Tyrone County Football and Hurling

[Fuzzman]

Re Mattie being a leader. I too am ONLY talking about what I see of him in the county jersey. He's already won 2 allstars which he deserved imo but to me a leader on the sports pitch is someone who stands up when things aren't going your way and can drag your team out of a slump and raise them.
Yes its easy to say we should stop comparing this team to the 2000s team but that's our main benchmark and there were a lot of leaders on those teams.
Dooher was probably the best team captain and leader we ever had though I am biased of course. I mean he was constantly demanding more from his team but he showed them how as well and not just talk the talk.
Did we see Mattie yesterday trying to raise his team mates and giving them a kick in the arse. Does anyone speak on the team.

The realdonald I'm glad you at least replied to some of our comments and actually discussed them rather than the easy option where some say "Ahh you're just an anti Harte person or you're being biased", however I dont think you will get too many to agree with you that Mattie is the best leader in Ireland at the moment. Did you see Brian Fenton on Sat night scoring 1.03 and showing that even though he's already won 2 all irelands he's keen as mustard?

I think too many on here won't even admit when there is a poor display and discuss why it was so bad.
There is no doubt it was a flat performance yesterday and we looked like the team with half our team missing and no idea about how to create scoring chances. It's bad when you are depending on Tiernan and Peter Harte to be your main scoring threats.

Here is the Irish times report from the game yesterday
Mickey says....
"We had three scores from 10 attempts and that is not going to win a lot of games. If we had have been better in that department we could have slipped ahead at half-time. For the first 10-12 minutes we were flat but after that I thought we put up a brave battle."

Does he think 10 attempts is good enough against a team who have just got promoted and are missing most of their first 15?


Galway 1-9 Tyrone 0-8

There is always the danger of the newbies to Division One suffering from altitude sickness on their first day out, so the signs were encouraging for Galway on Sunday.

In their first top-flight league match since 2011, they looked comfortable. One local fan walking his son through the general greyness and drizzle gave a walking education on just where Galway stood in the greater things. "Apart from Kerry and Dublin, Galway have won more All-Irelands . . . "

In the city, Galway's All-Ireland hurling champions were entertaining the crowd. But in Tuam's stadium, where it always feels as if it's around 1965, Galway football remains king.

Boosted by a brilliant goal after 22 seconds and then a point from captain Damien Comer, the home team had both the know-how and the appetite for the necessary January sludge-work to enjoy a heartening win.

They held the Ulster champions to 0-3 in the first half and coughed up no clear goal chances over the match. Seán Andy Ó Ceallaigh gobbled up any high ball that came his way and looked at home at full back, Shane Walsh glided across the squelchy surface and Comer has, over the past two seasons, become a hugely influential force on this team. He really is a sight when he goes at defences at full speed and has the vision and touch to make use of the space he clears through pure strength.

Elsewhere, Eamonn Brannigan kicked two nice points from play and Peter Cooke had good moments – including winning the throw-in which set the move in motion for the Comer goal.

Galway's Peter Cooke challenges Matthew Donnelly of Tyrone during the Allianz League Division One game at Tuam Stadium. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho
Galway's Peter Cooke challenges Matthew Donnelly of Tyrone during the Allianz League Division One game at Tuam Stadium. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho
But the win wasn't quite as emphatic as it might have been: after Shane Walsh kicked his obligatory sublime point in the 54th minute, Galway led by 1-7 to 0-4. They had enjoyed a one-man advantage since the 23rd minute and with that score, the game looked beyond the Ulster champions.

Instead, Kevin Walsh's team had to play and think their way through a concerted Tyrone push for in the final quarter, when seasoned players like Tiernan McCann, Mattie Donnelly and Peter Harte began to punch holes in the Galway defence to reel off four quick points to leave just two between the teams.

Niall Sludden clipped a shot off the post during that period, as the old stadium fell ominously quiet. A clever steal – or, from Tyrone's perspective, a loose pass – gave Gareth Bradshaw clear ground to thunder through and lay the ball off for the reliable Comer to ease the pressure on his team with a well-taken point. After that, Galway pulled clear again but a needless and tetchy six minutes of added time saw a series of squabbles which resulted in two further Tyrone men, Michael McKernan and Harte, leaving the field on black cards.

"It was a great start but in fairness when teams get a start like that they can go on the back foot and start defending," Walsh said.

