Unless McNabb was injured it was a retarded decision to take him as he was winning a lot of the loose ball in midfield. Sean Cavanagh was woeful as he has been since his return from injury, maybe he is just lacking match fitness but he is well off form and would be lucky to keep his place come Championship on his latest showings. Gormley is badly needed back.
Clarke and Donnelly about the only ones who werenât pitiful today. I do think Tyrone are the side in the All Ireland who are least suitable to these soft wintery conditions that they played on today and they looked really heavy legged and uninterested.
The biggest worry is the way midfield has been decimated in all four league games.
1 - Niall Morgan - Ăadan na dTorc
2 - Aidan McCrory - Aireagal ChiarĂĄin
3 - Ronan McNamee - Achadh UĂ ArĂĄin
4 - Ryan McKenna - Eaglais
5 - Conor Clarke - An Omaigh
6 - Matty Donnelly - TrĂ Leac
7 - Peter Harte - Aireagal ChiarĂĄin
8 - Colm Cavanagh - An Mhaigh
9 - Sean Cavanagh - An Mhaigh
10 - Ciaran McGinley - Aireagal ChiarĂĄin
11 - Shay McGuigan - Ard BĂł
12 - Conan Grugan - An Omaigh
13 - Kyle Coney - Ard BĂł
14 - Mark Donnelly - An Charraig MhĂłr
15 - Connor McAliskey - Cluain Eo
Donnelly named at no.6 despite apparently being ruled out for the rest of the league campaign with a medial ligament injury.
Good to see the changes made otherwise, much more physicality around the centre of the pitch compared to the Kerry game so hopefully Tyrone can get a stranglehold there. It will be interesting to see who comes in for Donnelly at 6. Gormley and Penrose are back in training, Danny McBride would be another option. McCurry will be in action for the u21âs in midwek so presume thatâs why heâs left out.
Scored 2-23 today in a convincing win against Westmeath. Mattie Donnelly started so the reports that he was out for the rest of the league campaign which was carried by newspapers was rubbish. I donât think there is any team (maybe Dublin) who can match Tyronâs firepower so if we can sort out our issues in the middle of the field and even just break even there - it will be very tough to stop us.
Reading the report from yesterdayâs game and having conversed with a fellow Tyrone supporter who attended the game, there seems to be some very encouraging aspects to our performance. The defence was much tighter and the rejig in the half back line with Donnelly seems to have helped. We apparently had problems from kickouts in the first half but overcame them in the second half.
I really like Ciaran McGinley and he hit four points from play at wing forward, he has got great athleticism and I think the wing forward role might be his best position as defensively he is too loose. Ronan McNamee had to go off injured early and McBride replaced him at full back. McAliskey and Coney hit 8 points between them which is a good sign. Although Westmeath are no great shakes to score 2-17 from open play is highly impressive, especially as we werenât overly dominant in the midfield area. As Iâve said before if we can draw parity in the middle of the field we could be unplayable for any other team.
My revised Championship XV would be something like this:
Ah stop. You are like a young fella who thinks good young lads are going to tear it up collectively in championship. Tyrone can be exposed quite easily. Itâs laughable to put Tyrone on the same level as Dublin. They are getting the absolute max out of themselves which is admireable, but the reality is they donât have the overall class to be a top contender yet. Their inconsistency is evidence of this
We are racking up huge scores from open play despite our travails in winning possession of the ball in the middle areas, we have some strong players in the likes of the McMahons and Gormley to return in this sector so that should help correct this problem.
Iâm really looking forward to the big u-21 clash with Cavan in midweek. In young McCurry we have the best forward at this age level in the country. In fact that you mention this Tyrone team and young lads as a weakness - McCurry is the only player at u-21 level on the panel. The majority of this team have been around the panel for the last few years so are becoming accustomed to winning. We won our first All Ireland in 2003 with the likes of Cavanagh, Mulligan, Gormley, McMenamin and Jordan all being very inexperienced and only having about a season or two at most of the senior panel.
Actually I just checked the players who participated for Tyrone in the 2003 All Ireland final against Armagh.
Devine, McAnallen, McMenamin, Gormley, Jordan, Hughes, Cavanagh, McGuigan, McGinley and Mulligan all started that game as well as Stephen OâNeill coming off the bench. All of them would have had no more than 3 years on the senior panel at that stage of their careers and were all in the age range of 20-24 when they won their first All Ireland. The age profile of the current squad is very similar now as well as most of them being on the panel for that length of time.
So, once again your comments are incorrect as itâs been done before and we have a manager and senior players who have experienced it and would be in a good position to nurture such a duplicate feat.
