Tyrone County Football and Hurling

[Scoring Zone]

IMO the standard, conditioning and dedication of the players has never been better, if a bit of bite, hard hits, mouthing is apart of the game then I think it adds to it, getting annoyed by it is too sensitive, it has been going on in cricket, rugby, boxing, NFL, NBA, NHL for decades by all the so-called greats, Michael Jordan was one of the worst mouthpieces, Muhammed Ali etc etc.

[Beantown]

Fair point Beanman, Just really has ramped up the verbal etc over the last number of years. Ironically enough he's one of the most civil lads you could meet.

For me the verbals  are a waste of oxygen and focus. After our game the dub defenders hit hard and fair and I didn't witness one element of verbals at all. If I was a donegal attacker that wold would hurt more. If the defender proceeded to scream in my face after the ball had gone I'd fight ten times harder when the next ball comes in.

I totally agree with you Omagh.  Justy is a civil fella,  most players are when not wearing the jersey.  Better to spend the energy being productive.  No need to rile McBrearty, Murphy, McManus, O Connor etc, they are the kind of players who do not shrink from the challenge and will only try harder to make ye look the fool.  Forwards loose heart when dispossessed, made to shoot under pressure or even better have a limited supply of good ball going in.

[Fuzzman]

It's one thing turning a blind eye to maybe one or two players who yap to the man their marking but it's different when you get half your team shouting in people's faces, trying to get them sent off and this general win at ALL COSTS attitude.
I think we've seen it quite a bit in games between Donegal, ourselves and Monaghan where there is a nastiness running through the whole game and it makes for a horrible spectacle. In fairness I thought we cut out a lot of that nonsense last year, even in the tense Ulster final there didn't seem to be as much sledging but I thought we did bring it back into our game v Mayo.

[Il Bomber Destro]

It's one thing turning a blind eye to maybe one or two players who yap to the man their marking but it's different when you get half your team shouting in people's faces, trying to get them sent off and this general win at ALL COSTS attitude.
I think we've seen it quite a bit in games between Donegal, ourselves and Monaghan where there is a nastiness running through the whole game and it makes for a horrible spectacle. In fairness I thought we cut out a lot of that nonsense last year, even in the tense Ulster final there didn't seem to be as much sledging but I thought we did bring it back into our game v Mayo.

Sledging is a bit harmless in all reality unless it spills over into some very personal matters.

Personally I'd prefer our lads mouthing off at the opposition heads than constantly cribbing to the referee and putting undue pressure on him like the likes of Cillian O'Connor, Colm Boyle, Gooch, Donaghy do on a regular basis.

It's only a big deal because it's Tyrone though. We shouldn't have to operate ourselves under different standards than the rest, we've been unfairly given this image of dirty, underhand, cheating scum by large sections of the Southern media over the last 10 years. We constantly have our incidents magnified and recorded when they happen yet when other sides are involved in similar incidents they are brushed under the rug.

I get quite annoyed when I see certain people, particularly inside the county, always looking for us to behave to a standard no other county has to because we're a successful side from the north. Why should we have to play with our hands tied behind our backs while the rest don't? We'll do what we've always done and push the line to the same limit the other teams do, if the media want to spin that to our image, let them, the best way we can stuff it to them is going out and winning games.

[Fuzzman]

How do you think we'll fare in Div 1 this year lads?
Having won Ulster this year I think it would benefit this young team if they really went all out to win a league title. 2003 was our last one which is surprising as Mickey says he wants to win all competitions.
Can you imagine if we beat the Dubs in the league final how that would set the mood for the championship season ahead?

Looking back at 2015 when we were last in Div 1 we lost badly to Monaghan, beat Mayo away, drew with Dublin, lost to Cork and Donegal and drew with Kerry in Omagh. McCurry, Sean and McAliskey were our top scorers that year. McCurry seems to have fallen back behind some of the upcoming U21s from that year and hopefully we'll see Mickey play Lee Brennan a bit more this year.

We would hope to get off to a good start with a home game to Roscommon in our first match although they started last year very well.

[Il Bomber Destro]

How do you think we'll fare in Div 1 this year lads?
Having won Ulster this year I think it would benefit this young team if they really went all out to win a league title. 2003 was our last one which is surprising as Mickey says he wants to win all competitions.
Can you imagine if we beat the Dubs in the league final how that would set the mood for the championship season ahead?

Looking back at 2015 when we were last in Div 1 we lost badly to Monaghan, beat Mayo away, drew with Dublin, lost to Cork and Donegal and drew with Kerry in Omagh. McCurry, Sean and McAliskey were our top scorers that year. McCurry seems to have fallen back behind some of the upcoming U21s from that year and hopefully we'll see Mickey play Lee Brennan a bit more this year.

