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League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Loughmacrory manager Marty Boyle.Lorcan Doherty/INPHO AnalysisStat attack 'It was sort of the elephant in the room' - the curious case of Tyrone clubs in Ulster Apart from Errigal Ciaran, Tyrone clubs have won just one Ulster club game since 2017. 7.31am, 9 Nov 2025 Share options Declan Bogue AN UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH for Tyrone football people to swallow as they chew on the cornflakes this fine, Sunday morning. With the exception of Errigal Ciaran and their run to the All-Ireland club final last year, since 2017, Tyrone clubs have won the grand total of one game in the Ulster club championship. That’s right. In 2016, Killyclogher beat Antrim champions Cargin. In 2017, Omagh were beaten by Slaughtneil. Coalisland rolled into the winners enclosure in 2018, and were knocked out in the first round against Crossmaglen. Come 2019, Trillick won the title. Derrygonnelly Harps of Fermanagh beat them in a penalty shoot out. While Dungannon won their Tyrone championship in 2020, beating Trillick on penalties, there was no provincial championships that season owing to Covid restrictions. So let’s tip on to 2021 and Dromore lifted the O’Neill Cup. They lost to Derrygonnelly Harps in Carrickmore. Errigal Ciaran emerged in 2022, but were beaten by Derry first-time champions Glen in Celtic Park. Advertisement On the back of that wretched record, Trillick reached the semi-final in 2023 by beating Crossmaglen, but were knocked out by Scotstown in the semi-final. So really, while the Tyrone championship may just be the most fun thing you can do with your clothes on, the county champions don’t look so clever in the big leagues. Now, there is context, and a lot of it. Errigal Ciaran last year had a recent taste of provincial action and they fell to a Glen team that would later lift the Andy Merrigan Cup in time. Some might say that because the winner of the O’Neill Cup is on such heavy rotation, no club gets to truly feel at home. And there is an argument out there that getting up the Healy Park steps takes so much out of teams that they find it difficult to refocus. Both arguments fall apart when you consider how Cuala backed up their very first Dublin senior county football title by tacking on the Leinster and All-Ireland to it in the same run. For Loughmacrory, coming up against the perennial Ulster club contenders Kilcoo, you could see that an Ulster club game was a happy footnote to a season that had already reached it’s Hollywood finish. Kilcoo have been in Ulster for 13 of the last 14 winters. In that team, players and whole teams have come and gone. Huge managerial figures such as Mickey Moran, Jim McCorry, Karl Lacey, Conleith Gilligan and Richie Thornton have passed through. And still they still show up. Cathaoir Gallagher being pursued.Lorcan Doherty / INPHO Lorcan Doherty / INPHO / INPHO For Loughmacrory manager Marty Boyle, he feared for his own team coming into this game, as he said afterwards. “We sort of knew ourselves that Ulster club football is a different game to county championship football and obviously it’s further into the winter, so it is a different game. But we knew Kilcoo had that amount of experience of playing at this level this long time and that that was going to be, you know, a challenge for us,” he said. “But I suppose the disappointing thing from our behalf is the fact that we didn’t really get up to the pitch of our performance that we delivered throughout the Tyrone championship.” It’s a tricky line of questioning to suggest that the team, the club and the management had played their football for the year. Said to the wrong manager they can take it as a slur against their competitive instincts or pride. But Boyle smiled and recognised it straight away. The club have been going for 52 years. They had two junior championships in that time. Winning a senior title was all that mattered. “That’d be fair enough, that’d be fair enough. Listen, you know, we’ll look back at the game and we’ll know ourselves that we just didn’t get up to the pitch of it,” he said. “But, listen, it’s a very young group and at this level a very inexperienced group. And then, you know, Kilcoo, three weeks from their county final, we had two weeks and then the outpouring of emotion that came through the village and the club and what not, you know. And that’s a brilliant thing and you have to celebrate what we’ve achieved. “So, no issues really out there. But it was, you know, just one thing led into another and you’re always wondering physically where are we going to get up to the pitch of it. “You know, it was sort of the elephant in the room that we never talked about but because we were always trying to work psychologically in the boys to back themselves and go and deliver a summer performance. But the heights that they reached again until like a fortnight ago, unfortunately we just didn’t get there.” Kilcoo are a different club. For now at least. After the game, their manager Martin Corey spoke, keeping all the details to shot conversion, playing the conditions, blocking out the noise, concentrating on themselves. All business-like, all functional language that nobody could argue with. But definitely not worth quoting. They’re at it a long time. Tyrone clubs don’t get that same opportunity. But still. It’s some stat. Declan Bogue Viewcomments Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “'It was sort of the elephant in the room' - the curious case of Tyrone clubs in Ulster ”. Recipient's Email Feedback on “'It was sort of the elephant in the room' - the curious case of Tyrone clubs in Ulster ”. Your Feedback Your Email (optional) Report a Comment Please select the reason for reporting this comment. Please give full details of the problem with the comment... This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. 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