I do hope @caoimhaoin comes back to me to explain his earlier comments. He says Tyrone wonât do anything because they are too young and inexperienced - which is what they were when they marched to an All Ireland in 2003. Then he says we have maxed out on what we have which is nonsense as we have had huge underage success in recent years with three All Ireland Minor final appearances in the past 6 years winning two of them. The two stars of those winning teams - Coney and Ronan OâNeill - are only really getting a considerable injury-free period now so if they remain fit we would be expecting huge seasons from both of them. It was only last year when the likes of Clarke, Donnelly and McCurry began to establish themselves as key players so the expectation would be that they will build on that for next year.
Young forwards blaa blaa blaa. It gets even more comical that you are trying to compare those minor teams of the late 90âs to this. There are huge differences, in skill level, physicality and general alignment. Micky Harte had all those lads right thru, he had them thinking the wy he wanted. I know the approach of some if the recent younger managers around Tyrone is much different to Hartes. He has had trouble getting the best out of lads off underage teams he didnât coach in the past. As well as that the Minor team in 2010 had 2-3 really good âMinorsâ, the team in the 90âs/2000âs were full of men.
Tyrone people donât even believe your horseshit.
They are handy, and improving, but they are hardly top 6 in terms of talent.
[QUOTE=âcaoimhaoin, post: 917848, member: 273â] It gets even more comical that you are trying to compare those minor teams of the late 90âs to this. There are huge differences, in skill level, physicality and general alignment. Micky Harte had all those lads right thru, he had them thinking the wy he wanted. I know the approach of some if the recent younger managers around Tyrone is much different to Hartes. He has had trouble getting the best out of lads off underage teams he didnât coach in the past. As well as that the Minor team in 2010 had 2-3 really good âMinorsâ, the team in the 90âs/2000âs were full of men.
Tyrone people donât even believe your horseshit.
They are handy, and improving, but they are hardly top 6 in terms of talent.[/QUOTE]
They were top four in the All Ireland Championship last season and top two in the league. They will likely finish top 4 in the league again this season and Iâd be hopeful of at least another semi-final berth. Iâm also pretty sure I know an awful lot more Tyrone supporters than you do as well. Your logic has been flawed and you are trying to switch the goalposts. Tyrone have had huge underage success in the last couple of years and have introduced a lot of these players into the fold. From 97 to 2001 Tyrone had minor teams in three All Ireland Finals - winning two - and they have done the same from 2008 - 2013. I donât see what is so different from similar era of dominance at a national level. It is also false to say that he has had problems introducing them into the team. It naturally takes a couple of years for players to adapt to the step up which is why we should really be seeing the best of the likes of Donnelly, Clarke, Harte, McCurry, Morgan, OâNeill and Coney. Name me players off underage teams that Harte has had problems getting the best out of?
They get the absolute max out of themselves, but they still lack a lot of vital ingredients to be the best or even near it. Mayo played their worst game of the season last year and still won pretty comfortably.
[QUOTE=âcaoimhaoin, post: 917869, member: 273â]Nothing near enough out of Coney.
Making semiâs does not make you top 4.
They get the absolute max out of themselves, but they still lack a lot of vital ingredients to be the best or even near it. Mayo played their worst game of the season last year and still won pretty comfortably.[/QUOTE]
Coney has missed the best part of two years with a serious groin injury. What else do you expect? Itâs only now that he is getting a good run injury free and that is now why there would be expectations of him this season.
We made the final four last year on merit, we made the final two of the league on merit. Mayo were aided by some atrocious decisions in that semi against Tyrone, they should have been 7 points down at half time but were gifted some ridiculous free kicks that kept them tick over there then they were also awarded a penalty that should not have been given. Thereâs no question that they deserved to win in the end as Tyrone were steamrolled in the middle of the pitch in the second half but they got some major decisions in their favour at vital stages than canât be discounted?
I canât see any other team that you could rank above them in the top four last season, they beat all the teams that would be challenging them for that title last season in Meath, Monaghan and Kildare. If you are going to come back with Cork then you clearly need your head examined as they beat nobody of note last year, were nearly knocked out by a dismal Galway and went out with a whimper to Dublin. Donegal were humiliated by Mayo so wouldnât be there either and things certainly donât look too promising for them so far this year.
We havenât got the max out of ourselves, that is where you are deluding yourself. There is a lot more to come from a lot of these players. They sit third in the league standings despite the absence of 5 important players through the whole league campaign as well as constant experimenting with the team. There are more options available this season as well. The ball winning issues in midfield remain a worry but weâll learn more about that over the coming weeks.
I donât believe there is a great deal between the top 8 or so teams this season and an interesting championship is in store.
[QUOTE=âcaoimhaoin, post: 918091, member: 273â]Ball winning is an issue eh? Definitely a top team alright. :rolleyes:
Meath, Monaghan and Kildare:D[/QUOTE]
