Messages

I've given up trying to understand who is playing where.
Mattie rarely stays at FF but will often pop over a score from anywhere.
K&K often rotate into FF.
You will often see McKiernan in the FF line.
I hope Oguz can start chipping in with a few scores.
We certainly seem to create quite a lot of scoring chances.

Have the Tyrone fans lost a lot of their enthusiasm of previous years or are we now only interested after quarter finals?
We could be out numbered on Sat night.

Hard to believe Tyrone have lost 4 championship games in a row in the last two season and after this weekend that could be 5, as they often don't play that well in Omagh when they're expected to win.

Most of the Tyrone team picks itself these days with only the half forward line being the only positions where they have struggled all year. A lot of us are probably disappointed to see so many half backs named in the HF line.
With McGeary, Sludden and M.O'Neill all struggling for form since 2021 and McShane's woes with injury, they seem to lacking in that area. Oguz hasn't really shined as yet and is still very young but someone new will have to come in for Burns. Could it be Ruairi Canavan perhaps?

Was thinking Armagh are a bit like the Dubs in that they seem to thrive on getting energy from scoring goals and often do so against Tyrone and so it will be interesting to see will they kick in more high ball to the full back line as Tyrone are unlikely to have 15 men behind the ball like Derry do. Hampsey will need to keep his head if he's marking Rian O'Neill who looked like a man possessed v Derry.

Tyrone bench is weak enough in my eyes with only Ruairi Canavan as the only exciting forward to bring in, with a lot of new U20 lads or Sludden. Would like to see Petey Harte get back to his old self and kick a few more scores.

Many of us were hoping the Galway game would be the real start of Tyrone's campaign this year with a big performance against one of the All-Ireland favourites. However, with very wet conditions combined with the early red and black cards, it turned the game into a damage limitation match for Tyrone and so it was hard to judge where we are really at.
Dooher and Logan will know this weekend really needs to go well for them or they will most likely come third/fourth in the table and another short season for Tyrone looms.

I suppose Tyrone fans are mirroring their team in that they've not done much recently to get excited about.
The 2021 win was well celebrated but that huge fan hunger seems to have abated and the passion isn't there any more.
A lot of the current team have been there for years and maybe aren't enjoying their football as much as they used to. They only seem to play well when backed into a corner or when they fancy it.
There were even signs of this in the 2021 final when they went long periods without scoring.

Armagh however had a good run last year and their fans found something to cheer about.
That chaotic comeback v Galway was typical of what they can do and they felt they can match it with the top teams again.
I think their performance v Derry in the final showed they are still at a decent level and in my eyes capable of getting to the quarters.
I'm hoping Tyrone finally show their hand on Saturday and if the sight of the orange men in Omagh don't wake them up, nothing will.

Have they brought in new players to replace these guys or will they?
Why do we seem to have this problem more than any other county?

Was at this game yesterday and was very impressed by the Rossies. They totally frustrated Dublin in the first half but I feared after Dublin got their usual first goal that they would kick on and dominate.
However Roscommon stayed calm and fought their way back into it.
Dublin were poor but was that cos Roscommon made them look poor.
They will give plenty of teams a hard game.

https://twitter.com/JAMESKELLY9/status/1662978304738205696?t=6hPcswzKP3HlXVCJsWBwvg&s=19

https://twitter.com/CiDeely/status/1662553734197436416?t=b3Bs-MfuaMunQjy-HNaleg&s=19

That was some kick, under pressure.

What the hell is the story with the Derry fans booing?

Hopefully McShane recovers fully and starts to show some of the form he did in previous years. Even in 2021 he might not have been electric like in his All star year but he certainly came in often as a sub and kicked a good few points or punched goal.

Would it be be better to have him at wing forward with maybe Oguz on the other side. Both well able to catch clean ball and shoot from distance. I think playing McShane at 14 isn't good for his confidence as maybe he has lost that wee bit of pace since his injury.
Where can ye see Ruari Canavan fitting into this team?

Very good point and one I wasn't aware of.
A good draw in the quarters certainly makes life a lot easier and no wonder Monaghan are fed up seeing the sight of Tyrone.
They've had a few good results against us in Ulster but just seems they can't get across the line in Croker.

I don't think it was the fact that it was Ulster teams though that we were beating and non Ulster Donegal were losing to.
I think it was Donegal kept meeting one of the big 3 whereas we mainly avoided them til the semi or final.
Likewise Galway got to the final last year avoiding Dublin, Kerry and Mayo.

