TYRONE captain Brian Kennedy admits the Red Hands are full of ‘envy’ towards neighbours Armagh and are desperate to taste success.
The big midfielder’s childhood was an era when the heavyweight Ulster duo were the best of enemies.
Tyrone and Armagh regularly contested Ulster and All-Ireland SFC finals in the 2000s, collecting Sam Maguire four times between them.
Kennedy later powered Tyrone to All-Ireland success in 2021, with Armagh following suit last year.
And speaking at an Allianz Leagues media event at the Carrickdale Hotel in Louth — where Armagh celebrated their 2024 triumph — Kennedy said Tyrone have extra motivation to succeed this term.
The towering midfielder said: “There’s definitely a feeling of envy. I suppose they had the same with us winning in 2021.
“They made great strides in terms of All-Ireland contention in the past number of years and probably deserved that one last year. It’s just about chasing them now.
“But you saw the standard they set and it’s about us hunting them down and hopefully getting that next one for ourselves.”
The problem for Tyrone is that they are not the only county energised by Armagh’s All-Ireland win.
It is shaping up to be one of the most open Sam Maguire races in years with every Division 1 side taking points off the others so far in the league.
Tyrone, with two wins and a draw from six games, need to beat Dublin in Omagh on Sunday to ensure survival.
After that it is about trying to rekindle the spirit of 2021 when they blazed a Championship trail to All-Ireland glory.
Kennedy, who won an All-Star that year, said: “You’re looking at nine or ten teams that fancy their chances on any given day to put out any other top teams.
“It feels a lot more attainable this year, especially with the new rules.
“A game can go any way at any particular time. If you’re in the game on 60 minutes, anything can happen.
“You can pull away or it can go the other way. Good teams are getting better as well.
“Dublin and Kerry may have slumped for a few years but they have come back with youth and serious panels.
“The new rules are helping them.
“The kicking game of Kerry that you saw at the weekend, they’re going to bring that into the Championship and it’ll be hard to overcome.”
Kennedy has started all six of Tyrone’s Division 1 games and his new boss Malachy O’Rourke has stuck largely with a settled core, handing starts to just 24 different players so far.
But the pressure is on to get things right because Tyrone have only won six of the 15 Championship games they have contested since that 2021 campaign.
Relegation to Division 2 would be a bad start to life under former Monaghan and Glen boss O’Rourke.
Kennedy said of Sunday’s clash with Dublin: “It’s basically a Championship match for us — it’s a knock-out.
“A win is probably the only result that will do anything positive for us.
“We know the challenge and we’ve been watching Dublin all through the league and they’ve both ground out results and put other teams away well.
“They have serious qualities and we know the challenge.
“We’re going to have to up it another few gears from the performances over the past number of weeks to hopefully get out on top.
“They’re lightning in attack and they’re very solid in defence.
“I watched their game last weekend against Galway and everything seemed fluid. They were nearly getting a score in every attack.
“They seem to have players to slot in everywhere and the older heads like Ciarán Kilkenny and Stephen Cluxton come in to keep the whole thing grounded, keep a bit of routine in it.
“They’re serious athletes and hopefully we can get them closed out on Sunday.”
Man-mountain Kennedy will try to give Tyrone a vital edge in the crucial middle third.
With most kick-outs going long now, he could be a huge player this year.
Kennedy said: “Speaking from a midfield point of view, the new rules have fairly turned the volume up — every kick-out is going long and being contested.
“It’s about developing that part of your game, breaking ball or clean possession is a massive platform now for getting scores in games.”
