Tyrone has been represented in Gaelic football for nearly a century. The team won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in 2003, 2005,2008 and 2021.
Pre-1980s
Tyrone first won the Ulster Championship in 1956, and defended it in 1957, with a team that included the legendary Iggy Jones and Frankie Donnelly. However, for the vast majority of the 20th Century, Tyrone were considered one the weaker teams in Ulster, which itself was likely considered the weakest province. Cavan had been the dominant force in Ulster right up until the 1960s.
Tyrone did not win a third Ulster title until 1973.
The Tyrone Minors won the All-Ireland in 1947, 1948 and 1973. 1973 is remembered because Frank McGuigan, who captained the minor team, was also part of the Under-21 and Senior teams that won their Ulster Championships.
1980s
Tyrone's first successful era came in the mid-eighties with the star-studded team that included players such as Frank McGuigan, Eugene McKenna, Plunkett Donaghy and John Lynch.
In 1980, Kevin McCabe made history as Tyrone's first ever winner of an All Star Award.
In 1984, Tyrone won their fourth Ulster Championship, with Frank McGuigan's display in the Ulster Final against Armagh considered among the finest individual performances ever seen in Gaelic Games. He scored eleven points from open play, five with each foot, and one fisted over. In 2004, his display was voted as one of the Top 20 GAA Moments of the previous forty years (i.e. since the dawn of televised matches). McGuigan won an All-Star that year, as did Eugene McKenna.
1986
In 1986, Tyrone reached their very first All-Ireland Final. However, they were the rank outsiders to beat Kerry, who were going for their third title in a row (and eighth in twelve years). At one stage in the second half, Tyrone had amassed a seven-point lead (a penalty that could have put them nine points ahead was struck over the bar by Kevin McCabe), but two of their leading players on the day, Eugene McKenna, and John Lynch had to be replaced due to injury, and the experience of Kerry shone through, going on to win by 2–15 to 1–10 (21 points to 13). An unprecedented four Tyrone players won All-Star Awards that year, Plunkett Donaghy, John Lynch, Damien O'Hagan and Eugene McKenna won his second.
Tyrone beat Donegal in the replayed 1989 Ulster Final, with Plunkett Donaghy leading the team out that day. Eugene McKenna received his third All Star award that year, making him the leading representative of Tyrone in the All Star stakes.
1990s
The Tyrone Seniors went through a relatively dry patch in the early nineties (although the standard of Ulster Football had developed immeasurably – by 1994, three different Ulster teams had won the All-Ireland four times in a row), however the Under 21 team was making waves. Led by Peter Canavan, the under age team reached three All-Ireland Finals, winning two in a row in 1991, and 1992. That team included young players like Adrian Cush, and Jody Gormley.
As that young team graduated to the Senior ranks, they brought their winning ways with them. In 1994, Tyrone reached the Ulster Final, being defeated by eventual All-Ireland winners – who possessed the crux of their 1991 All-Ireland-winning team – Down. Although through this defeat a young talent was emerging, becoming Ulster's top scorer, and duly winning his first All Star – Peter Canavan.
1995
1995 was another huge year for Tyrone. Having defeated Fermanagh in the first round, Tyrone faced 1993 All-Ireland winners, Derry in the Ulster Semi-final. Despite going 0–8 to 0–5 down by half time and having two players sent off, Tyrone rode through the scorching heat and emerged as winners by a point. The match will probably be remembered by outsiders because of the many ugly incidents of fighting between the teams – including a ten-man brawl on the pitch, and Pascal Canavan twice elbowing and twice punching a Derry player, which got him sent off.
In the Ulster Final, Tyrone were playing Cavan, and were probably considered favorites. With the matched poised in the closing stages, Tyrone's two "super-subs", Matt McGleenan and Adrian Cush, teamed up to score the first of Tyrone's two goals. Cush lobbed the ball towards the goal, and McGleenan fisted it into the net. McGleenan became known within Tyrone because of this fisted goal. When Adrian Cush scored the second goal with less than two minutes remaining, the jubilant Tyrone fans (who were already lining the pitch) initiated a premature pitch invasion. However, they quickly broke, avoiding the possibility of the match being abandoned.