Mickey Harte's Red Hand Army - 2015 Season

Sport
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Now that the intercounty season has drawn to a close and the club championship is over, we can now focus towards next season. 2014 was a very disappointing year for us so hopefully some lessons will be learned. Tony Donnelly and Fergal McCann have departed so Gavin Devlin will be given a bump up to assistant and Peter Donnelly coming in as a Strength and Conditioning coach.

I don’t know how much of a shake-up there will be in the squad this year, from last year’s panel - Mark Donnelly, Carlin, Penrose, Gormley, Sean Cavanagh, Joe McMahon and Stephen O’Neill (possibly PJ Quinn) are the players who are 30 or over. I would imagine O’Neill definitely won’t be back, Joe McMahon was non-committal but there’s still plenty of football left in him and I’d say he will be coaxed back, Cavanagh is still one of the best footballers in Ireland and injury-permitting he’ll be around for another 3 years or so. Gormley still has a lot to offer but I wouldn’t be so sure we’ll see him next year, he’ll be 35 next year and I’d imagine the only reason he came back last year was to give an AI one last shot off the back of a good showing in 2013, expectations will be much lower this year round, he may not have a full 70 minutes now but he’s a great player to bring on and fix things or add a steadying presence - Carlin, Donnelly, Quinn and Penrose were all peripheral players last year and would not be a great loss. It might be a bit harsh on Penrose but he’ll need to show more.

The main problems last year was the imbalance in the squad, we played with a full back line who are not the greatest man markers and then used a half back line who all loved to bomb forward and leave the full back line exposed, it was a recipe for disaster. We need to go with defenders whose first priority is to defend and will stick to that task. We also need to unearth another option or two at corner back, we have far too many wing backs in the squad and not enough corner backs. Barry Tierney really struggled last year but to be fair to him he’s not a corner back, the same applies to Ryan McKenna.

New players, I don’t think we need a massive injection of new players. The Tyrone squad was nearly 40 strong last year which was far too big, I don’t think there are that many better out there than what was on it last year and it’s just a case of a lot of these lads who have won AI minor titles kicking on. With that said though, we badly need to look at certain areas, corner back is the obvious one, we need another couple of options there, Clonoe’s Dwayne Quinn and Dean McNally of Kildress would be two who certainly should be getting their chance. I wouldn’t be adverse to a recall for Aidan Cassidy in midfield if he can stay injury free and get his fitness levels up and Danny McNulty could add a good target man presence in the full back line. Mattie Donnelly’s younger brother Richie has also had a good club campaign. Ruairi Sludden of Dromore is another who is supposed to have a very good club season. Could give a few of the AI minor runners-up of 2013 a shot, probably only Burns and McKenna capable of making that jump yet - actually haven’t heard anything on McKenna lately as he was expected to be heading to Australia, no news is good news I hope.

The likes of McNiece, Hughes, Kane, Campbell and Gallagher have had enough chances under Harte and failed to make any impression to probably best to leave them out. Despite it being a poor year, there were a few bright spots - McCrory had a great championship, McCurry continued to look the business and it was great to get Justy McMahon and Ronan McNabb back fit and playing well.

I would like to see a team along the lines of:

  1. Morgan
  2. McCrory
  3. Clarke
  4. McNamee
  5. McNabb
  6. Justy McMahon
  7. Tierney
  8. Colm Cavanagh
  9. Sean Cavanagh
  10. Lavery
  11. Harte
  12. Mattie Donnelly
  13. McCurry
  14. Ronan O’Neill
  15. McAliskey
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Can Caoimhain and Manuel Zelaya please put this thread on ignore.

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Rest assured, I have no interest in getting involved in such a pointless discussion. Its a more modest title than the corresponding thread which was started this time last year - no pronouncements that Tyrone will be Ulster and All Ireland Champions 2015.

I’ll make one observation, Tyrone are going nowhere under Mickey Harte. Parallel’s with Down a decade and a half ago. Pete McGrath stayed on until the end of 2002, a further 8 campaigns after Down’s great era of the early 90’s had come to and end. Tyrone have long since needed a change of voice at the top. Harte should have gone years ago.

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Conor McKenna gone to the AFL.

http://gaeliclife.com/2014/10/tyrone-starlet-mckenna-makes-afl-move/

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Cathal McCarron returning? :eek:

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He must have got on his knees begging to come back

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Looks like Gormley, Penrose and Mark Donnelly might be calling it a day. Very sad to see Gormley retire, he should go down as one of the all time greats. I have seen many great defenders from our province over the years but Gormley is the best of the lot, the ultimate firefighter who covered every defensive position for us and he usually went where a problem existed. His crowning moment will probably be that block of Stevie McDonnell in the 2003 final.