"Our boys didn't do that. Something we have been trying to push is that we go forward as much as possible. Sometimes we have been criticised for that but for the style of Galway football it is important we bring the game to opponents and there was a lot of that today."

Walsh made one late change, inserting Adrian Varley to the starting line-up and leaving him isolated at inside full forward against Ronan McNamee. Galway sought to play him early and often and the exchanges became sufficiently intense to persuade Harte to mix things up, withdrawing his full back early.

"There was just too much aggression between him and his man and someone was going to lose the plot there," said the Tyrone manager. "It was to save being down a man. And suddenly we were down a man anyway! That game was volatile at times and you could have lost players very easily."

So technically, Tyrone finished with 12 men on a day when little went right. Like the crowd still filtering through the turnstile, they seemed stunned by Comer's early goal and were in a different gear for the first 15 minutes.

Given the rottenness of the day, the jig seemed up when they lost Darren McCurry, who responded to a late challenge as he kicked a badly needed point for the visitors and was shown a red.

The pitch was soft and a veil of drizzle moved across field and Tyrone's slick handling and inter-play fell apart too often, with passes mis-timed and players slipping. And yet for all that, they hung around in the match. "In the second half of the first half we played a lot of good football but couldn't take our scoring chances," Harte said reasonably.

"We had three scores from 10 attempts and that is not going to win a lot of games. If we had have been better in that department we could have slipped ahead at half-time. For the first 10-12 minutes we were flat but after that I thought we put up a brave battle."

It was a gritty last quarter performance on a day that Tyrone might have decided was not for them. Had they managed to squeeze the scoreboard by another point in that last 10 minutes, then they might have taken something from the day. Instead, they headed back up the road thinking about a Saturday night visit by All-Ireland champions Dublin. Omagh should be lively that night.

GALWAY: 1 R Lavelle; 2 D Kyne, 3 S A O'Ceallaigh, 4 E Kerin; 5 C Sweeney, 6 G Bradshaw, 7 J Heaney; 8 P Conroy, 9 P Cooke; 10 S Kelly, 11 S Walsh (0-4, three frees), 12 E Brannigan (0-2); 13 P Sweeney (0-1), 25 A Varley, 14 D Comer (1-2).


Substitutes: 18 P Cunningham for 25 A Varley (55 mins), 23 T Flynn for 13 P Sweeney (60), 20 J Duane for 10 S Kelly (65), 24 G O'Donnell for 12 E Brannigan (70), 17 S Armstrong for 11 S Walsh (73).

TYRONE: 1 N Morgan; 2 M McKernan, 3 R McNamee, 4 HP McGeary; 5 T McCann (0-1), 6 P Hampsey, 12 K McGeary; 8 M Donnelly (0-1), 10 C McCann; 15 C McAlliskey (0-1, free), 11 N Sludden, 9 P McNulty; 13 D McCurry (0-1), 7 P Harte (0-2, both frees), 14 C McShane (0-1).

Substitutes: 17 M Bradley for 3 R McNamee (21 mins), 26 R O'Neill (0-1) for 15 C McAlliskey (46), 23 D McClure for 9 P McNulty (47), 25 R McNabb or 12 K McGeary (50), 22 R Donnelly for 10 C McCann (56), 18 L Brennan for 11 N Sludden (66).

Referee: C Branagan (Down).

[GetOverTheBar]

I think we're possibly over-reacting a bit about yesterday. For those that went and expected some kind of swash-buckling display, it aint gonna happen. Our defenders can't go man to man. Kerry last year showed this. We went man to man and got cleaned out. Our best defender McNabb is on the bench and probably won't start again. If the Dubs are the benchmark, then we should be basing our team at them and we don't. Go through our team and we don't match up individually, either skill wise or size wise. Someone mentions Mattie Donnelly and not being a leader, I take issue with that, he led his club from beaten finalists in the Intermediate final to relatively comfortable senior winners. There's possibly no greater leader in Ireland at the minute, but if those around him don't have the balls to follow him then thats not his fault. And he had a bad match yday, I acknowledge that. I just feel that our system is as a result of our relative poor backline. Consider how many CLUB forwards in Tyrone are genuinely worried or hesitant about matching up with any of our defence in a club or league game? There's none. None of our defence has that aura or hardness about them and thats what missing. Mickey Harte is right, he's not in the entertainment business, he's in the results and I expect he see's this himself and the system gives him his best chance. He gave a real god interview in the Irish Times over the weekend and it's probably his best in a while but he finishes by asking is it fair to judge this group by what went before them, instead judge them on their own merits. Is two Ulster championships the optimum they can achieve?

