Mickey Harte unlikely to speak to RTÉ ahead of All-Ireland final
Mickey Harte’s eight-year feud with RTÉ means the national broadcasters are likely to be frozen out by the Tyrone camp ahead of their All-Ireland final on September 2.
The three-time All-Ireland SFC-winning manager has refused to speak to RTÉ since 2011 when an ill-judged radio segment was aired on Radio One soon after the tragic death of his daughter Michaela.
Harte had also taken exception to a letter that he had co-signed and was sent to RTÉ in support of journalist Brian Carthy being leaked to the media.
No Tyrone players while representing the county have made themselves available to RTÉ since.
In 2014, Seán Cavanagh spoke to RTÉ but as an International Rules series player in Perth while he and Brian McGuigan have since appeared on RTÉ as pundits.
RTÉ Sport, who now have a new man Declan McBennett at the helm, are likely to make representations to Tyrone and Harte to try and end the impasse ahead of the final but the relationship is frosty.
RTÉ have also had a couple of run-ins with their opponents Dublin over the last 15 months.
Speaking about the stand-off two years, RTÉ Sunday Game Live presenter Michael Lyster said: “Mickey has his view and we have tried to cross the bridge on this one and it hasn’t worked and that’s the beginning and the end of it essentially. It’s not for the lack of effort or not for the lack of want.”
Meanwhile, Monaghan manager Malachy O’Rourke hit out at the three additional minutes afforded by referee Anthony Nolan at the end of yesterday’s All-Ireland semi-final.
Every game we’ve been involved in, there have been seven, eight nine minutes of injury time. I can’t understand today how with so so many substitutes brought on, they are supposed to be 20 or 30 seconds per substitution and there were plenty of injuries all through the game how he came up with three minutes of injury time so that is really frustrating.
“We were on the front foot. We had scored two points in injury time.
To be cut off like that and even the last ball that went in that Kieran (Hughes) went for the referee signalled for a free in and then didn’t give it. We are just bitterly disappointed to have put so much in (and fallen short).
“I felt at the end — and I don’t mean to be making excuses and comment on Tyrone at all — but just very disappointing for ourselves to come down here and just... the biggest day we have had to be beaten like we were.”
O’Rourke felt Monaghan were unfairly treated by too many of Nolan’s calls.
“It certainly did and you know someone like myself is not the best man to judge that because you have a certain bias but I did feel that right through the game that a lot of the marginal calls weren’t going our way.
“I thought we were having to work a lot harder to get a free than Tyrone were and I I don’t want it to reflect on Tyrone at all, nothing to do with them at all.
“Tyrone played the game and won it deservedly so.”
