One of Tyrone's all time greats KEVIN McCABE In a seventy minute Championship game of football, anything can happen. Regardless of the apparent gap in class, form and potential between one combatant and another, the inevitable is always likely to happen when reputations, titles or plain pride are the nuggets up for sale on the day. While shock results are not that common place in Senior All-Ireland deciders, the 1986 final between Tyrone and the all-conquering Kerry team transpired to prove that anything is possible when the white heat of battle is turned on. One player who knows only too well that shocks-in-the-making need to be fully cooked and covered in romanticism 'till the record books get to grips with reality is Tyrone old boy and veteran of the '86 county campaign, Kevin McCabe. Looking ahead to the national decider itself, the Clonoe club stalwart gives his county men every chance of succeeding Down as All-Ireland champions. "It's very similar, this time round, to the 1992 final when Donegal beat Dublin. They made hard work of getting past the hurdle presented to them by Mayo in the semi final and because of that they weren't particularly fancied to beat Dublin in the final. Donegal were very hot though and never allowed the Dubs to settle and deservedly won in the end". The one-time All-Star who still togs out with his home club concedes that Dublin are a much more experienced team nowadays compared to what they were three years ago but he's not so sure that the current Metropolitan model is necessarily a better one. "It's undoubtedly a good Dublin team and they're deservedly the bookies favourites when Tyrone faced them in this year's Ulster Championship. Favouritism is a difficult tag to carry, Dublin may find it hard to cope with the pressure and after all the bookies were wrong before. Having said that both Dublin and Tyrone have been favourites for much of their campaign and neither of them have wilted under the pressure". Kevin McCabe has been impressed by this revitalised Dublin side and confesses that he unashamedly tipped the Sky Blues for the All-Ireland from the start of the Championship season. "They've won the Leinster Championship for each of the last four years so they're worthy All-Ireland finalists but on the other hand they are up against a Tyrone team which really has all to gain and nothing to lose. The Dublin teams is under severe pressure and a lot depends on how well Dublin can handle this pressure. They could play out of their skins or there could be a possibility of them freezing on the day". As someone who has ploughed more furrows on the G.A.A. scene than some two men could hardly hope to record, Kevin knows all about playing against the odds and looking defeat in the face almost from the off. He believes that tags put on teams can be as relevant and as accurate as weather forecast pronouncements on World Table Tennis Championship weekend. "I think the whole thing about making Tyrone the underdogs going into the final is something which is very much over played. Tags like that mean very little to the actual players although when the great Kerry team of the seventies and eighties was at its peak. Then that team fairly lived up to their tag of favourites. They were a special team and they played some super football. There was nothing grey about lining up the teams as favourites and underdogs when they were involved in a match. It was a case of black and white". Interestingly, the former Mr. Versatile of Tyrone football reckons that contrary to popular opinion, the Tyrone teams will not be taken to the cleaners on the basis of sheer fitness, at least. The Dublin teams of the 'seventies may have left the Ulster teams trailing in their wake when it came down to going at 100 miles per hour from the start of the game to the finish but not anymore. "Dublin teams of the past were renowned for their level of fitness but there isn't the same difference now. Tyrone will prove themselves to be just as fit in the final as Dublin. If they're beaten by Dublin it won't be fitness that will let them down. It was Tyrone's fitness which carried them through against Galway". The talk south of the border is that sooner or later the Ulster football rebellion has to be quashed, the bubble has to burst sometime. Kevin McCabe can understand such sentiments. It's life, after all. "Just like the Kerry bubble has to burst, the Ulster dominance has to come to an end sometime and in fairness Dublin are a fine football team and they have it in their own hands to win this year's All-Ireland title. Dublin are not favourites for nothing. Looking at the semi final, Tyrone had to lose it rather than Galway's to win to win it if there was to be an upset. In retrospect, if Galway had to carry their good form which they showed in the first half into the second half they would have won the match". Player-Manager of the current Clonoe side, Kevin made his name as an eager-beaver attacking half back but in later years he contributed handsomely to Tyrone's attack. As such he is expertly qualified to comment on the team selection crux which has been posed to messrs. Art McRory and Eugene McKenna. The McGleenan/Cush debate has been the stable diet of many's the Tyrone supporter over the last couple of months. "I firmly believe that Adrian Cush would best be used as someone who played from the start and I think that feeling is shared by most supporters in the county. He has regained his confidence after hitting a low in the game against Fermanagh and will be a big asset to the forward line". "Mattie (McGleenan) is a big, strong player but while there are still question marks over his fitness level and his ability to last the full game there is a doubt over whether it is advisable to put him in at the start or to have the bonus of bringing him in sometime during the game". Pinpointing Tyrone's strengths as that of their mobility and their attacking ability, Kevin agrees that a lot of responsibility rests on the shoulder of one Peter Canavan but there's a qualifier in the wings. "Peter is one of the best players ever to have played with Tyrone and in his early twenties he still has time to improve even further. But id Dublin decide to pay too much attention to him on Sunday then the rest of the attack have the ability to do damage. "Having said that, the Galway midfielders were able to prevent a lot of ball going to Peter in the semi-final and that caused problems for Tyrone and if Dublin's players around the middle manage to do the same then Tyrone will be in trouble", McCabe declared. Whether Tyrone can continue Ulster's domination of the All-Ireland scene remains open to conjecture but in fairness to Kevin he does concede that if Tyrone don't pull it off then he would gladly like to see Dublin scoop the Sam Maguire. He reckons a Dublin triumph would be good for the G.A.A. and a much needed boost for football in the metropolis. Winding back the tape, Kevin McCabe reckons that Tyrone should have reached the 1989 All -Ireland final. "We were beaten by Mayo in the semi final but that team was capable of a lot more. It was an even better team than the one in '86. There was much more strength in depth, the players were much more experienced but perhaps the '89 team wasn't as fit as it should have been and maybe they hype got to us all". A former student at Jordanstown, Kevin married to Kildress lady Bernie and has five children, four of whom may yet go on to try and emulate their father's feats in the White and Red of the O'Neill County. He's very happy with his lot at the moment. "I'm player/manger at Clonoe and although er were relegated from the Senior League last year, we have played ten games this year and won ten of them. At the present time we're busily preparing for our semi final clash with Eglish which will probably come down for the decision sometime after the All-Ireland final has been played. I'm still enjoying my football even though it's harder to motivate yourself but as long as I get some sort of a kick from togging out I'll be happy to keep at it". Taken from Hogan Stand Magazine 15th September, 1995 Tweet

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