That's huge praise on Donnelly. He's a great player but to say he's up there with the best leaders in Ireland right now is just wrong. He wouldn't be nowhere near as influential as half a dozen of the Dubs and Mayo players and therein lies the problem. It doesn't really matter who has the armband, it's about who steps up when the team needs it and Tyrone don't have those 'characters' that they had in the 00s which to be fair you alluded to in the above text also.

[The Trap]

Mickey and Sean were saying last year that it was the strongest panel they were involved with. I thought that was very strange to say as in my opinion there are not too many would challenge for a place in the naughties teams.
It will be interesting to see what approach is taken on Saturday night. Will they try and take Dublin on or play to keep the score down......

[Therealdonald]

Re Mattie being a leader. I too am ONLY talking about what I see of him in the county jersey. He's already won 2 allstars which he deserved imo but to me a leader on the sports pitch is someone who stands up when things aren't going your way and can drag your team out of a slump and raise them.
Yes its easy to say we should stop comparing this team to the 2000s team but that's our main benchmark and there were a lot of leaders on those teams.
Dooher was probably the best team captain and leader we ever had though I am biased of course. I mean he was constantly demanding more from his team but he showed them how as well and not just talk the talk.
Did we see Mattie yesterday trying to raise his team mates and giving them a kick in the arse. Does anyone speak on the team.

The realdonald I'm glad you at least replied to some of our comments and actually discussed them rather than the easy option where some say "Ahh you're just an anti Harte person or you're being biased", however I dont think you will get too many to agree with you that Mattie is the best leader in Ireland at the moment. Did you see Brian Fenton on Sat night scoring 1.03 and showing that even though he's already won 2 all irelands he's keen as mustard?

I think too many on here won't even admit when there is a poor display and discuss why it was so bad.
There is no doubt it was a flat performance yesterday and we looked like the team with half our team missing and no idea about how to create scoring chances. It's bad when you are depending on Tiernan and Peter Harte to be your main scoring threats.

Here is the Irish times report from the game yesterday
Mickey says....
"We had three scores from 10 attempts and that is not going to win a lot of games. If we had have been better in that department we could have slipped ahead at half-time. For the first 10-12 minutes we were flat but after that I thought we put up a brave battle."

Does he think 10 attempts is good enough against a team who have just got promoted and are missing most of their first 15?


Galway 1-9 Tyrone 0-8

There is always the danger of the newbies to Division One suffering from altitude sickness on their first day out, so the signs were encouraging for Galway on Sunday.

In their first top-flight league match since 2011, they looked comfortable. One local fan walking his son through the general greyness and drizzle gave a walking education on just where Galway stood in the greater things. "Apart from Kerry and Dublin, Galway have won more All-Irelands . . . "

In the city, Galway's All-Ireland hurling champions were entertaining the crowd. But in Tuam's stadium, where it always feels as if it's around 1965, Galway football remains king.

Boosted by a brilliant goal after 22 seconds and then a point from captain Damien Comer, the home team had both the know-how and the appetite for the necessary January sludge-work to enjoy a heartening win.

They held the Ulster champions to 0-3 in the first half and coughed up no clear goal chances over the match. Seán Andy Ó Ceallaigh gobbled up any high ball that came his way and looked at home at full back, Shane Walsh glided across the squelchy surface and Comer has, over the past two seasons, become a hugely influential force on this team. He really is a sight when he goes at defences at full speed and has the vision and touch to make use of the space he clears through pure strength.

Elsewhere, Eamonn Brannigan kicked two nice points from play and Peter Cooke had good moments – including winning the throw-in which set the move in motion for the Comer goal.

Galway's Peter Cooke challenges Matthew Donnelly of Tyrone during the Allianz League Division One game at Tuam Stadium. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho
Galway's Peter Cooke challenges Matthew Donnelly of Tyrone during the Allianz League Division One game at Tuam Stadium. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho
But the win wasn't quite as emphatic as it might have been: after Shane Walsh kicked his obligatory sublime point in the 54th minute, Galway led by 1-7 to 0-4. They had enjoyed a one-man advantage since the 23rd minute and with that score, the game looked beyond the Ulster champions.

