McCurry: Now we know what wearing jersey means
THE penny has long dropped with Darren McCurry that the day when silver cups rained out of the sky over Tyrone is gone. They never did, of course, but as an awestruck kid it just seemed that way as Tyrone and Armagh ruled Ulster and Sam became such a frequent visitor that to young minds it passed for the normal rhythm of life. In adulthood, the reality has proved to be something entirely different; McCurry is in his fourth season as an inter-county player and in that time, Tyrone have managed to win just two games in the province. The perception that they remain a power in decline was strengthened this spring when they were relegated from the League’s top tier, and the theories behind their plight are many and varied. The main suggestion is that transition has proved to be so traumatic because the players that have come in have not been as committed in body and mind as those that helped the county win three All-Irelands in six years. Owen Mulligan pulled no punches in his autobiography, when he claimed that Tyrone’s young guns were happy to wear the jersey, but had little concept of the responsibility that it brought with it. It was a barb aimed at McCurry’s generation and the 22-year-old concedes that it may have come packaged in some truth. ‘I understood the point that he was making,’ says McCurry, ahead of next Sunday’s Ulster SFC opener against Donegal. ‘Some of the young boys coming through thought that the Ulster titles were just going to keep on coming and you didn’t have to work hard. I understand his point. I grew up watching a lot of them boys on TV. It really did drive me on to play for Tyrone. ‘When I did get on the team, I thought these Ulster titles were going to come along every year, it does require a lot of hard work and dedication and commitment. Slowly but surely, I think the boys are starting to understand that.’
MICHEAL CLIFFORD