An outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease wreaked havoc on the Tyrone GAA scene 25 years ago. Niall Gartland writes…

BEFORE Covid, there was Foot and Mouth. Okay, more than a tad melodramatic, but it was certainly troublesome for those affected by it – and the county of Tyrone was affected much more than most.

The outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease in 2001 caused a crisis in agriculture that seeped through to wider society, and the GAA was by no means immune from the disruption.

An outbreak in south Armagh at the end of February led to a blanket postponement of all intercounty fixtures, and when another case arose in Ardboe in mid-March, that adjournment was extended until the start of April.

When the GAA season resumed though, Tyrone were still excluded from the action – and therefore missed out on a Division One semi-final.

Tyrone were reigning Ulster and All-Ireland U-21 champions at the time – little wonder when they could call upon Cormac McAnallen, Sean Cavanagh, Joe McMahon and other future legends – but their Ulster Championship title defence was called into serious question by the local outbreak.

Cuthbert Donnelly, Tyrone county chairman at the time, stated that he was “devastated” that Tyrone had effectively been kicked out of the National Football and Hurling Leagues as well as the Ulster U-21 Championship.

In the aftermath, Tyrone secretary Dominic McCaughey wrote to Croke Park requesting a delay in the Division One semi-finals, as well as asking them to reconsider their decision to nominate Fermanagh as Ulster’s representatives in the All-Ireland U-21 series.

Mercifully, Tyrone u-21’s provincial final date with Fermanagh went ahead as planned, though there was no such luck for their senior counterparts.

Mickey Harte, joint-manager of the u-21s, exhaled a sigh of relief when news filtered through of their reprieve: “The real thrill is what this does for the players. We’re always mindful of the fact that it really is just giving the players the chance to compete on the field in the competition. It’s just a one-game-at-a-time situation and we’re delighted to have that chance.”

And they grabbed their chance with both hands – going on to retain their All-Ireland U-21 title in style with a commanding victory over Mayo later in the season.

Twenty five years on, Donnelly – now 84 years of age and still a familiar face out and about at matches – recalls what was unequivocally the most stressful period of his chairmanship. He was in near-constant consultation with Croke Park as to how to smoothly manage the running of club football amidst the crisis. A 10-kilometre exclusion zone encircled Ardboe and rules had to be obeyed.

“The outbreak was at Donnelly’s farm at Duff’s Corner, there were 800 animals slaughtered there after the outbreak.

“It was incredibly serious, and I remember going to Croke Park with Dominic (McCaughey) to try and get matches played both at club and county level.

“We still had to do our very best for Tyrone GAA, while recognising the necessity of an exclusion zone around Ardboe.

“The people at Croke Park were physically removed from the situation so they took a bit of convincing but thankfully the u-21s were able to play their Ulster final. You had to be at the coalface to realise what was going on up here in Tyrone.”

The crisis also left a permanent question mark hanging over that year’s MacRory Cup final between Omagh CBS and St Michael’s, Enniskillen. Dominic Corrigan’s St Michael’s finished strongly at Casement Park, but the replay, slated for April 14, never took place. The title was shared but St Michael’s were chosen to represent Ulster in the Hogan Cup series, losing out by a point to St Jarlath’s, Tuam.

One of the stars of Omagh CBS’ run to the final was Fintona lad Aidan McCarron, who scored heavily throughout their campaign. These days he actually lives in Enniskillen, and is part of the new Fermanagh senior management team spearheaded by Declan Bonner.

There’s more than a tinge of regret at how it all panned out – especially as they failed to seal the deal in their drawn encounter at Casement Park.

“There was always a big emphasis in the school on the MacRory Cup, so we’d placed a serious focus on it the whole way up through the ranks, and there was a big buzz in the school in the lead-up to the final.

“I remember Dom (Corrigan) moved Paul Gunn from full-back to midfield with about 15 minutes remaining and it changed the momentum of the game. He made a serious impact and they reeled us in, but we did have a chance to get a winner in the very last seconds but I remember the ball going over the endline and that was that.”

McCarron recalls informing Foncy McConnell, who managed the team with Paul Donnelly, that there had been an outbreak of Foot and Mouth in Ardboe. Still, that was a sizeable distance from the school’s catchment area, so they weren’t yet at panic stations.

“I remember Foncy on the phone going through things for the game and I said ‘there’s been another case of Foot and Mouth near Cookstown’. He said ‘that’ll not affect us, we’re nowhere near it’, but I think because it was still Tyrone, they decided to scrap the replay.

“It was a massive disappointment – you’re 17 or 18 years of age and there’s the highs of a MacRory Cup final and then it all came crashing down.”

While the unsatisfying conclusion to their campaign casts an eternal shadow, McCarron says it doesn’t totally detract from a special time in his school life.

“I remember on the day of my A-Level results, Seamus Woods and Ciaran McBride standing there, and I said I’m leaving the school now with a MacRory Cup medal and the A-Level results. Both of them laughed and Seamus said he wasn’t surprised to hear me refer to the MacRory medal before the A-Levels.

“They were special, special times with a great group of lads. We trained together, went to school together, went out at the weekends together. We moved onto college and a lot of us lived together as well. The fact we didn’t get a replay will always rankle but I have to admit it was still a magical time.”

REPRIEVE…Captained by the late Cormac McAnallen, Tyrone u-21s retained their All-Ireland title in 2001 after an initial decision to suspend their Ulster final that year

DUTY…A member of the ground staff at Semple Stadium sprays disinfectant before the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship semi-final replay between Graigue Ballycallan and Sixmilebridge in 2001

NOTICE…A GAA press release announcing the postponement of county games due to an outbreak of Foot and Mouth

CULL…A marksman brought in by the Department of Agriculture aims at cattle at a farm in Ardboe following a nearby Foot and Mouth outbreak in 2001

CHECKS…A checkpoint set up at Coagh, near to a Foot and Mouth outbreak in Ardboe in 2001