Tyrone County Football and Hurling

[southtyronegael]

The main reason we got to the ai final last year was Colm cavanagh so I wouldn't be writing him off yet. Can see him partnering Richie Donnelly in more orthodox holding midfielder role later in championship especially if Kennedy injured. Sweeper role more or less defunct now especially against the dubs.

[trailer]

I suspect Colm will have a big role to play later in the championship. These early rounds are all arseboxing. Tyrone most likely are taking a calculated gamble that they are going to be in the Super 8. I'm not saying that they purposely played at a slower pace yesterday but id say fitness levels, tactics etc are all geared towards peaking later in the summer. The response to the Derry goal is where I would take most comfort from yesterday, we had an ability to shift up a gear the moment it was required. I'd expect an equally sluggish performance v Antrim next day and Colm might be poor again. I'd still back him to be our stand out player in Croke Park in a few months time...again.

Fitness levels should be at their peak. The players should be fully fit. There's no such thing as peaking too early or aiming to peak at a certain time. Be quare and silly to not peak for this game, get fucked out into a qualifier and then trying to peak for a must win game in few weeks or whatever. These guys are at peak physical condition. End of story. Everything from now on will be about maintaining those levels until the end of the season. It was just a very flat performance and you'd imagine it will be the subject of a careful investigation to find out exactly why.

[southtyronegael]

I'd say they are around 75% fitness now. A few more games/training sessions and they will be at 100% for the super 8s. Tyrone players are in incredible shape. Peter Donnelly doin great work.

[omagh_gael]

I wasn't necessarily saying Colm should be dropped. I was suggesting that his tendency to drop back into the sweeper role appeared to invite Derry on to us causing us to lose a dominant lead. I was at the game and he clearly dropped into the sweeper role approx half the time he was on the field.

[Angelo]

I know he tracked back but I didn't think Cavanagh played as an out and out sweeper when he came on. He did look a little of the pace with a recent injury possibly holding him back. We can be very quick to write players off when they're over 30 if they have a bad game. I'd say if he can get himself fit he'll be more than worth his place on the team. He's the kind of physical presence the team needs so hopefully he can get a run at it.

What age is Colm, 34? Once you get over a certain age its not fitness (as in endurance) that is the problem, its the sharpness/pace that goes and at the highest level you cannot compensate for that regardless of how much training you do. Obviously the type of role he plays will have a bearing on how long he is able to compete for and that sweeping role is probably well suited to an "older" player.

31/32 I think.

He hasn't played much football so hopefully it's just rustiness, he was collosal last year so hopefully he can adjust to the tactical changes. I think he has to start against Antrim so that he can get up to speed.

[omagh_gael]

I'd like to see him start next game out and play as a traditional no 6 holding the CHB position. When he drops right back into the 13m or 20m line we were forced onto the back foot. Hopefully he's just rusty but the lingering doubt is the miles on the clock can show up very quickly and be ruthlessly exposed.

[Jayop]

I suspect Colm will have a big role to play later in the championship. These early rounds are all arseboxing. Tyrone most likely are taking a calculated gamble that they are going to be in the Super 8. I'm not saying that they purposely played at a slower pace yesterday but id say fitness levels, tactics etc are all geared towards peaking later in the summer. The response to the Derry goal is where I would take most comfort from yesterday, we had an ability to shift up a gear the moment it was required. I'd expect an equally sluggish performance v Antrim next day and Colm might be poor again. I'd still back him to be our stand out player in Croke Park in a few months time...again.

Fitness levels should be at their peak. The players should be fully fit. There's no such thing as peaking too early or aiming to peak at a certain time. Be quare and silly to not peak for this game, get fucked out into a qualifier and then trying to peak for a must win game in few weeks or whatever. These guys are at peak physical condition. End of story. Everything from now on will be about maintaining those levels until the end of the season. It was just a very flat performance and you'd imagine it will be the subject of a careful investigation to find out exactly why.

I disagree. There's 4 months between now and the AI final and that's where we want to be so going balls out for a game against Derry which we should be winning handy and in the end did so with a bit of a scare is no harm. Especially when the next game is Antrim. We're regarded as one of the top teams in the country and our first two games are D4 teams so aiming to peak for those would be kinda stupid. Going at 100% in training for too long can cause injuries and that's what we have to manage this year.

Without any replays in Ulster we will have to play 9 games up to and including an AI final if we get there. If we go back door then add a few games to that. That's a load of football to be played at super high intensity and from Donegal on all of those games will be against top 8 opposition more than likely.

