Battle of Omagh

Dublin and Tyrone were meeting for the first time since the quarter-final of the 2005 All-Ireland SFC, played at Croke Park the previous August. which Tyrone won by a scoreline of 2–18 to 1–14. The 2006 National Football League game between Dublin and Tyrone was a Division 1A Round 1 fixture, the opening game of league's top division campaign. The game was broadcast live to a national television audience on TG4. Tyrone named ten members of the team that had played in the 2005 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final, with another three players included as substitutes. Five of Tyrone's players from 2005 — Peter Canavan, Mark Harte, Chris Lawn, Colm McCullagh and Leo Meenan — were not involved in the 2006 National League campaign. ==Match==

Summary In the fourth minute of the game the first of several mass brawls occurred and involved as many as eighteen players. Referee Paddy Russell restricted himself to two yellow cards, issued to Dublin player Alan Brogan and to Tyrone player Brian Meenan. Dublin's Denis Bastick and Tyrone's Stephen O'Neill both received second yellow cards. This quote is often repeated. Details ==Aftermath==

RTÉ broadcast highlights of the game. The following day, 6 February, the referee Russell submitted his match report. The CDC stated the following with regards to the people involved: "Michael Magee (Tyrone) was suspended for eight weeks in accordance with Rule 140; Owen Mulligan (Tyrone) and Kevin Hughes (Tyrone) were suspended for four weeks in accordance with Rule 138 and eight weeks in accordance with Rule 140, to run concurrently. Ryan McMenamin (Tyrone) was cleared of the charge. Dr Seamus Cassidy (Tyrone) was issued with a severe warning as to his future conduct. The Tyrone County Board were fined €10,000 and issued with a severe warning as to the future conduct of their team. Bryan Cullen (Dublin) was suspended for four weeks in accordance with Rule 138. Ciarán Whelan (Dublin), Kevin Bonner (Dublin) and Alan Brogan (Dublin) were all suspended for eight weeks in accordance with Rule 140. Peadar Andrews was issued with a severe warning as to his future conduct. Dublin County Board was fined €10,000 and issued with a severe warning as to the future conduct of their team". However, the affair carried on until the following month as both county boards exploited loopholes to avert the sanctions which had been imposed. The Central Appeals Committee (CAC) struck the suspensions out on a technicality. In the end Holmes was the only player suspended, on the basis that he had received a straight red card. The GAA's disciplinary system was tightened afterwards, with rule changes in a bid to prevent a similar occurrence happening again. Dublin's full-back Barry Cahill later said: "We wanted to win the game but we wanted to mix it up as well where possible, so we were probably happy enough coming home on the bus… There was definitely a different feel to it… When we got back training, say in December time, we had that fixture ingrained into us… and even the week of training leading into that game. We knew that we were going up to try and lay down a marker… Maybe we were the ones that instigated it and brought that edge and helped create that bit of tension around the place". Cahill also blamed the layout of the stadium for creating the conditions for what had occurred during the game. Years later, Dublin's so-called "Blue Book" had details from it leaked, including that the team intended the game in Omagh to be "a day when we crossed the line together like a Dublin squad hasn't done in years". Dublin "wanted to get one over on Tyrone, which they did that day and that was their target to win the game and they did that and maybe by whatever means possible". ==Legacy==

(blue) against Tyrone (white) in the 2013 National Football League final Before the 2018 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final (which paired Dublin and Tyrone), Up for the Match — the RTÉ television programme which is broadcast live on the eve of that competition's concluding game — reviewed the events of the Battle of Omagh. The name was later applied to the same National Football League fixture in 2020, which took place on the weekend of Storm Jorge. During that game Dublin's Niall Scully was sent off and James McCarthy escaped a similar fate. Dublin manager Dessie Farrell said afterwards that a GAA official had informed him that the game would have been called off on account of Jorge's presence were it not being broadcast live on television. A brawl occurred in the tunnel at half-time. In 2022, Pat McEnaney described the Battle of Omagh as "handbags stuff" beside the 1996 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final, which he refereed, and which achieved notoriety for a mass brawl on the pitch involving most of the players from the competing teams, Mayo and Meath. ==Gallery==