Sir, – I am but one of the many Tyrone GAA supporters at the end of their proverbial tether regarding unfair and unjustified reporting on Tyrone (and Ulster) teams by various southern media outlets, including The Irish Times. The report by Gavin Cummiskey on the All-Ireland minor final between Tyrone and Mayo (SportsMonday, September 23rd) again highlights the issue; sports reporting which is aimed not so much at accurate analysis, more on justifying and reinforcing existing prejudices. Thus in one paragraph of the report the allegation that Tyrone's Frank Burns "fouled with the subtlety of a veteran Ulster-born defender" was immediately linked in the next sentence with the reference that Tyrone player, Daire Gallagher "dropped deep as they attempted to put the squeeze on Mayo's flowing approach". What interpretation can be put on this reference, other than that it was innuendo seeking to also implicate Daire Gallagher in unfair play, even though no evidence whatsoever was provided for such an allegation?
As for the accusation that Tyrone forward Conor Mc Kenna “aggressively attempted to clip two Mayo defenders” after he had scored a second-half goal, your reporter appears to have been the only observer who interpreted what the player did in this way. Cummiskey’s analysis is made all the more strange by his quotation from the Mayo manager, Enda Gilvarry, who sportingly and accurately acknowledged what was clear fact to any reasonable observer; that “both teams were fouling”. This reportage is a particularly pernicious variant of the partitionism evident in certain sections of the media. It should be abandoned in favour of the facts. – Yours, etc,
PATRICK FAHY,
John Street,
Omagh, Co Tyrone.