Yes that 2018 away win to Donegal in the super 8s was probably our best performance in the last 10 years. Well maybe after beating Kerry in 2021.

[Team Semifinal appearances in last 10 years]

I was looking back over the last 20 years at what teams were making the AI semifinals the most and have listed below, the last 10 years semi finalists. No surprise with the top 3 anyway although amazing Tipp have made more semis than any other Ulster team bar Tyrone. Interestingly back in the 00's you had Cork and Meath up there too.

Obviously for years we are used to Kerry and Dublin being the two main favourites to make it into the semis or the final but Mayo in the last 10 years have joined them with Galway nowhere to be seen for years until recently.
The Ulster champions have a tendency to put in great performances in Ulster and provide good early form but then often disappoint in Croker. Donegal and Monaghan have been doing this for years although Derry reached their first semi last year since 2004, although they did easily hammer Clare.

Galway lost to the Super Dubs in 2018 whilst Monaghan made their first semifinal since the All Ireland series started but still struggle to win in HQ.

In my eyes it's only when you really beat one of the top 3 or 4 teams from the year before that you be truly considered an AI contender. Tyrone hadn't beaten Kerry, Dublin or Mayo from 2008 until 2021 although they did get to a few semis.

I'm a little surprised how many people are talking up this Galway team who got to the final last year but hadn't beaten any of so called big guns on the way. They beat the Rossies in the Connacht final and then struggled to beat Armagh. They did beat Derry quite well in the end in a very defensive match with both teams seemingly at similar levels during the league.

Galway put up a good performance in the final but in my eyes they are being slightly over stated as one of this years strong favourites just on last years showing. I suppose they have improved a bit during the league and with Walsh and Comer in their team they are always in with a good shout. In my eyes Walsh didn't really stand out all year except in the final whilst Comer was the opposite.
I'm sure Mayo are loving such talk and would relish meeting them later in the year.

Team       Semifinal appearances in last 10 years
Dublin   10
Kerry     8
Mayo      8
Tyrone   6
Galway   2
Tipp       2
Donegal  1
Derry      1
Monaghan1
Cavan      1

If Armagh beat Westmeath, lose to Tyrone but beat Galway they'll have 4 points.
In such a scenario you'd imagine Galway will also be on 4 points if they beat Westmeath
So all three could be on 4 points having lost one match each and won the other two.

So will score difference be the deciding factor in that scenario?
As someone already said elsewhere, I suppose the team that finishes third will want to be avoiding Kerry, assuming they come second now after Mayo.
Is Burns suspended for just one game?

Looks to me the management want to bring in a good few of the U20 lads from last year's winning team.
I suppose they see more hunger or hard work from the younger lads.
McKenna gone, huge drop off in performance from McGeary, Sludden, McShane, ONeill and I suppose you'd say Burns too.
Harte and Mattie played quite well yesterday but it looks like we don't really play half forwards any more and Mattie spends most of the time in defence as does ONeill.
I keep asking myself are they trying to not show their hand or try out new players.
At least yesterday we showed a bit of bite, work rate and didn't concede any goals.
Canavan didn't score from play and didn't look as lively as he did v Monaghan.
Oguz found it tough going against McDaid but hopefully it's a bit more open at home to Armagh who will feel they could even top the group now having Galway in a neutral venue.

Yeah I think you're right and they've pushed on from their good progress last year. Before most of us outside of Connacht would have said they're very dependent on Comer and Walsh often failed to show up.
But both of them shone at different times last year and plenty others came to the fore like McDaid, Kelly, Daly, Tierney and Cooke.
Last year's good performance in the final has left these guys hungry and wanting more. OK they still haven't beat a top three team yet in the championship and this year will tell us a lot more about them.

Tyrone on the other hand have definitely gone backwards. Losing quite a lot of the squad from 2021, some of the better players losing form and maybe hunger. Playing in fits and starts.
Unless we see a big change today it's hard to see a Tyrone win away to last year's runners up. Stranger things have happened though and Tyrone in summer are very different to Winter football.
Middle third players need to kick more scores

That must be Wexford's biggest victory in recent years I presume.

Tyrone beat them in the semi final 1.14 to 0.23, having hammered the Dubs in the quarters.
Hard to believe that could have been another Armagh v Tyrone semi-final and I'd say Armagh  probably had one eye on the semi when playing Wexford.