Tyrone v Dublin - The return of the Jedi

[punt kick]

Tyrone will win this, mark my words. Tyrone have the off the shoulder speed and power to cause the Dubs serious problems. Once again, the Dubs had the freedom of Croke park to slot over their points at ease, this won't happen on the 27th!

[LeoMc]

Having 14 men behind the ball in itself wasn't Tyrone's problem. Dublin regularly had 15 behind the ball, and this is not just something they introduced in this match, it's something they've been doing regularly against the other top 2 or 3 counties over the last couple of years.

Tyrone's problem was an accumulation of loads of things.

Poor in-game decision making. McNamee committed himself against O'Callaghan for the goal and was roasted.

Lack of responsibility being taken. A lot of their players seemed to really go into their shell after the early goal. Maybe the occasion and the lack of experience some of them have of a full Croke Park got to some of them. The noise before throw in was probably louder than I've ever heard it even in any All-Ireland semi-final involving Dublin.

The very poor speed of transition from defence to attack. With 15 men behind the ball, Dublin were able to break at lightning speed. Tyrone's transitions were like a car ferry turning around.

Lack of width and constantly attempting to attack down a bottled up central channel. This resulted either in turnovers or in players having to turn back with the ball and slow things down, thus meaning Tyrone's attacking game became very predictable.

Lack of good support running. Tyrone players were so often isolated.

Inferior basic skills in handling, kicking and tackling terms.

Dublin destroyed Tyrone's kickout. James McCarthy was knocking balls down and hoovering up breaks for fun.

Dublin are better conditioned. You only have to look at the respective players' running styles to see this. Dublin players all bounce off the turf like 400 metre runners. Tyrone have pace over long distances and straight lines but they don't have the short run pace or turning ability that Dublin have.

So, a lot to think about for Tyrone going forward. Most of those problems can be addressed to some degree, but an infusion of 4 or 5 new players really is needed.

The Super 8 system will suit them next year. They'll have much better match practice going into an All-Ireland semi-final than they had had this year.

+1.
A lot of good valid points there.
Dublins width meant that the 2 Tyrone sweepers were not able to get close enough to the player in possession to be effective.
Dublins use of the space and tackling were superior. Tyrone turnovers have been dependent upon getting 2-3 men around the player in possession to force him to overplay. Dublin players tackled, putting the hand in and knocking the ball away.

[The Hill is Blue]

Darragh Ó Sé on Stephen Cluxton in the Irish Times:

Darragh Ó Sé: Do we take for granted how good Stephen Cluxton is?

Tyrone masterclass raises question - do we take Dublin goalkeeper for granted?

Darragh Ó Séabout 9 hours ago
Here's a question. What does Stephen Cluxton have to do to be named Man of the Match in a game? When was the last time he even made the shortlist of three? (Okay, that's two questions). I left Croke Park on Sunday evening thinking I had just seen a total masterclass from him but in the days since, I have hardly heard his name mentioned once. The guy has been so good for so long now, I think we all take him for granted.

People have been falling over themselves to praise Dublin's performance on Sunday – and rightly so. But I don't see how you can do any analysis of why they're so good without explaining where they get their platform. Everything that is good about Dublin in a general sense starts with Cluxton in a specific sense. Their standards, their skills, their speed of thought. He sets the tone, the rest of them take their lead. Sunday was as good an example of that as I've seen.

I went back and watched the first 25 minutes again, up until Con O'Callaghan scored a point to make it 1-8 to 0-4. In that time – which was the winning of the game, basically – Cluxton took eight kick-outs, four long and four short. Six of those times, Dublin scored a point without a Tyrone player getting a hand on the ball. Obviously, that's not all down to Cluxton. But if you break it down a bit more, you can see the massive influence he has on the rest of them.

Take his first kick-out. Seán Cavanagh had a close-in free to put Tyrone ahead in the second minute. As he lined up the free, Tyrone did what Kerry did in last year's semi-final. They took advantage of the break in play to squeeze away up and pushed nine players into the Dublin half. This was obviously going to be one of their big tactics – try to rattle Cluxton early and take away Dublin's platform.

