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re p donnelly im not blaming him just questioning the hubris and hullabaloo that surrounds him, what im saying is hes training a county team ffs. all fit to start with majority of them u25 and hes progressed them about 0.1 of an inch. no pace anywhere and no strength you tell me, hes been in place 6 months, collective training started on the ist of october whispers abound they had programmes before that. not impressed especially when its a  paid post. donegal pushed us about like ragdolls. do you lads see any difference in terms of conditioning i dont. any muppet could condition an u 21 team feel mr donnelly seriously over hyped interesting that terry hyland wasnt screaming to keep him. jobs for the boys doesent mean best man for the job. we have been seriously leggy in the second half of every game this season which is surprising with all this training going on. specificity or quantity.

when you look at both teams you have to say like the cork game when the fat is in the fire the only player we can bring on to change a game is ronan o neill, the rest are as weak a squad as ive ever seen. the kerry bench by the other hand wow(minus o donohue and the geaneys) that will be the difference in this game unfortunately. mickey harte cannot be blamed for the paucity of talent currently within the county, there are very few not in the panel. dropping down next year into div 2 whilst unwelcome will not be a disaster. winning u21s on wed night is more important than beating kerry on sunday in my humble view. i think we are three years away from challenging again and harte is the right man for the job to get us to that point. however what devlin brings to the party is beyond me and as yet peter donnelly has not proved the revolutionary he was touted as. tyrone still dont have the upper body strength required as evidenced by last sunday or are they able to transition from all out defence to supporting the attack for 70 mins despite undergoing the most stringent and intensive fitness training allegedly that they have ever done (now 6 months).

hes gone too far re harte this time, he will be needing a solicitor by the end of the week.

still think tyrone are evolving and the ultra defensive set up is harte trying to keep tyrone up, we will be better for championship. however he desperately needs a ball player or too in the team. big joe coming back to do the tiernan mccann role will be vital as he has the ability to do things that no one else can hit a ball 40/50 yards out of defence and into space. mccann can run and handpass but not much else, when paul kerrigan just ran at him in the last league game he was woefully exposed. i still have my doubts on mccaliskey looks good for 15 mins then disappears, big sean has been very poor and his lack of pace/legs has finally caught up with him mccurry has been very good but against an ultra defensive system where he will be living on crumbs on sunday he wont count. so as someone else has alluded too we have very little striking options especially from play which has put added pressure on a goalkeeper who plays midfield for his club (by my reckoning plays 7-10 competitive games a year in his position only, a joke)to hit wonder frees. the lack of scoring power is the big problem and harte cannot be blamed for that its 10 years of producing midget corner forwards at underage level and the ever decreasing gene pool in the east and town areas of tyrone. however as regards sunday if tyrone can turn over a few lineouts kick their penaltys and dont commit too many indiscretions at the breakdown we should be able to unhinge the bigger donegal pack. 

48 clubs in tyrone 3 players on average (5/6 bigger clubs 1/2 smaller) is 144 players approx make it 150 each dev squad at minute 30/40. forget about trials id develop the 150 of them at u14 100 at u15  and 60 of them at u17 whatever the bloody cost. the 2 most successful counties on this island kerry and kilkenny do that. academy sounds great its appealing possibly to stakeholders and benny hurl if its brainchild should be aplauded but like most things ala referees or even youth kits it costs money. tyrone spend it foolishly and on things that are questionable no kitchen in garvaghey being one and building a bloody hut in the shape of a T(who the hell architecturally gave the go ahead on that the weights room is in the right wing of the T say no more). the academy requires funding and it requires expertise that needs funded will that be done i doubt it very much.

i wouldnt get to ahead of myself this tyrone teams destiny and hartes continued reign will be decided in ballybofey. we have failed miseraby against donegal and more latterly monaghan who are the best two teams in uster over the last 3/4 campaigns. the inability to play against the blanket remains the stumbling block that this manager and team do not be able to handle. donegal have an inate ability to control a game and have the forward line to get the big scores when it matters. tyrone football is on trial over the next 2 months and more than likely donegal will bury it. in the longer term tyrone winning an ulster u21 would be a more important step than staying up, but our southern neighbours donegal/monaghan wont hand that to us either.