IMO we will have been aiming to meet Donegal on the 8th of June and that's no disrespect to Derry or Antrim, that's just the reality of where we're at. From there on you've got 12 weeks and hopefully 7 games to compete for Sam. No point in either running the legs of yourself just yet, or showing your full hand in the early rounds against these teams. I suspect against Donegal* we'll see an even greater change in tactics and fitness.


*should we get there of course.

[redhandefender]

There is a difference with peaking with fitness and sharpness and how you approach a game. I think if they played the way they did at the end with more up front aside from just mc shane we could have blown them away in the first 20 mins then take your foot of the gas. at least then we are playing the style we aim to continue with.

to me most of the game was very dissapointing. we were awful for their kickouts and it has to be said our own we weren't on the ball. Now that can be turned down to sharpness and fitness maybe.


But running up to the half fwd line then passing about and back is not going to get us anywhere.


Why not just go for it, push up, finish these lesser teams of early and get into some form before facing donegal

[bigpackiechestout]

I suspect Colm will have a big role to play later in the championship. These early rounds are all arseboxing. Tyrone most likely are taking a calculated gamble that they are going to be in the Super 8. I'm not saying that they purposely played at a slower pace yesterday but id say fitness levels, tactics etc are all geared towards peaking later in the summer. The response to the Derry goal is where I would take most comfort from yesterday, we had an ability to shift up a gear the moment it was required. I'd expect an equally sluggish performance v Antrim next day and Colm might be poor again. I'd still back him to be our stand out player in Croke Park in a few months time...again.

Fitness levels should be at their peak. The players should be fully fit. There's no such thing as peaking too early or aiming to peak at a certain time. Be quare and silly to not peak for this game, get fucked out into a qualifier and then trying to peak for a must win game in few weeks or whatever. These guys are at peak physical condition. End of story. Everything from now on will be about maintaining those levels until the end of the season. It was just a very flat performance and you'd imagine it will be the subject of a careful investigation to find out exactly why.

I disagree. There's 4 months between now and the AI final and that's where we want to be so going balls out for a game against Derry which we should be winning handy and in the end did so with a bit of a scare is no harm. Especially when the next game is Antrim. We're regarded as one of the top teams in the country and our first two games are D4 teams so aiming to peak for those would be kinda stupid. Going at 100% in training for too long can cause injuries and that's what we have to manage this year.

Without any replays in Ulster we will have to play 9 games up to and including an AI final if we get there. If we go back door then add a few games to that. That's a load of football to be played at super high intensity and from Donegal on all of those games will be against top 8 opposition more than likely.

IMO we will have been aiming to meet Donegal on the 8th of June and that's no disrespect to Derry or Antrim, that's just the reality of where we're at. From there on you've got 12 weeks and hopefully 7 games to compete for Sam. No point in either running the legs of yourself just yet, or showing your full hand in the early rounds against these teams. I suspect against Donegal* we'll see an even greater change in tactics and fitness.


*should we get there of course.

There's been a lot of talk about a semi-final v Donegal as if it is a factual statement. I wouldn't write off Fermanagh in that quarter final. It's in Brewster park and Fermanagh will take confidence from their league displays, not least a 3 point away with over (an admittedly depleted) Donegal. Bear in mind the recent spate of lads pulling out of the Donegal panel, the fact Odhran Mac Niallais isn't playing this year, that Ryan McHugh had a quiet enough league after his return from a concussion lay-off and that this will be Paddy McBreartys first game back after a cruciate injury.

[trailer]

I suspect Colm will have a big role to play later in the championship. These early rounds are all arseboxing. Tyrone most likely are taking a calculated gamble that they are going to be in the Super 8. I'm not saying that they purposely played at a slower pace yesterday but id say fitness levels, tactics etc are all geared towards peaking later in the summer. The response to the Derry goal is where I would take most comfort from yesterday, we had an ability to shift up a gear the moment it was required. I'd expect an equally sluggish performance v Antrim next day and Colm might be poor again. I'd still back him to be our stand out player in Croke Park in a few months time...again.

Fitness levels should be at their peak. The players should be fully fit. There's no such thing as peaking too early or aiming to peak at a certain time. Be quare and silly to not peak for this game, get fucked out into a qualifier and then trying to peak for a must win game in few weeks or whatever. These guys are at peak physical condition. End of story. Everything from now on will be about maintaining those levels until the end of the season. It was just a very flat performance and you'd imagine it will be the subject of a careful investigation to find out exactly why.

