It's no secret that Tyrone's form has fallen off a cliff since they shocked everyone back in 2021 by ending Dublin's six year dominance and lifting the Sam Maguire.
The following year saw an exodus of players leave the camp, and early elimination from the championship while the next two seasons have finished in similar fashion.
Retirements have certainly played a part in this, and fans have accepted that Tyrone are in a transitional period, although they still expect to be more competitive.
The Red Hand County has won two of the last three u20 All-Irelands so the future looks promising and a large chunk of those players made their debuts this season.
In their Ulster championship opener against Cavan, nine of the starting team were making their first ever appearance at that level, so naturally there was always going to be a bedding-in period.
However, when the Ulster side lost at home in the preliminary quarter finals to Roscommon, a new low was hit, and the season ended in bitter disappointment.
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Pat Spillane feels Tyrone struggles down to bad karma
Kerry legend Pat Spillane has an alternative theory as to why Brian Dooher and Feargal Logan's men are struggling though, and it has nothing to do with transitional periods. This is what he had to say in his Sunday World column:
I believe in the version of karma which suggests certain actions come back to haunt you.
This brings me to Tyrone and their behaviour in 2021 when they refused to fulfil their All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry because of a Covid outbreak in the squad.
Essentially, they hood-winked the GAA and Kerry because I’ve never seen any conclusive proof of the extent of that outbreak.
Tyrone pulled a stroke; they succeeded in having the semi-final delayed and then went on to win the All-Ireland.
Look what has happened to them since.
Their All-Ireland defence in 2022 was arguably the worst ever mounted by a team in the modern era. Their subsequent performances in 2023 and this year have been dismal as well.
Karma perhaps.
Spillane is referring to the COVID outbreak in the Tyrone camp in the lead up to their All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry back in 2021.
This was at the height of the pandemic, and the Tyrone county board asked for the game to be postponed by a couple of weeks so that their players could recover in time, and not put themselves at risk.
Croke Park denied this request, so the northern team pulled out off the All-Ireland, thus forcing the GAA's hand to go back on their decision, and grant them the postponement.
Tyrone went on to beat Kerry in thrilling game of football that needed extra time to separate the teams, and then went on to win the All-Ireland - although Spillane certainly has put an Asterix over that success.
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