After a week in which Sean Cavanagh had been promoting the release of his new autobiography, detailing some of the scurrilous behaviour he had been victim to as an underage club player, Gaelic football in Tyrone was on the result of an unfortunately timed hammering.
On Friday night, a mass brawl broke out in an intermediate club tie between Strabane and Stewartstown in Omagh. A day later, it was Cavanagh himself who was in the centre of the latest controversy. The victim of a very heavy challenge, the former Tyrone star had to be taken to hospital for his injuries when representing his club, Moy.
Although many were quick to condemn the apparent animosity of club football in Tyrone, Peter Canavan believes the reality of the situation is a little less clear.
Speaking on Today FM's The Last Word this evening, Canavan argued that media coverage of GAA in Tyrone left plenty to be desired.
"I do believe that Tyrone are on the receiving end whenever there is negativity attached to Gaelic games. It appears to be pointed up in this direction pretty quickly. I would say there is an agenda going on in that regard."
With particular attention toward the injuries Cavanagh received, the former All-Ireland winning captain Canavan revealed that he had heard a different story to that which appeared to suggest that Moy's game with Edendork was a full-scale war.
"I wasn't at the game. I was chatting to people at the game and the referee was 10 yards away from the incident when it happened. It happened in the middle of the pitch. He obviously felt it was accidental, There were people at the game who said it was deliberate and there was people at the game who said it was accidental.
"I was speaking to a parent who had a son playing in the game and she said you would think it was a full scale war from start to finish and that wasn't the case. None of them were straight red cards.
"I was reading an Irish News report on the game and they said it was far from a nasty game. It was tense."
Although he is of the opinion that the Tyrone county board needs to do more to half the frequency of such stories emerging from within the county's club game, Canavan is certain that such scenes are not "a fair reflection of what is going on here in Tyrone."
