Tyrone County Football and Hurling

[omagh_gael]

Tyrone won an all ireland in 08 without a recognised free taker. i think colm mc cullagh, tommy mc guigan and mugsy shared the duties.

You're not wrong but the 08 win was also down to Cavanagh being virtually unmarkable at FF and also kicked a heap of frees when not scoring for fun from play.

Exactly, Sean scored a load of frees from distance that year. Very odd that he doesn't take them on anymore.has Petey Harte hit any frees since his meltdown versus Donegal in 2011 (?)

[TF15]

Harte hit them V Dublin after that game the same year. He's also took a fair few of frees on the right hand side this year. It's more the frees from 35+ that are the issue. There isn't what you would call an incredible free taker in Tyrone (like Rock, Sheehan, O'Connor). Not that I've seen anyway.

[Fuzzman]

But that's what I'm asking TF15. Why is there not? Surely it's about them picking someone who is technically good at it and then him practising them non stop with the knowledge that if he misses one that he still takes the next one.
It's not just the far out ones as Ronan missed quite a few ones this year that he should be getting.
I'm not saying it's an easy job but it just amazes me that Mickey puts so much effort into other tactics that it seems amazing to me that we don't seriously address this problem.
With the way we play now which means that other teams often play the same blanket defence against us which means there are much fewer chances for shots from play so it is crucial that we have someone who can score frees for us.

A lot of us have just got used to this scenario now and like Harte just seem to accept it. You have named 3 reliable free takers from the top 3 teams. In my eyes until we properly address that then we won't break into that top 3.
Is Lee Brennan our great white hope again in 2017? Can he hit them from 40+ yards?

[WBF]

There does seem to be a few more coming through at underage, But it is hard to find someone who is top class at free's and can justify his position for other reasons!

At younger level Coalislands full forward for the u21's hit 2 45+ yards against Carrickmore in the semi final when the game was tight I think his name was Corr? Again going younger Ciaran Daly for Carrickmore minors has ridiculous feet, from inside the 45 in any position it wouldn't be too often he would miss a free! He hit a free from the sideline about 40 yards out in an u21 game against dromore with the last kick of the game to win it so can handle pressure.

Obviously the likes of these players wont be on the team soon but could be worth looking out for in the future!

[bigpackiechestout]

I always think it is harder to judge free-takers at club level. For example, I was over watching Pomeroy v Aghyaran in the Intermediate Championship last friday and Ronan McHugh was impeccable from placed balls, scoring about 10 points including a couple from play. Now on the face of it you could say that he is reliable from frees and someone Tyrone could use (and maybe he is), however a lot of these frees were in and around the D and at county level you just don't get very many easy frees like that. It's the same story in most club games where the defences aren't as disciplined as at county level and therefore concede more scoreable free kicks, and these are not the kind of kicks that Tyrone generally have trouble converting.

If you think back to the mayo game I think we missed 4 free kicks. In the first half morgan missed two from way out on the left side, and in the second half O'Neill missed one from the left sideline out towards the 45 and Morgan missed the long range one at the end. To be fair it takes an exceptional kicker to be reliable from that kind of range and unfortunately none of the Tyrone forwards have consistently proven themselves in this regard. Hopefully Lee Brennan will be able to step up to the plate next year but for a young player in what would be his first proper year on the team it is perhaps unfair to expect him to also be lumped with this burden.

[Goals_Will_Come]

There does seem to be a few more coming through at underage, But it is hard to find someone who is top class at free's and can justify his position for other reasons!

At younger level Coalislands full forward for the u21's hit 2 45+ yards against Carrickmore in the semi final when the game was tight I think his name was Corr? Again going younger Ciaran Daly for Carrickmore minors has ridiculous feet, from inside the 45 in any position it wouldn't be too often he would miss a free! He hit a free from the sideline about 40 yards out in an u21 game against dromore with the last kick of the game to win it so can handle pressure.

Obviously the likes of these players wont be on the team soon but could be worth looking out for in the future!

Two players that will never be near the Tyrone senior panel no harm to you.