When you think of Cluxton's kick-outs, what's the first thing you think of? The speed of them. When the ball is sailing over the bar, he already has his head down beside the foot of his post picking up a new one and heading out to the line with it.

Took his time

But here, for his first kick-out of the game, he took his time. Between the ball going over the bar and Cluxton kicking it out, 15 seconds passed. It was as if he was saying to Tyrone, "Okay lads, what have you got for me? What's your big idea?" And when he saw that they had all pushed up and got in his face, he decided to kick it out over them.

The Croke Park pitch is 144.5 metres long. I know because I checked yesterday just to make sure I had my numbers right here. Cluxton's diagonal kick hit Niall Scully just as he crossed the Tyrone 65. Not the Dublin 65, the Tyrone one.

That means in the second minute of an All-Ireland semi-final, with his first kick of the day and nine of the Tyrone team pushed up in front of him, Cluxton pinged a 70-metre pass that landed on Scully's head. Scully was away in a hack and he passed to James McCarthy who was fouled for a handy free. Draw game. Cluxton's point.

He kicked the ball and then pointed and roared to the guy he played it to, telling him which direction to go with it
Two things you have to ask yourself about that. One: are there five other footballers in Ireland who could do that? I don't just mean goalkeepers, I mean footballers in general. Arrow-straight, 70 metres, no hook or draw, right on the money. Make your list there and see can you get to five. Not easy, is it? Honestly, we take him for granted.

And two: how are you feeling if you're Tyrone there? Every big match is a series of games within games and this is the first big face-off of the day. You've laid your cards on the table early. You've scored the first point of the game. You've gone bull-headed for Cluxton's kick-out, daring him to make a mistake. And he's basically laughed at you. As a result, the first little bit of doubt creeps in.

His next three kick-outs came after Tyrone shots from play so he didn't wait for them to get set up. He got the ball away each time inside six seconds – most of the Tyrone team were running away from him with their back to goal when he chipped it out to Mick Fitzsimons or John Small. For each one, he kicked the ball and then pointed and roared to the guy he played it to, telling him which direction to go with it. Dictating the pace, keeping the tempo up.

Ballsy

His fifth kick-out came after a Peter Harte free so Tyrone were squeezing up again, the same as at the start. This time Tyrone pushed 10 men into the Dublin half, which is about as ballsy as anyone can afford to get against them. Again Scully posted himself on the Tyrone 65 and again Cluxton sent a laser over on top of him. This time, Colm Cavanagh got up to compete but Scully just tapped it down to McCarthy and Dublin were away again. McCarthy took a foul, moved the free on quickly and Dean Rock had the ball over the bar within 20 seconds.

I don't care if they've been training the sub-goalie since he was five years old to take over – there's no way they have a replacement that can dictate a game like Cluxton does
That was the pattern, right through the first half. Twice he had to delay a kick-out because David Coldrick was dishing out a booking, giving Tyrone time to push up. But they were getting more and more demoralised, both by the scoreboard and by the fact that Cluxton was finding his man every time anyway. Pushing up on him never worked, dropping off still ended up in Dublin getting a shot away anyhow. When O'Callaghan kicked the Dubs into 1-8 to 0-4 lead after 25 minutes, that was that. Game over, ball burst.

All the talk now is of Jim Gavin's options. He can drop Bernard Brogan, he can drop Michael Darragh MacAuley, he can keep Diarmuid Connolly on the bench until the last three minutes. But don't try telling me he can plan without Cluxton. I don't care if they've been training the sub-goalie since he was five years old to take over – there's no way they have a replacement that can dictate a game like Cluxton does.

It was just a masterclass. All you had to do was look around you over the weekend and see his worth. We all saw that the Kerry goalkeeper, Brian Kelly, got himself into such a state over his kick-outs that he ended up putting one out for a 45. He landed two of them down Colm Boyle's throat for marks.

