Old foes cancel each other out

There is a suspicion the Tyrone-Derry rivalry is overstated but there is evidence to suggest it is not. This Sunday will see the sixth championship meeting between the counties in little over 10 years, with the running total currently 32 in Derry's favour.

If a trend emerges it is that outsiders do well. Only in 1992 did the firm favourites win. Although a pivotal pairing in the 1990s, on no occasion did the winners go on to win even the Ulster title.

Ten years ago, the teams met in the preliminary round with Tyrone fancied to win. Only a week previously the county had beaten Kerry by 20 points in the All-Ireland under-21 final. Three of that side played in the senior championship but Peter Canavan, then starting his third championship, was carrying a back injury and was unable to make much of an impact. Derry won 1-9 to 1-8.

The following year the teams met in the National Football League final at Croke Park only a fortnight before their championship encounter. Tyrone were the better team but confusion in their defence saw Plunkett Donaghy and Finbarr McConnell get in each other's way as an Anthony Tohill 45 was deflected into the net. Fortuitously level, Derry closed out the match impressively with two further points from Tohill and Dermot Heaney.

Derry were irritated by the press reaction. "The media treatment of this team has been disgusting," said Coleman, later that summer. "We drew level with the goal but went on to win after that. It's not our fault that Tyrone couldn't score."

After an unbeaten year, Coleman's team were favourites for the Ulster title and mentioned as All-Ireland candidates. The match at Celtic Park was the first Ulster championship match televised live since 1966. A goal by Dermot Heaney just five minutes after the throw-in set the trend and was the margin by which Derry finally won. The Ulster final was sensationally lost to Donegal, who went on to win the All-Ireland.

That season set a trend. Derry have won the league four times in the last 10 years and have failed to get out of the province each following summer. By the time the teams played again, Derry had won an All-Ireland and lost manager Coleman.

His assistant Mickey Moran took over in controversial circumstances, with divisions in the camp over the treatment of Coleman by the county board. Nonetheless, the county won the league in 1995, beating Tyrone in the semi-final en route.

That match convinced Eugene McKenna, who in tandem with Art McRory had succeeded John Donnelly in 1992, he had seen enough to beat Derry. Few foresaw the result and no-one foresaw the manner of the victory. On a boiling hot day in Clones, Tyrone were reduced to 13 men by half-time and trailed by three points. Derry had a man put off in the second half and bit by bit Tyrone reeled them in, their tactics based on a punishing game of possession football. Jody Gormley scored the winner with seven minutes left, making it 0-11 to 0-10.

Although Moran and the Derry officials avoided controversy on the day, the unbridled aggression on the field and in the crowd left a mark. Dismayed by the whole experience of his year's management, Moran stepped down.

For all the controversy of that semi-final, Tyrone were not a physically imposing team. But the main problem was too much of a reliance on Peter Canavan (who scored eight of the 11 points against Derry) and his 0-11 out of the Tyrone total of 0-12 in the All-Ireland defeat by Dublin adequately made the point.

Having retained their league title under the management of Brian Mullins, Derry were again favourites to beat Tyrone in the 1996 Ulster semi-final. No team had won back-to-back All-Irelands for 20 years and the assumption was Derry, 1994 winners of the Sam Maguire, had been caught napping in '95. Instead, Tyrone had a far more comprehensive win than a year previously.

The All-Ireland title, which they were now favourites to win, eluded Tyrone after a controversial semi-final against Meath. McRory and McKenna stepped down and Danny Ball, manager of the All-Ireland winning under-21s, took over. But the team had run its course and in '97, was overrun by Derry, 2-3 to 2-15.

Sunday is the first meeting since.