[The Golden Years]

There does seem to be a few more coming through at underage, But it is hard to find someone who is top class at free's and can justify his position for other reasons!

At younger level Coalislands full forward for the u21's hit 2 45+ yards against Carrickmore in the semi final when the game was tight I think his name was Corr? Again going younger Ciaran Daly for Carrickmore minors has ridiculous feet, from inside the 45 in any position it wouldn't be too often he would miss a free! He hit a free from the sideline about 40 yards out in an u21 game against dromore with the last kick of the game to win it so can handle pressure.

Obviously the likes of these players wont be on the team soon but could be worth looking out for in the future!

Two players that will never be near the Tyrone senior panel no harm to you.

And your experience and expertise gives you the right to say the won't.

[square_ball]

There are a lot of very good free takers at club level in tyrone but doesn't mean they'll do it on the big stage and they also have to be county class. It's OK saying that you can carry a free taker but you can't. Dublin don't do it with rock and kerry couldn't accommodate Sheehan despite being in my opinion one of the best free taker there's been across any era. Plus lee brennan may only be one half of the solution. Always thought Skeet was a very good kicker has he ever got a sustained run at it? He did hit 2 out of 2 v mayo.

[southtyronegael]

i think lee brennan is an exceptional place ball kicker. problem is, by the time mickey harte turns him into a defender he wont be able to kick a ball against a wall.

[Goals_Will_Come]

There does seem to be a few more coming through at underage, But it is hard to find someone who is top class at free's and can justify his position for other reasons!

At younger level Coalislands full forward for the u21's hit 2 45+ yards against Carrickmore in the semi final when the game was tight I think his name was Corr? Again going younger Ciaran Daly for Carrickmore minors has ridiculous feet, from inside the 45 in any position it wouldn't be too often he would miss a free! He hit a free from the sideline about 40 yards out in an u21 game against dromore with the last kick of the game to win it so can handle pressure.

Obviously the likes of these players wont be on the team soon but could be worth looking out for in the future!

Two players that will never be near the Tyrone senior panel no harm to you.

And your experience and expertise gives you the right to say the won't.

Sean Corr is nowhere near the Coalisland team, so if he is not good enough to start for them what value would he be to the Tyrone Senior Panel.
Ciaran Daly didnt feature for Tyrone minors, usually players who push onto the senior team come through minor and u21 ranks, some don't so wouldnt completely rule him out but by and large they come through this way.

[Club boi]

I always think it is harder to judge free-takers at club level. For example, I was over watching Pomeroy v Aghyaran in the Intermediate Championship last friday and Ronan McHugh was impeccable from placed balls, scoring about 10 points including a couple from play. Now on the face of it you could say that he is reliable from frees and someone Tyrone could use (and maybe he is), however a lot of these frees were in and around the D and at county level you just don't get very many easy frees like that. It's the same story in most club games where the defences aren't as disciplined as at county level and therefore concede more scoreable free kicks, and these are not the kind of kicks that Tyrone generally have trouble converting.

If you think back to the mayo game I think we missed 4 free kicks. In the first half morgan missed two from way out on the left side, and in the second half O'Neill missed one from the left sideline out towards the 45 and Morgan missed the long range one at the end. To be fair it takes an exceptional kicker to be reliable from that kind of range and unfortunately none of the Tyrone forwards have consistently proven themselves in this regard. Hopefully Lee Brennan will be able to step up to the plate next year but for a young player in what would be his first proper year on the team it is perhaps unfair to expect him to also be lumped with this burden.

If he's good enough Age shouldn't matter

Conor Mc Aliskey has shown some form when given the chance. Perhaps having to chase back so much takes away from his game and leaves him too distracted or simply out of breath when the free's are giving

[Il Bomber Destro]

I don't think there is an awful lot of improvement in this team but it's really been the fine lines that have seen us knocked out in the past two years. If we had been efficient with our chances in both the Mayo and Kerry defeats we would have been in back to back All Ireland finals. Our system is so effective right now that teams are willing to match it. We have been used to teams running at us, getting turned over and having oceans of space to run into and exploit that - we see how devastating that can be when teams play into that like Cavan did in the replay and Derry when they played so open in Celtic Park.

