Heâd have put it better no doubt
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Donât be so hard on yourself.
We have other people for that job.
To every man his little cross
The Irish have an awful problem with the drink
We do. They donât make enough of it and put work in the way of it. Was it Wilde who said âwork is the curse of the drinking classâ?
Are you Irish yourself?
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Itâs too late now. We should have drunk more of it when it was cheaper
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⌠and we were younger
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Iâm extremely well read Iâll have you know.
Daily Star doesnât count
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Mcguigan had some neck asking gaa to come to their senses and allow Sam Maguire cup go up. Maybe if Tyrone panel decided to come to THEIR senses and vaccinate themselves as well as encourage their supporters to do the same then it might be worth considering.
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Why not just vaccinate the bloody cup if theyâre all that worried
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Two full viewings back of the final and it just looks worse and worse for Mayo. Iâve no doubt that had that been an All-Ireland semi-final and not a final theyâd have won it, because the psychological baggage wouldnât have been there. In the entire match, there were only two periods where Tyrone were properly on top - the last 10 minutes of the first half and the garbage time after they went four up at the end. Mayo were largely on top for most of the rest of it and in truth were pretty dominant from half time up to 65 minutes. They made the same post half-time surge they did against Galway and Dublin but fucked it away.
There were an accumulation of things that progressively sucked the life and belief out of Mayo during the second half. You know watching a match sometimes when itâs not going to happen for a team even though it should, and when it is going to happen for team even though it shouldnât. You always got the feeling watching the semi-finals that Mayo had a comeback in them and that Tyrone would somehow find a way to turn Kerry over. In the final the feeling kept growing from very early in the second half that Mayo would fuck it away. Every one of the following progressively sapped the belief out of the Mayo players, management and supporters:
- Conroy snatching at his goal chance.
- The penalty.
- Loftus running down a blind alley and getting done for overcarrying â although Kilpatrick actually fouled him which was why he went to ground in the first place.
- The first Tyrone goal â Hennelly was terrible â he should have been out like a shot and taken ball and man â Morgan definitely would have done so had it been at the other end. But Hennelly came out too late and got caught in no manâs land, he would even have been better off staying on his line than doing what he did. It was the only thing McShane did in his time on the pitch, he was woejus otherwise.
- Durcan got done for overcarrying, probably correct, but Frank Burns did the exact same thing when Tyrone had the ball directly after that free and was not penalised.
- Hennelly missed a free.
- Walsh had a goal chance and fluffed it wide.
- Loftus dropped a shot short.
- Loftus hit a wide.
- Loftus ran down a blind alley unnecesssarily when a quick pass to the man inside him would have meant an almost certain score and a possible goal chance.
- OâDonoghue hit a wide.
- Meyler made what looked like an illegal handpass after 63 minutes.
- Flynn hit a shocking wide.
- Coen dropped a shot short.
- Flynn was penalised for a handpass which looked fair although the game had probably gone by then.
- Even in injury time OâShea had a handpass intercepted when a better one might have had Hession in on goal.
But Tyrone made some mistakes too. McKenna missed an easy enough shot off a mark. Sludden had a bad wide. McShane missed a free. McShane dropped a mark.
Overall it was a bad, bad half of football and a world away from the superlative quality of 2017.
Horan had a nightmare on the line. Why OâHora was taken off I donât know. He had a tough time on McCurry for most of the first half but had steadied a lot, making good forward runs and doing well defensively. McCurry would hardly have had that unimpeded run in on goal had OâHora still been on, and really McCurry was the only Tyrone finisher who properly did his stuff in the second half, all after OâHora went off.
McCurry was lucky not to see black for that tackle on Keegan. It didnât matter what his intent was, he pulled him down.
Yer man Kennedy in the midfield had a beast of match for Tyrone although he only lasted 46 minutes. Kilpatrick then took up where he left off. Those unheralded midfielders were the key men because they frustrated Matthew Ruane and Diarmuid OâConnor and Conor Loftus hugely. Meyler had a very solid 70 minutes. Frank Burns made a good few mistakes (I can think of five off the top of my head) but at the same time has a very calm presence about him, does nothing flash at all, every time he got on the ball was like those first five or six touches Dermo Connolly had when he came on in 2017, he kept Tyrone ticking over when on the ball and was a big part of their game management strategy.
And yet despite Tyrone having more players who appeared to play well and Mayo having at a push four players who appeared to play well, (Keegan, OâDonoghue, Coen, to a lesser extent Conroy) there should have only been one winner and it should have been Mayo. They will regret this one for the rest of their lives.
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Youâve just analysed the game entirely from Mayoâs point of view. As if Tyroneâs performance had no effect on the game or Mayoâs ability to perform. McShane was shit except for his goal? Ok. O Donoghue was great apart from he missed his goal? Ok.
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Always felt Tyrone had it in them to step up a gear at any point. Mayo didnât succeed in getting the gap down to less than two in the 2nd half and that was with Tyrone not getting a point in the second half until the 64th minute and hitting an array of bad wides.
Mayo just donât have the shooters, they were one dimensional - close range frees and goals and the latter did not really look like coming in the second half. The likes of Conroy and Walsh should have been taking their points in those situations.
Tyrone were comfortably better and there was a notable gap in quality I felt. Guys like Walsh and Plunkett would not make the Tyrone bench.
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Just watching the full match on tv for the first time. There was a Tyrone kickout on 45 mins won by their midfield on the Mayo 45 that Sludden kicked wide that was a carbon copy of the second goal. Mayo never learned how to position themselves or attack the ball for when the second goal came about.
Whatever about Aido, Diarmuid OâConnor was dogshit. Has regressed hugely.
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McShane looks rusty but his movement is superb. He reminds me so much of Stevie McDonnell with how clever he is with his runs and his ability to lose his man.
If him and McKenna can catch fire next year Tyrone will be hard stopped.
I said that about OâConnor. Heâs been pretty shit since Horan came back in. Had an amazing year that time they lost against Kildare but I think his performances have dipped hugely since. Physically he doesnât seem the same player.
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Yes. Thatâs largely what happened. OâDonoghue wasnât great but he did have a pretty good game.
Think I said it before the game but the Mayo defence hadnât been tested this year. Dublin recycled themselves to death and made Mayo look good. The easy goal chances which Mayo have given up every year were there again.