Colm McCullagh urges Red Hand supporters to back Tyrone footballers
Tyrone selector Colm McCullagh before the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Round 1 match between Donegal and Tyrone at MacCumhaill Park in Ballybofey, Donegal. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.
Colm McCullagh says there is no doubt that Tyrone would love a bigger support.
The Red Hand fanbase have been spoiled with success over the last 25 years, landing four All-Ireland senior titles and eight Ulster crowns.
Throw in no less than six All-Ireland minor titles, and five more at under-20/21 level, and bar Kerry no-one has enjoyed so much success across the board in the last quarter of a century.
Just 2,000 fans attended Tyrone’s recent Allianz Division 2 encounter with Cavan, while in general the O’Neill County haven’t been well supported in recent years.
Next weekend Tyrone will go to the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds to face an Armagh side that could barely be in a different position fan wise.
Perhaps bar Mayo, per head of population few, if any, counties have bigger support than Armagh.
It’s sure to be a cauldron at the Athletic Grounds: “Aye look. There's no getting away from it. We would love to have more support than we have at the minute," admitted McCullagh.
“What's the factor? Why is that? I can't put a nail on exactly why it is.”
One of the big factors in the case of Tyrone may well be the ultra competitive club scene and the amount of time put into it by county fans.
“Clubs in Tyrone are very competitive as well,” continued 2008 All-Ireland winner McCullagh.
“I don't know if everyone puts so much into their own club then they lose focus a wee bit of the county when the clubs are number one. I don't know if other counties are the same. I don't know for sure - the focus on Tyrone club football.
“When Tyrone are not going as well as we would like them to be going, if we were going better, would there be more people out? I don't know what other counties are like.
“In Tyrone, a lot of the League games are on TV now as well - I think maybe only one game wasn’t shown on TV.
“It’s easier to sit in the house and watch it from the comfort of your own home when things aren’t going as well as you’d like them to go.
“Maybe if they weren't on TV there would be more people going to them then.
“So there are accumulating factors of why that is. But there is no getting away from the fact that we would love to see a lot more getting out behind us and supporting the county more.”
Young supporters form a queue as Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan signs autographs after the 2025 Allianz Football League Division 1 match between Tyrone and Dublin at O'Neills Healy Park in Omagh, Tyrone. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile.
The opportunity will be there this weekend as the Ulster Championship throw-ins with a huge local derby tie in Armagh City.
“We played Armagh in the McKenna Cup and there were over 7,000 at it on a Friday night,” said Dromore man McCullagh. “You are talking about 2,000 at a Tyrone League game.
“Armagh have got serious support. It can be an intimidating place to go to. It's a close wee ground and there is a serious atmosphere about it.
“Even the last League game between Kerry and Armagh. Obviously Kerry were travelling a long distance and when they were getting scores towards the end there was silence. When Armagh were getting them, the place was rocking.
“So the atmosphere that they can create there in the Athletic Grounds is something they can be proud of.”
One of the big positives this year for Tyrone is the form of Ethan Jordan, who has converted to full-time GAA from playing Irish League soccer.
McCullagh, a former Irish League soccer player, knows about that transition.
He said: “I would say he was playing soccer for five or six years - at centre-half by all accounts!
“The game against Coalisland in the Championship is where he really caught the eye - he kicked 17 points (first round Tyrone IFC). He is not playing any soccer now obviously.
“I suppose back then, Mickey (Harte) was 100 per cent right - you can only do one. You can’t do both. It is impossible to mix both of them. The levels of training and stuff. Even then, that soccer was a breeze, to be honest, compared to going into inter-county Gaelic football.
“The levels of demand, expectation and training. Back then it was night and day.
“I am not sure what the Irish League is now. Ethan is adapting to the whole training, the work loads involved.”
“Ethan has been a good help. In terms of those two pointers, if he gets an opportunity he is accurate.
“He is new to inter-county. His body is getting used to all that as well in terms of the load of training.
“He has picked up a few knocks and injuries. He was in a game and then missed a game so he hasn't had a clean run of games. His body is probably getting used to it as well, the demands of training.”