Instead, Kevin Walsh's team had to play and think their way through a concerted Tyrone push for in the final quarter, when seasoned players like Tiernan McCann, Mattie Donnelly and Peter Harte began to punch holes in the Galway defence to reel off four quick points to leave just two between the teams.

Niall Sludden clipped a shot off the post during that period, as the old stadium fell ominously quiet. A clever steal – or, from Tyrone's perspective, a loose pass – gave Gareth Bradshaw clear ground to thunder through and lay the ball off for the reliable Comer to ease the pressure on his team with a well-taken point. After that, Galway pulled clear again but a needless and tetchy six minutes of added time saw a series of squabbles which resulted in two further Tyrone men, Michael McKernan and Harte, leaving the field on black cards.

"It was a great start but in fairness when teams get a start like that they can go on the back foot and start defending," Walsh said.

"Our boys didn't do that. Something we have been trying to push is that we go forward as much as possible. Sometimes we have been criticised for that but for the style of Galway football it is important we bring the game to opponents and there was a lot of that today."

Walsh made one late change, inserting Adrian Varley to the starting line-up and leaving him isolated at inside full forward against Ronan McNamee. Galway sought to play him early and often and the exchanges became sufficiently intense to persuade Harte to mix things up, withdrawing his full back early.

"There was just too much aggression between him and his man and someone was going to lose the plot there," said the Tyrone manager. "It was to save being down a man. And suddenly we were down a man anyway! That game was volatile at times and you could have lost players very easily."

So technically, Tyrone finished with 12 men on a day when little went right. Like the crowd still filtering through the turnstile, they seemed stunned by Comer's early goal and were in a different gear for the first 15 minutes.

Given the rottenness of the day, the jig seemed up when they lost Darren McCurry, who responded to a late challenge as he kicked a badly needed point for the visitors and was shown a red.

The pitch was soft and a veil of drizzle moved across field and Tyrone's slick handling and inter-play fell apart too often, with passes mis-timed and players slipping. And yet for all that, they hung around in the match. "In the second half of the first half we played a lot of good football but couldn't take our scoring chances," Harte said reasonably.

"We had three scores from 10 attempts and that is not going to win a lot of games. If we had have been better in that department we could have slipped ahead at half-time. For the first 10-12 minutes we were flat but after that I thought we put up a brave battle."

It was a gritty last quarter performance on a day that Tyrone might have decided was not for them. Had they managed to squeeze the scoreboard by another point in that last 10 minutes, then they might have taken something from the day. Instead, they headed back up the road thinking about a Saturday night visit by All-Ireland champions Dublin. Omagh should be lively that night.

GALWAY: 1 R Lavelle; 2 D Kyne, 3 S A O'Ceallaigh, 4 E Kerin; 5 C Sweeney, 6 G Bradshaw, 7 J Heaney; 8 P Conroy, 9 P Cooke; 10 S Kelly, 11 S Walsh (0-4, three frees), 12 E Brannigan (0-2); 13 P Sweeney (0-1), 25 A Varley, 14 D Comer (1-2).


Substitutes: 18 P Cunningham for 25 A Varley (55 mins), 23 T Flynn for 13 P Sweeney (60), 20 J Duane for 10 S Kelly (65), 24 G O'Donnell for 12 E Brannigan (70), 17 S Armstrong for 11 S Walsh (73).

TYRONE: 1 N Morgan; 2 M McKernan, 3 R McNamee, 4 HP McGeary; 5 T McCann (0-1), 6 P Hampsey, 12 K McGeary; 8 M Donnelly (0-1), 10 C McCann; 15 C McAlliskey (0-1, free), 11 N Sludden, 9 P McNulty; 13 D McCurry (0-1), 7 P Harte (0-2, both frees), 14 C McShane (0-1).

Substitutes: 17 M Bradley for 3 R McNamee (21 mins), 26 R O'Neill (0-1) for 15 C McAlliskey (46), 23 D McClure for 9 P McNulty (47), 25 R McNabb or 12 K McGeary (50), 22 R Donnelly for 10 C McCann (56), 18 L Brennan for 11 N Sludden (66).

Referee: C Branagan (Down).