We would hope to get off to a good start with a home game to Roscommon in our first match although they started last year very well.

No semi-finals this year so it's top two who face off for the league.

I'd be expecting a strong showing, I'd say out of the big 4/5 sides we will be the ones who want it the most, it will be good test for some of the more experienced players who broke into the squad in the last 2 years.

Hopefully the new recruits get a chance to shine tomorrow, think we have 7 of the established players involved with Ulster this weekend so should be a good chance for the others.

[omagh_gael]

Tyrone best Louth 2-19 to 14 points today.  Meet Armagh next week.

[longballin]

What really is the point of the O'Fiaich Cup? Is the GAA afraid county football afraid will be out of the limelight for a few weeks?

[square_ball]

I don't think it's organised by the GAA per se more of an invitational tournament hosted by Cross. Much in the same vein as pitch openings, charity matches etc etc. I wouldn't get too worked up about glorified friendly matches really.

[StGallsGAA]

Obviously the ban on December football has gone?  Didn't see Amy official announcement tho?

[bigpackiechestout]

Anyone up at the game today to see how any of the new lads got on? The Dazzler seemed to do most of the scoring,  still think he's probably our best/ most proven forward when on form. Interesting that Ronan O'Neill was captain although I suppose there wasn't too many experienced alternatives. Also seen Lee Brennan just got one point from play which should be a bit of a reality check for anyone who thinks he's going to immediately cure all of Tyrone's problems at just 19 years of age

[Il Bomber Destro]

Anyone up at the game today to see how any of the new lads got on? The Dazzler seemed to do most of the scoring,  still think he's probably our best/ most proven forward when on form. Interesting that Ronan O'Neill was captain although I suppose there wasn't too many experienced alternatives. Also seen Lee Brennan just got one point from play which should be a bit of a reality check for anyone who thinks he's going to immediately cure all of Tyrone's problems at just 19 years of age

Two points for Brennan but I agree with what you're saying, he needs to be treated with care and too much shouldn't be expected to soon.

Going by the line up I thought a few of the positional choices strange.

Clarke at wing back
McKenna at centre back
Cassidy at corner back
K McGeary at wing forward

Now possibly they didn't play there in those positions but I would have Cassidy and McKenna further up the field, Clarke in a more central role and McGeary at wing back.

Is Loughran injured, he was the only one of the new faces who didn't get a run out today?

[In hiding]

Anyone up at the game today to see how any of the new lads got on? The Dazzler seemed to do most of the scoring,  still think he's probably our best/ most proven forward when on form. Interesting that Ronan O'Neill was captain although I suppose there wasn't too many experienced alternatives. Also seen Lee Brennan just got one point from play which should be a bit of a reality check for anyone who thinks he's going to immediately cure all of Tyrone's problems at just 19 years of age

Two points for Brennan but I agree with what you're saying, he needs to be treated with care and too much shouldn't be expected to soon.

Going by the line up I thought a few of the positional choices strange.

Clarke at wing back
McKenna at centre back
Cassidy at corner back
K McGeary at wing forward

Now possibly they didn't play there in those positions but I would have Cassidy and McKenna further up the field, Clarke in a more central role and McGeary at wing back.

Is Loughran injured, he was the only one of the new faces who didn't get a run out today?

And you're the man who keeps telling us that mickey knows best !

[BennyHarp]

Anyone up at the game today to see how any of the new lads got on? The Dazzler seemed to do most of the scoring,  still think he's probably our best/ most proven forward when on form. Interesting that Ronan O'Neill was captain although I suppose there wasn't too many experienced alternatives. Also seen Lee Brennan just got one point from play which should be a bit of a reality check for anyone who thinks he's going to immediately cure all of Tyrone's problems at just 19 years of age

Two points for Brennan but I agree with what you're saying, he needs to be treated with care and too much shouldn't be expected to soon.

Going by the line up I thought a few of the positional choices strange.

Clarke at wing back
McKenna at centre back
Cassidy at corner back
K McGeary at wing forward

Now possibly they didn't play there in those positions but I would have Cassidy and McKenna further up the field, Clarke in a more central role and McGeary at wing back.

Is Loughran injured, he was the only one of the new faces who didn't get a run out today?

And you're the man who keeps telling us that mickey knows best !

Yes, why isn't Mickey playing his full strength team? This isn't the competition to be experimenting with players and positions. 🙄

[Dire Ear]

Any reports , scorers ?  apart from McCurry 1-9 I think