The last remnants of the 03 side slipping away as I would also expect O’Neill to go and Dermy Carlin who was on the bench that year as well. Only Cavanagh would remain. Joe McMahon was the only real addition that is still playing from the 2005 panel and doubts remain over whether he will commit to another year.

Times are changing.

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Jesus Carlin has some neck to be still hanging around.

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Mickey Harte has just confirmed Cathal McCarron is in the Tyrone fold for next season on TG4.

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That’ll tighten Tyrone up at the back no end.

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Good luck to McCarron - took balls to come back.

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I see Brolly was bigging up Ronan O’Neill, likening him to Peter The Great and saying Harte should build the team around him. I’m a bit on the fence about O’Neill, I think he is a superb footballer but he looks to be badly out of shape, I’d say he’s a stone overweight which is worrying as he’s had an injury free year and is only a young lad at 22. McCurry looks a far more complete player at this stage and there also lies the problem about where you play him, does he play at 11 or in the full forward line? He is very alike in style to the likes of McAliskey and McCurry and I think you can only afford to play two of these in the full forward line. Hopefully Peter Donnelly can work close with him and get him in better shape as he will be one of the top 5 forwards in the country if he does.

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[SIZE=6]Tyrone confirm the likely return of Cathal McCarron to panel[/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]The GPA have also come out in support of the former All Star nominee[/SIZE]

Former Tyrone and London footballer Cathal McCarron looks set to rejoin his home county’s panel within the next three weeks. Photograph: Cathal Noonan/Inpho

Eamon Donoghue

[LIST]
[]Topics:
[]Sport
[]Gaelic Games
[]Gaelic Football
[]Cathal Mccarron
[]Tyrone
[*]GPA
[/LIST]
Tue, Nov 11, 2014, 12:44

First published:Tue, Nov 11, 2014, 12:32

Former Tyrone and London footballer Cathal McCarron looks set to rejoin his home county’s panel within the next three weeks.

The Tyrone senior set-up have confirmed in a dual statement with the GPA this morning that the 26-year-old corner back is “currently working on his personal fitness under a strength and conditioning coach. This is with a view to returning to full training with the Tyrone squad when they regroup next month.”

McCarron joined up with the London senior football team last year, following a string of off-the-field issues which led to his departure.

Only a year previously he had been nominated as an All Star following some outstanding performances in reaching the All-Ireland semi-final as a key component of Mickey Harte’s team.

In their statement on behalf of McCarron and the Tyrone senior football management this morning, the GPA conveyed their hope that the player will receive the necessary space from the public eye in completing his road to recovery.

“While conveying this positive news we would like to point out that Cathal will not be engaging with media in any capacity for the foreseeable future.

“On behalf of Cathal, the Tyrone squad and management, the GPA would kindly ask you to respect that Cathal needs to focus on his recovery and his return to football.”

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk0XsSDOlfo

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Jesus, you talk some horse shit

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No, my musings are usually pretty accurate. You’re the one who would widely be recognised as both a spoofed and a crank. Now sling your hook as you don’t know what you’re talking about.

17

You keep telling yourself that you head case

18

I don’t need to tell myself things that are reality.

Then again, I was the one who said Donaghy still had something to offer when you laughed and dismissed him out of hand.

You come into threads and unload ignorance on matters you know nothing about.

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[QUOTE=“Il Bomber Destro, post: 1033086, member: 2533”]Looks like Gormley, Penrose and Mark Donnelly might be calling it a day. Very sad to see Gormley retire, he should go down as one of the all time greats. I have seen many great defenders from our province over the years but Gormley is the best of the lot, the ultimate firefighter who covered every defensive position for us and he usually went where a problem existed. His crowning moment will probably be that block of Stevie McDonnell in the 2003 final.

The last remnants of the 03 side slipping away as I would also expect O’Neill to go and Dermy Carlin who was on the bench that year as well. Only Cavanagh would remain. Joe McMahon was the only real addition that is still playing from the 2005 panel and doubts remain over whether he will commit to another year.

Times are changing.[/QUOTE]

Penrose is rumoured to have informed Harte of his retirement. He was a great player but never really hit the heights that would have been expected of him.

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Stephen O’Neill as well.