BBC SPORT | BBC Pundits | Art treated appallingly



By John Haughey BBC Sport Online

Art McRory could never be described as a media person's dream.

Interviews with Art tend to punctuated by pauses and, occasional sighs from the Dungannon man which make abundantly clear his disdain for a certain line of questioning.

But Art McRory is a thoroughly decent man which makes his treatment this week by the Tyrone county board seem even more appalling.

As a sports journalist who covered a great deal of GAA in my previous incarnation, I found myself crossing swords with Art on a couple of occasions.

There was that time in the summer of 1995 when all Tyrone seemed less than impressed with yours truly.

I had to kindly ignore Art's dictat

The problem arose after this correspondent had quoted some less than complimentary comments from then Derry star Damian Barton about the Tyrone team.

Tyrone had just defeated Derry in a ill-tempered Ulster Football Semi-Final and Damian had felt the urge to let off a little steam about the Red Hand team's methods.

A couple of days after the piece appeared, Art himself, in a most unusual step, phoned the office inviting the publication to the Tyrone Ulster Final press night.

However, he added the proviso that a certain reporter would not be welcome to sample the tea and buns in Eglish "for his own safety".

While not feeling altogether comfortable about the idea, I nevertheless, had to kindly ignore Art's dictat and duly turned up in Eglish on the appointed night.

It quickly became clear that the Tyrone players had been "instructed" not to grant me any interviews - a fact which was confirmed verbally to me by one apologetic squad member.

The NFL trophy should have been enough to ensure the duo another year at the helm
Peter Canavan lifted the NFL trophy

Inside the Eglish club, the tea-lady did break the Tyrone silence but only to make clear than my piece of "gutter journalism" had even irked her.

After that episode, I probably went out of my way to have as few dealings as possible with Art for a couple of years.

As regards talking to Eugene McKenna, that was a complete no-no as a Tyrone based journalist had once told me:"Don't be upset about Eugene not talking to you. He hates all hacks".

Of course, Art and Eugene standing down after Tyrone's All-Ireland Semi-Final hammering by Meath in 1996 promised to make life a little easier.

The clamour for the installation of Danny Ball as manager meant the duo had to step aside with the last piece of the Tyrone jigsaw finally, seemingly in place.

But Danny's three years saw Tyrone going backwards and by the late summer of 1999, the county board were back knocking on two familiar doors.

Both thought long and hard before taking on the job again but, being proud Tyrone men, there was ultimately only going to be one answer.

No one can deny that Tyrone have made steady progress over the last three years.

Art McRory has been treated in disgraceful fashion

Last year, the young Tyrone team took the Ulster Championship while in April, the county won their first ever national senior title.

Granted after a narrow replay loss to the eventual All-Ireland Champions in this year's Ulster series, Tyrone then came up badly short against Sligo in the All-Ireland Qualifiers at Croke Park.

However, surely a National League title this year should have been enough to have secured another season for the joint-managers.

Art McRory and Eugene McKenna would probably have walked away next year even if the All-Ireland title had been won.

After more than 40 years of service to Tyrone GAA, Art McRory has been treated in disgraceful fashion.

I'm not surprised Tyrone county board officials have been lying low

A time-out for a couple of months to get his viral condition sorted out was surely not too much to ask.

McKenna could have kept things ticking over with the NFL not starting until February.

I'm not surprised Tyrone county board officials have been lying low since sending out their shabby press release on Tuesday evening.

In contrast, Art can hold his head high.

Maybe he'll be able to get out to a few classical music concerts at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast which was where I met him one evening early last year.

Speedy recovery

During the interval, I heard my name being called out and there he was, with his wife, sipping a soft drink.

We were probably surprised to see each other but had a great chat about music, football, family et al.

Art may need some soothing classical bars after the way he has been treated this week.

This correspondent will doubtless be echoed by many folk in wishing a great GAA man a speedy recovery from his recent health problems and best wishes for the future.