I disagree. There's 4 months between now and the AI final and that's where we want to be so going balls out for a game against Derry which we should be winning handy and in the end did so with a bit of a scare is no harm. Especially when the next game is Antrim. We're regarded as one of the top teams in the country and our first two games are D4 teams so aiming to peak for those would be kinda stupid. Going at 100% in training for too long can cause injuries and that's what we have to manage this year.

Without any replays in Ulster we will have to play 9 games up to and including an AI final if we get there. If we go back door then add a few games to that. That's a load of football to be played at super high intensity and from Donegal on all of those games will be against top 8 opposition more than likely.

IMO we will have been aiming to meet Donegal on the 8th of June and that's no disrespect to Derry or Antrim, that's just the reality of where we're at. From there on you've got 12 weeks and hopefully 7 games to compete for Sam. No point in either running the legs of yourself just yet, or showing your full hand in the early rounds against these teams. I suspect against Donegal* we'll see an even greater change in tactics and fitness.


*should we get there of course.

Sorry but that's just bollocks. They're fit. They're not holding back. 4 months is nothing. Soccer teams stay fit for near on 9 or 10 months. These guys are doing their own work outside of collective training. They're unreal athletes.
When did 9 games become a lot of football? What do you think a county team is doing when they are not playing matches? They're training. And if you ask any county player what they'd rather do, they'd pick playing football matches over training everyday and twice on a Sunday.

[Jayop]

There's been a lot of talk about a semi-final v Donegal as if it is a factual statement. I wouldn't write off Fermanagh in that quarter final. It's in Brewster park and Fermanagh will take confidence from their league displays, not least a 3 point away with over (an admittedly depleted) Donegal. Bear in mind the recent spate of lads pulling out of the Donegal panel, the fact Odhran Mac Niallais isn't playing this year, that Ryan McHugh had a quiet enough league after his return from a concussion lay-off and that this will be Paddy McBreartys first game back after a cruciate injury.

I'm only going from a Tyrone POV that that's what we have to be aiming for and we have to expect Donegal to get there. Neither us nor them getting there is a formality but it really should be now.

[Jayop]

Sorry but that's just bollocks. They're fit. They're not holding back. 4 months is nothing. Soccer teams stay fit for near on 9 or 10 months. These guys are doing their own work outside of collective training. They're unreal athletes.
When did 9 games become a lot of football? What do you think a county team is doing when they are not playing matches? They're training. And if you ask any county player what they'd rather do, they'd pick playing football matches over training everyday and twice on a Sunday.

You don't think teams tailor their training to peak at certain times of the year? You don't think the levels of intensity required for the later stages of the championship vs early rounds against d4 teams could result in more injuries? What a player would rather do is irrelevant. Every panel be it club or county will be doing different levels of training at different times of the year. There's science to this now and having the lads bouncing around the dressing room, punching walls before these early round games because their wound up to the last is dumb.

Soccer teams are professional athletes with much bigger squads who have no day jobs to interfere with their training. The comparison is completely moot.

[Angelo]

Our attacking play was sharp enough on Sunday I thought, we scored 1-14 from play and that was with the likes of Harte and Sludden being very quiet.

The issues were being beaten around the middle of the pitch for much of the game and struggling defensively when Derry ran at us. If we had dominated more of the primary possession we would have won convincingly. We kicked the ball in early and regularly, the delivery of which was good and the finishing was very efficient, compared to some of the games last year we didn't hit many wides at all. Attacking wise our gameplan was working but it was winning up ball that saw us struggle.

[trailer]

Sorry but that's just bollocks. They're fit. They're not holding back. 4 months is nothing. Soccer teams stay fit for near on 9 or 10 months. These guys are doing their own work outside of collective training. They're unreal athletes.
When did 9 games become a lot of football? What do you think a county team is doing when they are not playing matches? They're training. And if you ask any county player what they'd rather do, they'd pick playing football matches over training everyday and twice on a Sunday.

You don't think teams tailor their training to peak at certain times of the year? You don't think the levels of intensity required for the later stages of the championship vs early rounds against d4 teams could result in more injuries? What a player would rather do is irrelevant. Every panel be it club or county will be doing different levels of training at different times of the year. There's science to this now and having the lads bouncing around the dressing room, punching walls before these early round games because their wound up to the last is dumb.

Soccer teams are professional athletes with much bigger squads who have no day jobs to interfere with their training. The comparison is completely moot.

Tyrone have more respect for the Ulster championship and Derry than to turn up unfit. You're wrong.

[Club boi]

All this talk about an AI final, we got laid there last year by beating NOBODY of value. We got beat TWICE at home and still got to an AI final because we didnt meet Kerry/Mayo or Dublin in a proper knock out game. This Tyrone team may not be what you's all think of them