Ulster’s captain marvels lead by example in top 20 rankings
THREE All-Ireland-winning captains fill top spot in their respective Ulster counties in our 202050 series, which runs all week and ranks the top 20 players in counties, provinces and nationally.
Peter Canavan (Tyrone), Michael Murphy (Donegal) and Kieran McGeeney (Armagh), all of whom were so important in their counties’ All-Ireland successes, will also be leading contenders for inclusion in our Ulster top 20. So too will Anthony Tohill (Derry) and Greg Blaney (Down), who also featured on All-Ireland-winning sides during long careers.
Today, we carry the top 20s in football for the last 50 years in the nine Ulster counties, plus their hurling counterparts from Antrim and Down.
Connacht counties will feature tomorrow, followed on Friday by the top 20s from the four provinces. The top 20s in both codes will be published on Saturday.
The last 40 years, in particular, have been very successful for Ulster, with no fewer than five counties, Armagh, Derry, Donegal, Down (2) and Tyrone (3) winning All-Ireland titles, while Derry (five), Tyrone (two), Down, Monaghan, Armagh and Donegal all won league titles.
Cavan won an Ulster title in 1997 and Fermanagh qualified for the All-Ireland semi-final for the first time in 2004, leaving Antrim as the only county who didn’t get among the main action in the last 50 years.
However, Antrim’s hurlers reached the All-Ireland final for the first time in 46 years in 1989, earning many of the players of that era a top 20 place.
FIVE All Stars and a Footballer of the Year award would be enough to earn top spot in every county except Kerry, Dublin and Tyrone. Seán Cavanagh is the unlucky one in Tyrone, edged out by Peter Canavan, who has a similar haul.
Cavanagh’s supporters will, no doubt, claim that his highoctane game all over the pitch took him ahead of Canavan, who spent most of his time poaching close to goal.
So why opt for Canavan at No 1? To a certain degree, it comes down to the timing of their careers. Cavanagh arrived on the scene early in the new Millennium at a stage when the best squad in Tyrone history was coming together.
He, and others from the younger set, completed the picture which was unveiled in a glorious kaleidoscope of colour when Tyrone won the All-Ireland title for the first time in 2003 with Canavan as captain. That was entirely appropriate after all he had done for more than a decade.
Canavan and his colleagues experienced many disappointments in the 1990s, but kept believing their day would come. That’s not easy in counties who haven’t won All-Ireland titles and demands real mental toughness which Canavan had in abundance.
That was crucial as Tyrone built towards a new world which emerged in 2002 and
’03, when they won both Allianz Leagues and the All-Ireland title (2003) for the first time.
Cavanagh (below) was mentally strong too, but unlike Canavan, he knew no real hardships before finding himself with an All-Ireland SFC medal. Eugene McKenna, one of the stars of the previous generation, might well have been the first captain to lead Tyrone to an All-Ireland title if he wasn’t forced off with an injury during the 1986 final against Kerry. It was a serious setback for Tyrone who faded as Kerry regrouped after falling seven points behind early in the second half. McKenna was a powerful performer in a career which yielded two All Stars.