And I have nothing but sympathy for him. It's all very well to be sniggering up in your comfortable seat when a goalie can't get a kick-out away. But when you're down at pitch level and the other team is pushing up aggressively on you, waving their hands, dancing about, full of mouthing, that's about as lonely a place as you can be on a football pitch. You have to be an elite performer not to look silly down there.

Danger

This is what I mean by saying we take Cluxton for granted. None of his team-mates ever have to worry about him or give him a second thought. All they have to worry about is doing what he tells them, for fear he gives them a rollicking. He's like your man Walt in Breaking Bad. He is not in danger – he is the danger. He is the one who knocks.

The upshot is Dublin are always, always playing the game on their own terms. They're taking their lead from him. Their skills are exceptional – shooting, tackling, passing. That's because they have very little choice in the matter. When your goalkeeper is possibly a better footballer than you, when he has changed the sport almost single-handedly over the course of his career, then you better be highly-skilled yourself. If not, what's your excuse?

I watched Kerry over the two games working very hard against Mayo. You couldn't fault them for effort. But they just weren't as good at the skills of the game. At one stage near the end of the drawn game, Kerry put in a huge effort to turn over the ball down at the Canal End. They worked like dogs to get the ball back and Tadhg Morley came out with it.

The teams were level with five minutes to go and Tadhg was under no pressure, as Darran O'Sullivan came showing for the ball. The ball out should have been straightforward, just a regulation fist-pass to a man coming about 15 metres away. But Tadhg's pass was a mile up in the air and Donie Vaughan came through Darran to tip it away and Mayo collected on the break.

Mess

The Dubs just don't do that sort of thing. Those basic skills, the ones you carry out without having to think about, the ones you can do while you're looking up and surveying your options, Dublin rarely make a mess of them. Every one of them has a right-hand pass, a left-hand pass, won't fumble the ball, won't give it away cheaply. If you get the ball back off Dublin, you've usually earned it.

But again, when Cluxton is setting the standard time and time again in every game, what choice do the other Dublin players have only to meet it? The cumulative effect was to make Tyrone look very, very average. And Kerry too, by comparison.

It all leaves Dublin in a great place. Gavin has those players eating out of his hand now. I heard someone asking the other day how he manages to keep all those players happy. And I thought, "Happy? Why in God's good name would you want to keep them happy?"

Imagine what sort of sour form Brogan and Connolly and MacAuley are going to be in at training over the next three weeks. They'll be fighting like bears to try to get a place back, to even just get a run off the bench. That won't be a happy camp running up to the final. It will be edgy, cranky and competitive as hell. Everything you want a pre-final set-up to be.

Gavin couldn't ask for better.

[Mikhailov]

Now that the dust has started to settle and the reality is setting in, a few points regarding Sunday and the situation we find ourselves in as a county going forward;

1. We are better than Sunday and I don't think Dublin are as good as we made them look albeit they were very impressive on the day
2. If Mayo learn from our mistakes then they will give Dublin all they want and may be victorious on the day but they will have to be at their best
3. Our system as has been alluded to several times is only functional when you are in front
4. We were too 'nice' on Sunday
5. We had one of the best teams of all time (03-08) with some legendary players but they all had a nasty, competitive and win at all costs attitude - we didn't have that on Sunday past.
6. Our 'big' players failed to turn up in Croke Park again when it mattered ala Kerry '14, Mayo '16. They weren't let play
7. Taking off Mark Bradley was insulting to the player - the sacrificial lamb who played against 3 players all game and was isolated and we take him off early like an underage club coach....take the wee corn8er forward off first FFS !!!
8. We obviously have no plan B.....or we do have the belief that we will NOT need a plan B....
9. All year we met opposition teams on the '45 with our defensive wall - this did not happen on Sunday - we met them at the D if at all. It seemed that we decided that if we keep out the goals then we win - O'Callaghan put an end to that ploy after a few minutes.
10. Morgan didn't take any '45's, all year he bolted up the pitch to take them...
11. we had no support runners all game,  our player on the ball was isolated (Dublin made sure this happened with their blocking of runners, pulling and hauling) - did we not expect this to happen. This is a standard tactic for Dublin !!
12. Sean Cavanagh, McCarron and possibly Justy will quit, other players may decide to pull the pin as the gap is too large and they are not prepared to sit on the bench all year and be used only for in house 15v15 games....

