10 YEARS AGO

ARMAGH and Cavan have an unexplainably tense rivalry. No neighbourly hatred, no real period dominating against each other, but when the counties meet, sparks tend to fly on occasion.

That was the case in the McKenna Cup opener at Crossmaglen that produced five red cards, four yellow cards and two black cards with the Breffni County ultimately winning 2-8 to 0-11.

Niall McDermott and Chris Conroy were sent off in the first half for the visitors but they still led 2-6 to 0-3 at the interval.

The numerical disadvantage started to tell in the second half though, but red cards for Orchard pair Aaron Findon and Brendan Donaghy halted the orange momentum with Cavan’s Killian Brady also dismissed in the final moments.

Tyrone delivered their usual Dr McKenna Cup statement of intent as they crushed Queen’s on a 3-17 to 0-11 scoreline as the new season action threw in.

Seven debutants were handed out by Mickey Harte with Trillick’s Lee Brennan catching the eye while Kieran McGeary and Padraig Hampsey were others to catch the eye on their first day out.

Ronan O’Neill, Connor McAliskey and Johnny Munroe got the goals with Ryan Murray and Marty Clarke sharing six points for the students.

Donegal’s Frank McGlynn found the net after just 68 seconds but they were still forced to battle all the way against Down before earning a 1-11 to 0-11 win.

20 YEARS AGO

THE GAA’s ambitious plans to develop a stadium in Randall’s Island, New York looked in jeopardy as tension grew over who would oversee the handling of the project. The Association wanted to build a stadium at the site of the Polo Grounds – demolished in 1964 – which had hosted the 1947 All-Ireland final between Cavan and Kerry with the Ulster side triumphing.

A delegation, including then GAA President Seán Kelly, headed to New York to try and smooth over the issues, but the signs were not good.

It was confirmed that Sam Maguire was heading to Celtic Park in Scotland with a Tyrone delegation set to visit following their 2005 triumph. The cup was set to be paraded before the side’s home clash with Dundee United.

Cavan were set to be without star forward Larry Reilly for a period as he underwent knee surgery. The issue had hampered the player for a number of years and he decided to go under the knife to be back in time for the late league action.

The Breffni County called in a number of new players for the upcoming McKenna Cup, including exciting youngster Cian Mackey who had caught the eye at minor level.

30 YEARS AGO

TYRONE GAA authorities were set to meet to discuss the unseemly scenes that saw the abandonment of the Division One final between Errigal Ciaran and Carrickmore pre-Christmas.

A full scale brawl broke out in the final stages with current Tyrone boss Malachy O’Rourke and Eamonn McCaffrey sent off for Errigal and Eamonn Loughran and Gerard Munroe dismissed for Carmen.

That failed to ease the tension and when another huge brawl broke out, the match was called off.

Heavy bans were expected.