Last year we had an element of surprise about us, not much was expected - this year we didn't and our gameplan was well signposted. We really struggled to deal with a similar defensive structure to our own. Too many of our players panic when they can't make instant breaks. How many times does McShane shoot from impossible angles when the juncture ahead gets crowded? It's extremely frustrating in those cat and mouse games where the ball is so hard to win back when a player takes on shots from ridiculous angles like that and loses possession. We got over the line with a few wonderscores against Donegal but fluffed our lines v Mayo.

We aren't patient enough, we need to probe for the chance and not try to force it when it's not there.

I don't think there is an answer to the long range frees to be honest. By all means let Morgan come up and hit the 45s if we get one but don't have him or Ronan O'Neill be hitting frees from areas which are clearly that little bit out of their range. We need to be inventive, find a spare man and build our attack up.

[Il Bomber Destro]

One reason you don't see McManus ever miss much frees for Monaghan is that he knows his range, he knows when he is comfortable and not forcing them. For instance you rarely see him kick any from more that 35 metres out, he knows they are not in range. He hits some excellent frees from acute angles but knows he will have problems with accuracy from further out. A forward who is missing frees will certainly have his confidence dented so if it's not in range don't hit it. I have seen O'Neill take many frees this year where they were out of his range and knew he was likely not going to score before hitting them.

[The Golden Years]

There does seem to be a few more coming through at underage, But it is hard to find someone who is top class at free's and can justify his position for other reasons!

At younger level Coalislands full forward for the u21's hit 2 45+ yards against Carrickmore in the semi final when the game was tight I think his name was Corr? Again going younger Ciaran Daly for Carrickmore minors has ridiculous feet, from inside the 45 in any position it wouldn't be too often he would miss a free! He hit a free from the sideline about 40 yards out in an u21 game against dromore with the last kick of the game to win it so can handle pressure.



Obviously the likes of these players wont be on the team soon but could be worth looking out for in the future!

Two players that will never be near the Tyrone senior panel no harm to you.

And your experience and expertise gives you the right to say the won't.

Sean Corr is nowhere near the Coalisland team, so if he is not good enough to start for them what value would he be to the Tyrone Senior Panel.
Ciaran Daly didnt feature for Tyrone minors, usually players who push onto the senior team come through minor and u21 ranks, some don't so wouldnt completely rule him out but by and large they come through this way.

I think you will find Ciaran Daly left the Tyrone Minor set-up of his own accord due to the whole set-up being a shambles. He would of been well worth his place on that Tyrone minor team.

[WBF]

There does seem to be a few more coming through at underage, But it is hard to find someone who is top class at free's and can justify his position for other reasons!

At younger level Coalislands full forward for the u21's hit 2 45+ yards against Carrickmore in the semi final when the game was tight I think his name was Corr? Again going younger Ciaran Daly for Carrickmore minors has ridiculous feet, from inside the 45 in any position it wouldn't be too often he would miss a free! He hit a free from the sideline about 40 yards out in an u21 game against dromore with the last kick of the game to win it so can handle pressure.

Obviously the likes of these players wont be on the team soon but could be worth looking out for in the future!

Two players that will never be near the Tyrone senior panel no harm to you.

And your experience and expertise gives you the right to say the won't.

Sean Corr is nowhere near the Coalisland team, so if he is not good enough to start for them what value would he be to the Tyrone Senior Panel.
Ciaran Daly didnt feature for Tyrone minors, usually players who push onto the senior team come through minor and u21 ranks, some don't so wouldnt completely rule him out but by and large they come through this way.

Never stated that these boys should be called up to the senior panel, Was just saying that there probably wouldnt be a lot of people better at free's alone in Tyrone.

In regards to Ciaran Daly as has already been said he walked from the panel, He scored 1-7 in the grade 1 championship final, arguably the best player for the grade 1 double winning team! Talked to many of the lads on the County minor panel and all will tell you he would have started!