13. We are NOT in the top 3. the last 3 seasons have proved this...
14. The super 8's actually will benefit us as we are guaranteed 3 games if we get that far - we need to start winning big games again.
15. Ulster titles mean nothing ....unless you back it up with a big win in Croker
16. Who would want the Tyrone job - you have to win an AI to be deemed a success - this wont happen short term

17. Lets look forward to some club football - put us out of our misery....our 3 club championships are wide open.

[Syferus]

Darragh Ó Sé on Stephen Cluxton in the Irish Times

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/darragh-ó-sé-do-we-take-for-granted-how-good-stephen-cluxton-is-1.3202513

Dublin would win with the back-up keeper.

[omagh_gael]

Tyrone will win this, mark my words. Tyrone have the off the shoulder speed and power to cause the Dubs serious problems. Once again, the Dubs had the freedom of Croke park to slot over their points at ease, this won't happen on the 27th!

No problem in admitting I was wrong. Am I right in thinking you're an Armagh man? Enough said I suppose.

[Zulu]

Having 14 men behind the ball in itself wasn't Tyrone's problem. Dublin regularly had 15 behind the ball, and this is not just something they introduced in this match, it's something they've been doing regularly against the other top 2 or 3 counties over the last couple of years.

Tyrone's problem was an accumulation of loads of things.

Poor in-game decision making. McNamee committed himself against O'Callaghan for the goal and was roasted.

Lack of responsibility being taken. A lot of their players seemed to really go into their shell after the early goal. Maybe the occasion and the lack of experience some of them have of a full Croke Park got to some of them. The noise before throw in was probably louder than I've ever heard it even in any All-Ireland semi-final involving Dublin.

The very poor speed of transition from defence to attack. With 15 men behind the ball, Dublin were able to break at lightning speed. Tyrone's transitions were like a car ferry turning around.

Lack of width and constantly attempting to attack down a bottled up central channel. This resulted either in turnovers or in players having to turn back with the ball and slow things down, thus meaning Tyrone's attacking game became very predictable.

Lack of good support running. Tyrone players were so often isolated.

Inferior basic skills in handling, kicking and tackling terms.

Dublin destroyed Tyrone's kickout. James McCarthy was knocking balls down and hoovering up breaks for fun.

Dublin are better conditioned. You only have to look at the respective players' running styles to see this. Dublin players all bounce off the turf like 400 metre runners. Tyrone have pace over long distances and straight lines but they don't have the short run pace or turning ability that Dublin have.

So, a lot to think about for Tyrone going forward. Most of those problems can be addressed to some degree, but an infusion of 4 or 5 new players really is needed.

The Super 8 system will suit them next year. They'll have much better match practice going into an All-Ireland semi-final than they had had this year.

While I understand where you're coming from I think you are overthinking this. Tyrone played a system that Dublin are practicing playing against all year and have figured out long ago. Against Monaghan, Dublin played 4 men on the side lines and have repeatedly shown patience in playing a massed defence. Everybody should have known what they were going to do and that they wouldn't get caught. Secondly, their video analysis would have identified players like Harte and Donnelly and they were always going to have designated markers for them.

Tyrone didn't underperform, they weren't let perform by Dublin because all they were doing was getting bodies back and running the ball so Dublin were always going to know what to do when they did get turned over. In addition, because Dublin are so athletic and Tyrone had no outlet ball they were always going to pick up their main men and could easily track whatever other runners they had.

I don't know what happens in counties academies but if they are teaching lads to play to systems then they are a waste of time. They should be about developing competently skilled players who are good decision makers with a basic knowledge of tactics but all ball sports are still about your ability to use the ball.

