their cousin, Tommy, is also a key member of the forward line; his father, Stevie, was part of that Ulster club winning side in 1993 too.
Of course, Tyrone’s re-emergence in the mid-90s was backboned by their All-Ireland under-21 winning sides of 1991 and ‘92 and when they finally made the senior breakthrough more than a decade later there was a symmetry with under-21 success and Errigal Ciaran making waves beyond the county in the run up to it.
Tyrone were All-Ireland under-21 champions in 2000 and ‘01. Errigal won their second Ulster title in 2002. The following year Tyrone won their first senior All-Ireland, captained by Peter Canavan, who was joined by clubmate and current Errigal manager Enda McGinley on the team.
Fast-forward a couple of decades or so and history is repeating itself once again. Tyrone have won two of the last three All-Ireland under-20 titles, with last year’s side particularly impressive, while Errigal have just bridged the 22-year gap to their last provincial crown. And, just as in late 2002, Tyrone have just appointed an Errigal Ciaran clubman with a proven track record of success as Malachy O’Rourke looks to emulate Mickey Harte’s achievements in the 2000s.
At this remove, the raw material appears to be there, even if 2025 may be a little early for the undoubted potential to be fully tapped into. Tyrone have endured a decidedly underwhelming period since their against-the-head All-Ireland win in 2021, reaching just one quarter-final in which they were decisively beaten, but yet there is a justified sense of optimism about what might be around the corner with O’Rourke at the helm.
But first, Errigal face Dr Crokes in Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final in Portlaoise, looking to become the first club from the county to reach the final and thereafter, they hope, address the anomaly that one of the most successful Gaelic football counties in modern times has yet to produce All-Ireland club champions.
History has told us that their progress certainly doesn’t do Tyrone any harm.
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