Messages

On a genuine note, why are the players beyond reproach with Roscommon? Year on year excuses are proferred and management is made the sacrificial lamb. When will people look at the one constant in this? The players.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/gaelic-games/37293130

Did this happen last year too?

Think it was just dragged out last year.

He's here for another year and if we build on this year I'm sure the job is his if he still wants it. Bit of a snub as I certainly believe he is the only man for the job right now.

Slab Murphy turned that game on its head tonight.

Fuzzman - did you see Sean playing for Moy yesterday? Having said that what county players have stood out in the club championship?? The Killyclogher, Trillick and Dromore boys.........you would expect a lot more from them but most seem to only care about the county jersey which is sad really.

The two mccanns and mark bradley where all every good for killyclogher.
Lee Brennan was good for trillick, and even though he was injured and didnt start, matty was good when he came on.

I was impressed with Ryan McKenna for Eglish too, 4 from play from WHB. Did he walk away from the county of his own choosing or what was the story?

He opted off before Championship in 2015. We are well stocked for wing backs though with the likes of Brennan, Harte, McCann, McNabb, Sludden, Tierney, Monroe, McGeary etc and I don't think he is better than any of those.

I haven't seen anything yet from Conall McCann for him to show he's good enough for the level we aspire to be at but he's still pretty young and inexperienced at this level and Mickey certainly seems to rate him.

How did Joe McMahon and Danny McNulty do yesterday?

Il Bomber Destro, are you saying then that you are happy for Tyrone to continue playing this style of football where we  rarely kick the ball forward and we usually run the ball almost rugby style passing it to the man on the shoulder in order to keep possession?
It has been successful to a degree I suppose in that we have won Ulster this year and got the AI 1/4 finals this year and semi finals last year but I can't decide myself is it the way forward.
I think it is really draining the confidence and development of our forwards and that's why I was asking do most clubs in Tyrone now also play this way?

I would worry for the future development of our forwards if this is what is being coached and practised at club games all the time. My point being that Lee Brennan is being talked up as being a very bright hope for our future but why is he not already in the team as we don't exactly have great forwards? Is it because so much emphasis is being put on our defensive style that he doesn't fit into that yet? If that is the case then we really have a problem with our game and how we are treating talented forwards.
A few of ye said above that McAliskey is a great forward and could be hitting most of the frees but the man's being asked to work so hard back in his own defence most of the time. To me it's crazy and's it's all too easy to just say well other teams do the same. Other teams copied us and Donegal who we got obsessed with but I know so many fans now who followed Tyrone for years who won't even go to matches now cos of the rubbish we have to watch.
Winning Ulster was a big relief for the fans and the squad as it showed playing this way does reap rewards sometimes but I for one am worried how this defensive mindset is having a longer term effect on our forwards mindset. Will it drive many talented players away to soccer, Aussie rules and other sports as they think we would I bother busting my ass working so hard when there is no fun any more being a forward for Tyrone.

Lee Brennan didn't feature this year because he was involved we had a settled team throughout the league and Mickey went with that.

This defensive mindset is the way football is going, players are too powerful, fast and fit these days to play open. If you have a guy breaking at speed in open spaces a defender hasn't a prayer against a guy on the front foot - not a chance.

The main reasons why teams play this way is Dublin, you simply will not beat Dublin if you don't have a solid defensive base. We have that nailed down, now we need to develop of our attacking play, a guy running into traffic, panicking and taking a mental shot on is not on, it is stupid and will cost us. We have to develop our composure and show patience in working openings.

It's about being smart, we can kick the ball in but it would have been ridiculously stupid to do this against the likes of Donegal and Mayo as both sides were set up extremely defensively and you will also realise that neither side kicked the ball in to much against Tyrone either as their tactics mirrored each other. What stood for Mayo was they were much more composed in waiting for the chances to appear rather than forcing them when they weren't there. If we want to kick the ball in we need a natural full forward who can win any sort of ball and we don't have one. People are expecting too much from Lee Brennan. Is he really any better than McCurry for instance, there is nothing to suggest that he is right now.

The game has changed and a defensive structure is a must with the modern athletic player, you have to have loads of players behind the ball or guys will cut through the middle of the defence. I'd much rather watch a game like Tyrone-Donegal or Tyrone-Mayo than the farce that was Tyrone-Cavan in the replay.

If we want to win we need to persist the way we are and develop on it. As for guys who refuse to watch any more, off with them, the game has improved in terms of skill over the years, watching big lumbering donkeys aimlessly smashing the ball up in the air is thankfully on the decline.

[RELY]

One reason you don't see McManus ever miss much frees for Monaghan is that he knows his range, he knows when he is comfortable and not forcing them. For instance you rarely see him kick any from more that 35 metres out, he knows they are not in range. He hits some excellent frees from acute angles but knows he will have problems with accuracy from further out. A forward who is missing frees will certainly have his confidence dented so if it's not in range don't hit it. I have seen O'Neill take many frees this year where they were out of his range and knew he was likely not going to score before hitting them.

