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I think you hit the nail on the head there imtommygunn.

We certainly rode our luck in 2021 with a lot of things going right for us.
We looked poor enough v Cavan first day out
We got lucky with Donegal losing their best defender McGee and then Murphy
We looked very good in the first half v Monaghan in the Ulster final and then nearly let them catch us in the second half
We put up a huge fight v Kerry with a total siege mentality but had Clifford not got injured and went off I don't think we could have held on

But then we put in a very professional performance in the final and showed we know how to win big games in Croker.

So yet again we are a very up and down sort of side who could be brilliant one day like in the league v Kerry having gone 6 points down early on to a side totally useless v Mayo.

I think with the loss of McKenna, loss of form for McShane and McGeary we have gone backwards although Canavan and McCurry seem to have set up a good partnership up front if they can just get the space to breathe.
It's a long time since we have won in Galway but ye never know what Tyrone will show up.

The Derry and Armagh lads seem to have taken over as the two best teams in Ulster now so Tyrone should rightfully know their place now and stay away from the new big boys in town 

Armagh beating Kerry in 2002 final
I was just back from Australia and delighted they broke through.

Who would have thought five or six years ago that we would be more wide open than Galway were.

Who could we bring in to improve develop our defensive system? 🤔

Strong looking team.
Home advantage.
Tyrone huge underdogs.
When have Galway last lost at home?
Derry for Sam 😉

Usually the mismatches are matches between the top 4 or 5 teams in Division 1 against a team from mid Division 2 or lower.
So for example Dubs v Louth, Galway v Sligo, Kerry v Clare.
Louth gave most teams in Div 2 this year a run for their money including Derry and so should be able to get a few meaningful matches against teams of similar level or teams struggling in Div 1

In my eyes Dubs, Kerry, Galway/Mayo are the main culprits for giving lower division teams a hiding. They usually get to the AI quarterfinals most seasons anyway so why not say the top four in Div 1 or the four provincial winners qualify for the quarters.
Then the rest fight it out for the remaining 4 places by having matches with teams of similar level as them.
Imagine teams like Cork or Galway having to come up to face Monaghan, Armagh, Derry or Tyrone.

It would also make the leagues a lot more exciting with all Div 1 teams pushing for top four.

Heard they had a challenge match a few weeks back and they were flying. Looks like Michael O'Neill is their preferred sweeper so I'd expect him to start at 11 and drop back like he used to. Those 8 central positions don't really seem to matter any more who is named where.

McKernan and Harte would be good wing backs able to attack and shoot with probably Burns in the centre for me. Although I won't be surprised to see Mattie drop back there a lot too when they have possession. We really need to protect that central area a lot more than we have been doing as a lot of games we were wide open if a man gets turned or slips. We have conceded a lot of goals since 2021 and often it's right up the middle.

What's the story with Sludden? Has he just fell down the pecking order as I think he's always did well when he has come on and is usually worth a few scores? I suppose he's one of the older lads now and maybe suits coming on ala Tiernan used to.

I can see Meyler and McGeary at wing forward again although I really hope the latter starts getting back to himself soon as he's a long way off the high standard he set in 2021. Meyler showed us recently he can kick points too but he always gets a tough marking job as we saw v Monaghan.

Mattie didn't seem to spend much time in at FF in recent games and so we continue to rotate that position with our midfielders to various levels of success. Again I'd really love to see McGleenan given a full half in here where we use his obvious strengths.
I just think it would help us to mix it up a bit and not be always running the ball into two small men.
Quinn might suit half back more than corner.

                           Niall Morgan
Pádraig Hampsey  Ronan McNamee   Cormac Quinn
Peter Harte           Frank Burns         Michael McKernan

                 Brian Kennedy Conn Kilpatrick

Kieran McGeary   Michael O'Neill     Conor Meyler
Darren McCurry   Mattie Donnelly   Darragh Canavan

Just realized that's very close to the AI winning team bar Sludden and McKenna

Subs to come on
Sludden
Oguz
McGleenan
Ruairi C

Galway will be well up for this feeling they've become one of the top 3 teams now.
Have we ever lost to them in the AI championship? I know we met in a few quarterfinals in 00's and of course 1986 & 1995 semi finals.
I've a feeling McShane's days in the FF line might be over as it looks like he's lost his pace or sharpness.
Would he be better suited at wing forward to help the midfield. He is still an accurate kicker and has an eye for goal but it looked like he was struggling to win ball into him in a congested area.

Did you also notice than after it happened and the free for McGuigan was moved forward, he looks back at O'Neill to see if anything was happening.
If he showed the bite mark to the ref then you'd imagine it will be in the ref's report and it would be hard for the CCCC to just ignore it.

Yeah happened on 18th min of ET when O'Neill clattered into it and they had a bit of a hug

What was the parking and traffic like in Clones?

From other years we always waited an hour in the pub before trying to leave.

Was wondering could they "TRY" to have some sort of system where depending on where you park they assign you a time to come back to your car so that not everyone was trying to get out at the same time.
Obviously not everyone would follow it but lets say cars parked the furthest away get to leave first and maybe every 15 mins another departure slot for the next lot.

Congrats Derry.
Thought Rogers amazing first half.
Glass and McGuigan had great games too.

Surprised none of ye discussing the incident in the 18th min of extra time where Rian O'Neill seemed to go down holding his chest, reacting to McGuigan.
Did he bite him or was it play acting?
McGuigan was getting a lot of attention all game.

I've been watching a lot of old games on Youtube and was thinking how little we have really used the tactic of high ball into the box.
If you look how often a high ball kicked in (either on purpose or especially dropped short) often leads to a goal.

With big McGleenan now on the panel surely this is worth a proper try as a tactic and not just do what a lot of teams do and play a big man in there but rarely hit it in properly. Even if he doesn't catch it for the mark, he can punch it over or create space for the corner forwards.

I know it sounds almost too obvious but how often have we really used this tactic. Goals win matches and often goal chances are hard to come by with yer mass defences these days.
in the 2018 AI final we put big Colm in there for 15 mins near the end but didnt kick that many balls into him. The one we did we got a penalty out of it.

I'd say Dazza and Canavan would enjoy having a big man causing havoc in there.

Not the worst draw we could have got but Galway away on the first day out will be tough should they beat Sligo as expected.
Would prefer Armagh over Derry in our second match which I presume will be in Omagh.
Armagh have improved a lot since we beat them in the league and could give us our fill of it again.

Hard to know where this Tyrone team are coming into the new format. Most of us thinking Canavan and Dazzler looking good but the half forwards and half backs really need to get back their hunger and work rate.
We seemed to have moved away from our solid defensive style and be a lot more open, conceding easy scores but also scoring a lot ourselves. Much easier on the eye and entertaining to watch for sure but I wonder is this our new plan or are we just not showing our hand too early.

For me getting to a semi final would be a good year but based on last year and the league so far I'd say we're behind Galway, Mayo, Derry and Armagh

Congrats Monaghan.
Hungrier team won. Tyrone very poor second half

Not many at the Derry game today.
Don't think I can ever remember less of a build up before a first round match.
Tomorrow could be a very defensive game.
Can't see Canavan and Dazzler getting much space.

It would be nice to get a chance to put the Derry wans back in their box

I wonder is it back to 2021 tactics.
Hard working defensive setup first half and then bring on the scorers to finish it off?

Oguz looks good for the future but didn't do enough in the league in my eyes to start but could well be a good ball winner from kickouts going forward

Surprised M. ONeill back in
Glad McNamee back in full back line