[Declan]

I don't know what happens in counties academies but if they are teaching lads to play to systems then they are a waste of time. They should be about developing competently skilled players who are good decision makers with a basic knowledge of tactics but all ball sports are still about your ability to use the ball.

+1

[ziggysego]

I was wrong. Congratulations Dublin.

[Owen Brannigan]

I don't know what happens in counties academies but if they are teaching lads to play to systems then they are a waste of time. They should be about developing competently skilled players who are good decision makers with a basic knowledge of tactics but all ball sports are still about your ability to use the ball.

+1

Academies and development squads are largely failing to produce players of the quality and athleticism of that demonstrated by the Dublin players on a regular basis. The problem lies with the failure to produce coaches who want to use these structures to develop players with skill and athleticism.  Too many development squad coaches actually see themselves as 'managers' and are serving their time in a county board structure as a stepping stone to being underage county managers and maybe even county managers but ultimately club managers who will be in demand.  Therefore, their vision for the position of being assigned to a development squad is usually a personal one and not one with a view of meeting the requirements of the county squad.

The result is that development squads are obsessed with strength and conditioning for very young players as they are 'hothousing' or 'forcing them on' (using horticultural terms) to ensure that they are more competitive with their peers in other counties.  Instead they should be identifying players who can be developed over a longer period of time and the focus is on football skill development and on athleticism, the real ability to run with or without a ball.

Every peer group of players within a county will have exceptional players who are identified from an early age, e.g. Peter Harte and they will always come through even when the development structures are poor.  It is the next layer of players who can be developed into great footballers if given the correct mentoring and coaching as underage footballers from first class coaches who know how to develop football skills and how to develop young athletes rather than grinding them in the gym with weight, running to gain stamina and wearing them down with endless mindless drills.

Just watch the game from Sunday and look at one skill, running, look at how the Dublin players cover the ground almost effortlessly while Tyrone players generally look more forced and labour (not just because they were being beaten) as they have not developed the skill of running as an athlete because no one has taken the time to teach them, instead they are barrel chested and almost flat footed.  There is one exception, Tiernan McCann who has a smooth running skill which may well be down to genetics.

[Syferus]

I don't know what happens in counties academies but if they are teaching lads to play to systems then they are a waste of time. They should be about developing competently skilled players who are good decision makers with a basic knowledge of tactics but all ball sports are still about your ability to use the ball.

+1

Academies and development squads are largely failing to produce players of the quality and athleticism of that demonstrated by the Dublin players on a regular basis. The problem lies with the failure to produce coaches who want to use these structures to develop players with skill and athleticism.  Too many development squad coaches actually see themselves as 'managers' and are serving their time in a county board structure as a stepping stone to being underage county managers and maybe even county managers but ultimately club managers who will be in demand.  Therefore, their vision for the position of being assigned to a development squad is usually a personal one and not one with a view of meeting the requirements of the county squad.

The result is that development squads are obsessed with strength and conditioning for very young players as they are 'hothousing' or 'forcing them on' (using horticultural terms) to ensure that they are more competitive with their peers in other counties.  Instead they should be identifying players who can be developed over a longer period of time and the focus is on football skill development and on athleticism, the real ability to run with or without a ball.

Every peer group of players within a county will have exceptional players who are identified from an early age, e.g. Peter Harte and they will always come through even when the development structures are poor.  It is the next layer of players who can be developed into great footballers if given the correct mentoring and coaching as underage footballers from first class coaches who know how to develop football skills and how to develop young athletes rather than grinding them in the gym with weight, running to gain stamina and wearing them down with endless mindless drills.

Just watch the game from Sunday and look at one skill, running, look at how the Dublin players cover the ground almost effortlessly while Tyrone players generally look more forced and labour (not just because they were being beaten) as they have not developed the skill of running as an athlete because no one has taken the time to teach them, instead they are barrel chested and almost flat footed.  There is one exception, Tiernan McCann who has a smooth running skill which may well be down to genetics.