Did you not see McManus against us in Croker last year or v Donegal in Breffni in the first game this year. He is well capable of hitting 45 metre frees over the bar and indeed his last 2 free kicks against Donegal were both outside the 45'. He can score from acute angles as you say but these are still 30-40 metres out when the angle is taken into consideration and he makes them look really easy. Last year in Croker he hit sublime scores from all distances and angles. The reality is that 45 metres should be a comfortable range for a quality free taker (Sheehan, McManus, Rock, O'Connor) but we don't even have any who are comfortable from 35 metre - that is the stark reality.  We haven't had a nailed on free taker in over 10 years.....one that you can RELY on.....once the free is given then we can take it for granted it is a score.....

If he is then why does he regularly step aside to let Rory Beggan come up and hit them? He knows his range, too often I have see the likes of O'Neill and McCurry hitting frees from distances they are not comfortable with.

Lane gave the most downright awful display of cheating from a match official that I have ever seen in last year's Galway-Derry game.

It was a disgrace and he should never have took charge of an intercounty game game after it. He was absolutely shocking in the Monaghan-Down game this year as well. He seems to pick sides very early on in games and allows one team to get away with everything and making punitive decisions against the other side for doing very little.

I would expect the referee is inevitably going to be a talking point after this game because this guy is disgraceful. When guys like him and Marty Duffy are awarded the biggest gig in the game for a referee after all the warning signs they had emitted beforehand then you really have to wonder what sort of money exchanges hands here. Duffy seems to be more just incompetent but Lane is a bad one.

One reason you don't see McManus ever miss much frees for Monaghan is that he knows his range, he knows when he is comfortable and not forcing them. For instance you rarely see him kick any from more that 35 metres out, he knows they are not in range. He hits some excellent frees from acute angles but knows he will have problems with accuracy from further out. A forward who is missing frees will certainly have his confidence dented so if it's not in range don't hit it. I have seen O'Neill take many frees this year where they were out of his range and knew he was likely not going to score before hitting them.

I don't think there is an awful lot of improvement in this team but it's really been the fine lines that have seen us knocked out in the past two years. If we had been efficient with our chances in both the Mayo and Kerry defeats we would have been in back to back All Ireland finals. Our system is so effective right now that teams are willing to match it. We have been used to teams running at us, getting turned over and having oceans of space to run into and exploit that - we see how devastating that can be when teams play into that like Cavan did in the replay and Derry when they played so open in Celtic Park.

Last year we had an element of surprise about us, not much was expected - this year we didn't and our gameplan was well signposted. We really struggled to deal with a similar defensive structure to our own. Too many of our players panic when they can't make instant breaks. How many times does McShane shoot from impossible angles when the juncture ahead gets crowded? It's extremely frustrating in those cat and mouse games where the ball is so hard to win back when a player takes on shots from ridiculous angles like that and loses possession. We got over the line with a few wonderscores against Donegal but fluffed our lines v Mayo.

We aren't patient enough, we need to probe for the chance and not try to force it when it's not there.

I don't think there is an answer to the long range frees to be honest. By all means let Morgan come up and hit the 45s if we get one but don't have him or Ronan O'Neill be hitting frees from areas which are clearly that little bit out of their range. We need to be inventive, find a spare man and build our attack up.

Not a chance that McHugh will get an all-star. Donegal haven't done enough for him to get one.

Peter Harte will get Tyrone's one.

Teams shouldn't get All Stars, players should and McHugh has been one of the best 5 players in the Championship this summer.

How anyone could leave Ryan McHugh out baffles me.

What has Paul Murphy prove against the likes of Tipp and Clare that McHugh didn't against a far superior line of opposition all Championship.

He completely shut down Kilkenny (current 2nd favourite for Player of the Year) the last day and had very solid performances against Tipp and Clare.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Kilkenny gets a lot more joy come the final.

That doesn't meet the criteria.

McHugh has been his side's best player in pretty much every game he has played this year, he has done a lot more than shut down players.

I think it tells you the farce that the All Stars are when McHugh is set to miss out for an All Star for the third year in a row despite his performances meriting oen in each of those years. To think Paul Murphy might win his second All Star and McHugh has none says it all about the waste of time they are.

How anyone could leave Ryan McHugh out baffles me.

What has Paul Murphy prove against the likes of Tipp and Clare that McHugh didn't against a far superior line of opposition all Championship.

Mini meltdown from Cluxton.

I have M Donnelly in before brennan or have A O`Se at midfield

Donnelly's chances are blighted by his black card against Donegal and his non-impact on the game as a result. Sludden is very unlucky but he won't come into serious consideration due to the QF exit. McCarron really deserves one, marked Murphy out of it in the Ulster final and thought he was brilliant against Mayo and was one a handful of players who looked to drag us over the line.

Harte has to be a banker though, superb in pretty much every game for us in Championship, he really should be a nominee for footballer of the year but no chance of that given we didn't make the last 4.

Players that would be certs for me.

Dublin - Fenton, McCarthy, Cooper, McManamon, O'Sullivan
Mayo - Clarke, Keegan
Kerry - Geaney
Tyrone - Harte
Donegal - McHugh
Clare - Brennan

Tipp will probably get one with either Sweeney or Quinlavin. Andy Moran is probably pushing hard as well and I feel Cathal McCarron deserves one but will probably miss out. Dublin will grab another forward spot with whoever puts in a big performance in the final making the biggest claim.

It would be a travesty if Ryan McHugh gets robbed of another all star for the third year running.