If you're ant-Harte or pro-Harte it shouldn't make a difference. If a performance isn't good enough then it isn't good enough. I was at the game, and while I think McNamee is hugley over-rated, he was taken off very prematurely. I don't agree with what you're saying about Donnelly, captaining and leading Trillick to that Championship would significantly outstrip, leading Tyrone to the All Ireland in terms of achievement. Go through our team from 2-15, who genuinely instills fear or worry in another team in a physical sense? From 2-7 is worse than in the forwards as save for Hampsey, not one of our defenders are hard or nasty enough to win personal battles. That's where it's lost for me. If Harte can't trust his defenders 1 on 1 each day, then why are they there? I personally was disappointed to see SoN join the management team, as I feel we have flair forwards who can play and score, but having to run up and down the field all day and then kick points after a lung bursting effort isn't going to happen. I would have preferred to have seen some of our numerous All-Star defenders join the fray and tighten up our defence without the need for extra bodies than more forward training.

[southtyronegael]

we dont have leaders on the pitch because mickey wouldnt allow it. he is a control freak. his way or no way. imagine a tyrone player actually did show some inititave and went against mickeys system, hed never see a jersey again. how did the new jerseys look anyway? imagine having to pay money to sponsor that shite.

[redzone]

Roll on Saturday night. Players will respond, that's a fact. Great lads and I wouldn't be to sore on them.  It's probably no secret but if we are to win any game we can't concede a goal within 20 seconds.
Fuzzman please go to the game. Don't listen to the most pessimistic Tyrone person ever in the TRAP. Next thing you will be refering to Tyrone as them and not us
Listen if you have played the game then you will know that these performances come around every now and again.

[The Trap]

Wise up redbone. I have just been a realist for a while and now others, a lot of others are catching up. Obviously you are not there yet and that's fine. I guess a real supporter can put up with anything and I will give you that......you are a real supporter.
I was once like that but now maybe a combination of things mean that I have different priorities.

[BennyHarp]

Clutching at straws here but is there any chance that we could possibly be working on something different in training and it may take a few defeats and a couple of bad performances until we get it right? After all, we have been programmed to play a certain way for a long time now and any change will not come easy.

[jp2020]

Couple of simple observations:
The weather wasnt great and neither was the pitch;
We played with 14men;
No Colm Cav;
McAliskey not fully match sharp;

Now taking this into account no shock we didnt win.

BUT  the simple fact is we are poor to watch! By this time every year we have the Mckenna Cup in the trophy cabinet and that lulls everyone into great sense that this year is  the year and Mickey is thee man! At what stage do those burying their heads pull them out! Tomas Ose got right last night, let the lads play! If we are to get beat at least have a go!

All that said i believe we could beat the dubs in the swamp! And Mickey will get 10yr extension!!

[Club boi]

Couple of simple observations:
The weather wasnt great and neither was the pitch;
We played with 14men;
No Colm Cav;
McAliskey not fully match sharp;

Now taking this into account no shock we didnt win.

BUT  the simple fact is we are poor to watch! By this time every year we have the Mckenna Cup in the trophy cabinet and that lulls everyone into great sense that this year is  the year and Mickey is thee man! At what stage do those burying their heads pull them out! Tomas Ose got right last night, let the lads play! If we are to get beat at least have a go!

All that said i believe we could beat the dubs in the swamp! And Mickey will get 10yr extension!!

The Weather was the same for Galway who ran over the top of our boys
Galway are only promoted
And they played with only half of their starting team
Tyrone were missing 1 Man ffs

[RedHand88]

Clutching at straws here but is there any chance that we could possibly be working on something different in training and it may take a few defeats and a couple of bad performances until we get it right? After all, we have been programmed to play a certain way for a long time now and any change will not come easy.

Stop speaking perfect sense will you.

[ose 14]

lets be rational here. tyrone will win ulster playing ultra conservatively as only maybe donegal have enough firepower fromlongrange to foil the master and his wee conservative crew.thats as good as it gets. now realistically thats a good season with a 47th mckenna in a row to boot. so suck it up and get on with it shite football or not.

[longballin]

In other words Ulster foorball is rubbish

[tyroneman]

Swings and roundabouts folks. We were flying in the early stages of the league last year and the fell apart..I'd be happy enough if we stayed in Div 1, ending up with a settled 15 and a bit more adventure in our play.

It's a long year, no need to panic yet.

[An Watcher]

Just seen mccurrys sending off.  Seemed very harsh.  Saturday nights match takes on more significance now