Matching Dublin's fitness levels has little to do with academies. At those levels where it's more about the skills of the game Dublin teams are beatable, it's when every specialist (nevermind the best training facilities) under the Sun gets involved at senior that Dublin players become unassailable. Most of the best underage counties aren't doing too much wrong these days, they just don't have the money to chase after a team that's more corporation than county at senior.

[Whishtup]

Let's start to build a system around the best players in the county as opposed to forcing our best players into a system.

[SkillfulBill]

I don't know what happens in counties academies but if they are teaching lads to play to systems then they are a waste of time. They should be about developing competently skilled players who are good decision makers with a basic knowledge of tactics but all ball sports are still about your ability to use the ball.

+1

Academies and development squads are largely failing to produce players of the quality and athleticism of that demonstrated by the Dublin players on a regular basis. The problem lies with the failure to produce coaches who want to use these structures to develop players with skill and athleticism.  Too many development squad coaches actually see themselves as 'managers' and are serving their time in a county board structure as a stepping stone to being underage county managers and maybe even county managers but ultimately club managers who will be in demand.  Therefore, their vision for the position of being assigned to a development squad is usually a personal one and not one with a view of meeting the requirements of the county squad.

The result is that development squads are obsessed with strength and conditioning for very young players as they are 'hothousing' or 'forcing them on' (using horticultural terms) to ensure that they are more competitive with their peers in other counties.  Instead they should be identifying players who can be developed over a longer period of time and the focus is on football skill development and on athleticism, the real ability to run with or without a ball.

Every peer group of players within a county will have exceptional players who are identified from an early age, e.g. Peter Harte and they will always come through even when the development structures are poor.  It is the next layer of players who can be developed into great footballers if given the correct mentoring and coaching as underage footballers from first class coaches who know how to develop football skills and how to develop young athletes rather than grinding them in the gym with weight, running to gain stamina and wearing them down with endless mindless drills.

Just watch the game from Sunday and look at one skill, running, look at how the Dublin players cover the ground almost effortlessly while Tyrone players generally look more forced and labour (not just because they were being beaten) as they have not developed the skill of running as an athlete because no one has taken the time to teach them, instead they are barrel chested and almost flat footed.  There is one exception, Tiernan McCann who has a smooth running skill which may well be down to genetics.

Would fully agree with this post the current Academies are not fit for purpose. They need to be about skill development taking the most skillfull lads and enhancing them and less focus on earlier developing lads who are currently more competitive due to their size. Body strength is easier developed between 18 and 24. but the skills of the game are already well established between 12 and 18 and this is the crucial age where skills can be taught and developed.

[macdanger2]

Darragh Ó Sé on Stephen Cluxton in the Irish Times:

Darragh Ó Sé: Do we take for granted how good Stephen Cluxton is?

Tyrone masterclass raises question - do we take Dublin goalkeeper for granted?

Darragh Ó Séabout 9 hours ago
Here's a question. What does Stephen Cluxton have to do to be named Man of the Match in a game? When was the last time he even made the shortlist of three? (Okay, that's two questions). I left Croke Park on Sunday evening thinking I had just seen a total masterclass from him but in the days since, I have hardly heard his name mentioned once. The guy has been so good for so long now, I think we all take him for granted.

People have been falling over themselves to praise Dublin's performance on Sunday – and rightly so. But I don't see how you can do any analysis of why they're so good without explaining where they get their platform. Everything that is good about Dublin in a general sense starts with Cluxton in a specific sense. Their standards, their skills, their speed of thought. He sets the tone, the rest of them take their lead. Sunday was as good an example of that as I've seen.

I went back and watched the first 25 minutes again, up until Con O'Callaghan scored a point to make it 1-8 to 0-4. In that time – which was the winning of the game, basically – Cluxton took eight kick-outs, four long and four short. Six of those times, Dublin scored a point without a Tyrone player getting a hand on the ball. Obviously, that's not all down to Cluxton. But if you break it down a bit more, you can see the massive influence he has on the rest of them.

