The duck has been broken.
Aghyaran St Davog’s GAA club in Tyrone made their own piece of history on Friday night, history that they will definitely never make again, history that they won’t want to make again.
Tyrone’s most westerly club had an intermediate football first round Championship clash against Rock St Patrick’s, and with it they were presented an opportunity to record their first Championship victory in 17 years.
That’s right, they haven’t won a Championship match in 17 years, and to make it even better/worse, they had only won one game in the whole millennium.
It’s fair to say then, that they went into Friday’s clash as underdogs, severe underdogs.
They did, however, have Tyrone panelist Ronan McHugh in their ranks, and when you have a sharpshooting forward like him, you can never be truly written off.
Aghyaran got off to a flying start, with McHugh notching a casual 2-3 in the first-half, and with years and years of hurt probably never felt by a GAA team before drving them on, they managed to seal the deal and record their first Championship victory in 17 years.
McHugh was, by all accounts, unplayable, but this peach was surely the highlight of his night.
Brilliant effort from Aghyaran star Ronan McHugh. They lead the Rock 2-8 to 0-6 pic.twitter.com/IbZMNL5RB8
— Niall Gartland (@Niall_Gartland) September 8, 2017
He beat them on his own.
https://twitter.com/charraig1982/status/906248178118381568
It just gets better and better.
Stat of the night if true-Aghyaran closing in on only their second Championship win this Millennium – first in 17 years Im told #TyroneIFC
— Barry O'Donnell (@bod_uherald) September 8, 2017
King Kong has been dislodged.
Is that correct Ronan- a case of getting King Kong off your back rather than a mere monkey
— Barry O'Donnell (@bod_uherald) September 8, 2017
The star of the show later confirmed that it was, indeed, one of the worst curses the GAA has ever heard of, and it surely, surely, makes Mayo people feel a bit better about their Sam Maguire misfortune.
Yeah, first championship win in 17 years 🙈 hopefully that's the curse broke
— Ronan McHugh (@RonanMcHugh14) September 8, 2017
McHugh had been chatting to Tyrone star and friend Conall McCann prior to the game, and McCann set out a fairly ambitious target for the Aghyaran flier.
And McCann, like the rest of us, was blown away by his response.
Game respects game.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYgYKptAkx9/?taken-by=ronanmchugh14
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