couldnt imagine conor meyler and ciaran mclaughlin not starting in  the u21 team redzone and mcgarrity possibly the galbally lad

firstly have to congratulate u on a very topical and timely question with the leagues not far away. re omagh my own club they actually started the season with flat out attack and went man for man against coalisland who deployed 2 men on ronan o neill in the first round. then after conceeding 4 majors against errigal in the league game and with the return of the county men especially joey deployed a more defensive strategy but that i think was testament to the adaptability of their players and the quality on the sideline. you can only play to your strengths. omagh can play both ways and you have to be able to do both and win. omagh met eglish who were ultra defensive in the quarters dromore on a wet squally evening were the conditions and the physicality of the game made it look defensive. carrick more game was probably the most defensive from omagh all season but i think the stakes were that high it was a win at all costs mentality. i listened to mickey harte give a prematch interview to tg4 prior to the crossmaglen game advocating omagh couldnt win with a defensive mindset and had to be more attacking ironic or what. at no time did i see 14 men behind the ball in a omagh game this year. omagh are more fluid than tyrone and unfortunately i cant see mickeys now donegal lite strategy get tyrone anywhere come summer. teams will copy the market leaders in this case omagh and donegal but if you havent got the players especially footballers not just athletes then ultimately strategy counts for nothing.

longballin methinks your missing the point. there is not one decent tyrone person on this forum or any forum for that matter that doesent in some way appreciate the personal difficulties that MH has faced you would need to be completely heartless to not. but this is a personal matter and is something the hartes need to deal with in their own way more than likely in the courtroom. how that equates to tyrone players not fulfilling media duties is beyond any rational argument. where would you draw the line at that rate every tabloid newspaper should be shunned for carrying the same stories. hunky dory didnt stand for the lack of exposure can you really expect somebody else. i wonder if tyrone were winning all-irelands would the omerta remain. the county board need to make a stand.

how much longer lads mrs jordan getting it in the neck due to the lack of a contract not the the demands of rte. if the sponsors are gone then his position is untenable.

Peter harte well worth his place along with ronan o neill the two most naturally gifted footballers in the team. an easy dig to say that he plays because of mickey i have a feeling he would play a lot better if mickey wasnt about. his big uncle doesent appear to know petees best position. as someone has already said tiernan mccann must be cutting mickeys grass or washing his car and the wee bearded one is repaying a favour. cant see what he brings at least when he had the beard he stood out. hes a non contact 10 or 5.

morgan
mccrory
justy
mccarron
mcnabb
mcnamee
tierney
cavnagh c
cavnagh s (to selfish at ff)
matttie donnelly to sweep and do the dooher role
ronan o neill
p harte
mc curry
mckenna
mccaliskey
567 and 8 9  and 10 11 12 are more balanced in this selection . mcnamee can get forward and do what mattie hasnt the mobility to do. harte o neill are our best footballers irrespective of form they can release our inside line quicker.

tyrone are only going one way at the minute and that is backwards. there has been a backwards progression really since 08/09 cork beat us off the park in 09 and every team has done the same ever since. whose fault is that who knows. the hunger is gone and i think that is reflected in the growing ambivalence towards the county team the management and to all things garvaghey and i include the nonesense that is the current development set up and coaching framework within the county.

i sat in a club committee ten years ago and listened to the pitch by club tyrone and their ilk about the need for garvaghey and the need to put all our efforts/money into the county. i was presented with a fancy booklet telling me about levelling the bog and how our successful title accumalations since the mid 90s were down to this continued need for excellence and of course money. well since 05 the clubs have done their bit theyve continued to fund a manager and county team  to the highest and for what to the detriment of the development of their own players and club.

where is the accountability for this so called perceived excellence. development squads that develop nothing but over inflated player egos and give gravitas to so called super coaches who appear on the wanted list at the much maligned clubs agm  come december. has any club player been developed by these squads and for that matter how many senior players came back to their clubs last august better than they left. thats the real problem here for all hartes faults and indeed strengths he and his hegmony have been allowed to rule over the real stakeholders in tyrone the clubs.  its time all were either shown the door or at least made accountable for the continued level of diminishing returns.

think the lights are out for good with that bunch of players. lads i wouldnt be calling for hartes head as hes the perfect man for where we are at. nobody in their right mind would want that team for another 3 years.  petee donnelly has worked his conditioning magic? not and on last nights evidence he must be still planning or else hes left his kettles in his kit bag. harte will insist his way is the best and i cant see him keeping tyrone anywhere near the top table with his limited approach to modern tactics. a few relegations and the time would be right for change then. interesting that the two best trainers in ulster football have been lost to derry and monaghan. porter has transformed monaghan and i note MOR has no worries in asking him for advice . the only thing harte seems to be doing is asking the linesmen about decisions.

think ray monteith has opted out of trillick with their remaining backroom to step up. mcconnell to owen roes confirmed i think.