Take his first kick-out. Seán Cavanagh had a close-in free to put Tyrone ahead in the second minute. As he lined up the free, Tyrone did what Kerry did in last year's semi-final. They took advantage of the break in play to squeeze away up and pushed nine players into the Dublin half. This was obviously going to be one of their big tactics – try to rattle Cluxton early and take away Dublin's platform.

When you think of Cluxton's kick-outs, what's the first thing you think of? The speed of them. When the ball is sailing over the bar, he already has his head down beside the foot of his post picking up a new one and heading out to the line with it.

Took his time

But here, for his first kick-out of the game, he took his time. Between the ball going over the bar and Cluxton kicking it out, 15 seconds passed. It was as if he was saying to Tyrone, "Okay lads, what have you got for me? What's your big idea?" And when he saw that they had all pushed up and got in his face, he decided to kick it out over them.

The Croke Park pitch is 144.5 metres long. I know because I checked yesterday just to make sure I had my numbers right here. Cluxton's diagonal kick hit Niall Scully just as he crossed the Tyrone 65. Not the Dublin 65, the Tyrone one.

That means in the second minute of an All-Ireland semi-final, with his first kick of the day and nine of the Tyrone team pushed up in front of him, Cluxton pinged a 70-metre pass that landed on Scully's head. Scully was away in a hack and he passed to James McCarthy who was fouled for a handy free. Draw game. Cluxton's point.

He kicked the ball and then pointed and roared to the guy he played it to, telling him which direction to go with it
Two things you have to ask yourself about that. One: are there five other footballers in Ireland who could do that? I don't just mean goalkeepers, I mean footballers in general. Arrow-straight, 70 metres, no hook or draw, right on the money. Make your list there and see can you get to five. Not easy, is it? Honestly, we take him for granted.

And two: how are you feeling if you're Tyrone there? Every big match is a series of games within games and this is the first big face-off of the day. You've laid your cards on the table early. You've scored the first point of the game. You've gone bull-headed for Cluxton's kick-out, daring him to make a mistake. And he's basically laughed at you. As a result, the first little bit of doubt creeps in.

His next three kick-outs came after Tyrone shots from play so he didn't wait for them to get set up. He got the ball away each time inside six seconds – most of the Tyrone team were running away from him with their back to goal when he chipped it out to Mick Fitzsimons or John Small. For each one, he kicked the ball and then pointed and roared to the guy he played it to, telling him which direction to go with it. Dictating the pace, keeping the tempo up.

Ballsy

His fifth kick-out came after a Peter Harte free so Tyrone were squeezing up again, the same as at the start. This time Tyrone pushed 10 men into the Dublin half, which is about as ballsy as anyone can afford to get against them. Again Scully posted himself on the Tyrone 65 and again Cluxton sent a laser over on top of him. This time, Colm Cavanagh got up to compete but Scully just tapped it down to McCarthy and Dublin were away again. McCarthy took a foul, moved the free on quickly and Dean Rock had the ball over the bar within 20 seconds.

I don't care if they've been training the sub-goalie since he was five years old to take over – there's no way they have a replacement that can dictate a game like Cluxton does
That was the pattern, right through the first half. Twice he had to delay a kick-out because David Coldrick was dishing out a booking, giving Tyrone time to push up. But they were getting more and more demoralised, both by the scoreboard and by the fact that Cluxton was finding his man every time anyway. Pushing up on him never worked, dropping off still ended up in Dublin getting a shot away anyhow. When O'Callaghan kicked the Dubs into 1-8 to 0-4 lead after 25 minutes, that was that. Game over, ball burst.

All the talk now is of Jim Gavin's options. He can drop Bernard Brogan, he can drop Michael Darragh MacAuley, he can keep Diarmuid Connolly on the bench until the last three minutes. But don't try telling me he can plan without Cluxton. I don't care if they've been training the sub-goalie since he was five years old to take over – there's no way they have a replacement that can dictate a game like Cluxton does.

It was just a masterclass. All you had to do was look around you over the weekend and see his worth. We all saw that the Kerry goalkeeper, Brian Kelly, got himself into such a state over his kick-outs that he ended up putting one out for a 45. He landed two of them down Colm Boyle's throat for marks.

And I have nothing but sympathy for him. It's all very well to be sniggering up in your comfortable seat when a goalie can't get a kick-out away. But when you're down at pitch level and the other team is pushing up aggressively on you, waving their hands, dancing about, full of mouthing, that's about as lonely a place as you can be on a football pitch. You have to be an elite performer not to look silly down there.

Danger

This is what I mean by saying we take Cluxton for granted. None of his team-mates ever have to worry about him or give him a second thought. All they have to worry about is doing what he tells them, for fear he gives them a rollicking. He's like your man Walt in Breaking Bad. He is not in danger – he is the danger. He is the one who knocks.

The upshot is Dublin are always, always playing the game on their own terms. They're taking their lead from him. Their skills are exceptional – shooting, tackling, passing. That's because they have very little choice in the matter. When your goalkeeper is possibly a better footballer than you, when he has changed the sport almost single-handedly over the course of his career, then you better be highly-skilled yourself. If not, what's your excuse?

I watched Kerry over the two games working very hard against Mayo. You couldn't fault them for effort. But they just weren't as good at the skills of the game. At one stage near the end of the drawn game, Kerry put in a huge effort to turn over the ball down at the Canal End. They worked like dogs to get the ball back and Tadhg Morley came out with it.

The teams were level with five minutes to go and Tadhg was under no pressure, as Darran O'Sullivan came showing for the ball. The ball out should have been straightforward, just a regulation fist-pass to a man coming about 15 metres away. But Tadhg's pass was a mile up in the air and Donie Vaughan came through Darran to tip it away and Mayo collected on the break.

Mess

The Dubs just don't do that sort of thing. Those basic skills, the ones you carry out without having to think about, the ones you can do while you're looking up and surveying your options, Dublin rarely make a mess of them. Every one of them has a right-hand pass, a left-hand pass, won't fumble the ball, won't give it away cheaply. If you get the ball back off Dublin, you've usually earned it.

But again, when Cluxton is setting the standard time and time again in every game, what choice do the other Dublin players have only to meet it? The cumulative effect was to make Tyrone look very, very average. And Kerry too, by comparison.

It all leaves Dublin in a great place. Gavin has those players eating out of his hand now. I heard someone asking the other day how he manages to keep all those players happy. And I thought, "Happy? Why in God's good name would you want to keep them happy?"

Imagine what sort of sour form Brogan and Connolly and MacAuley are going to be in at training over the next three weeks. They'll be fighting like bears to try to get a place back, to even just get a run off the bench. That won't be a happy camp running up to the final. It will be edgy, cranky and competitive as hell. Everything you want a pre-final set-up to be.

Gavin couldn't ask for better.

Why don't teams target Cluxton? High ball in early, someone like Donaghy follows it in with (one) eyes on the ball and accidentally lifts Cluxton out of it. Yellow card maybe but potentially rattles one of Dublin's most important players. Seems like a no brainer to me

[tbrick18]

I believe that the Dublin match exposed the majority of that Tyrone team as ordinary players which the "system" could not protect.
Full credit to Mickey Harte, its not abundantly clear that he plays that system as he knows the limitations of his players and he has adopted a style of play to get the most out of them.
This has worked incredibly well against almost everyone else (which actually shows the complete gulf in class between Dublin and the rest of us), but up against a quality side with a quality manager the system was picked apart and the superior players had a field day.

I think Dublin would beat most teams like that, and I have no doubt they'd do the same to Tyrone again.

Mayo will be a different option, but I still feel Dublin just have too much quality.

I work with a few Tyrone lads, who all say that there are better players in Tyrone than what are on the panel. Maybe that's the case, I dont know, but you can only put a team out with the players at your disposal.