Tyrone County Football and Hurling

[Mikhailov]

Changed times indeed.

If I recall correctly, the great U21 sides of the early 90's had all played senior county championship before they exited u21 age grade - maybe bar 2/3 players.

All were combining Tyrone senior and U21 and club football at that time but then again that was the norm until around 2000 when the extended county season (back door) started

[the onion bag]

Sean Cavanagh was on Art and Eugeue's senior team but couldn't make Mickeys U21 squad

I dont recall that at all. He made his senior debut in the championship as a sub V Armagh but as far as i recall he played with the U21s every game as well. He certainly played in the U21 final that year, v Dublin.
The U21s always had first dibs on the players

Cavanagh and Clarke would have been in both u21 and senior panels at the same time even though they may have played Senior first.
Conor Gormley was probably the most blatant example of someone not playing u21 (or minor) before they made their senior debut. He wasn't in the All Ireland winning u21 squad in 2000 and made his senior debut that Autumn before the 2001 u21 panel was finalised. The talk at the time within Carrickmore was that if he hadn't been called up to the seniors in late 00 he wouldn't have been selected for the u21s in 01 but that's pure speculation.

[Jim Bob]

Good article by Cahir OKane in todays Irish news about the problems with our attack. he's saying essentially the players are there its the shape thats wrong. i would strongly agree with him

He is basically saying Brian Dooher and his coaches aren't up to it.

That might well be the case.

Very good. Strange Cahir wasn't asked to take Derry when Rory Gallagher left

Exactly. You get a job as a reporter and suddenly you are an expert in GAA.

I don't know if this guy played football to any serious level but he starts telling a double all Ireland winner where he is going wrong.

[tyrone08]

Good article by Cahir OKane in todays Irish news about the problems with our attack. he's saying essentially the players are there its the shape thats wrong. i would strongly agree with him

He is basically saying Brian Dooher and his coaches aren't up to it.

That might well be the case.

Very good. Strange Cahir wasn't asked to take Derry when Rory Gallagher left

Exactly. You get a job as a reporter and suddenly you are an expert in GAA.

I don't know if this guy played football to any serious level but he starts telling a double all Ireland winner where he is going wrong.

Is he wrong though?

[trueblue1234]

Good article by Cahir OKane in todays Irish news about the problems with our attack. he's saying essentially the players are there its the shape thats wrong. i would strongly agree with him

He is basically saying Brian Dooher and his coaches aren't up to it.

That might well be the case.

Very good. Strange Cahir wasn't asked to take Derry when Rory Gallagher left

Exactly. You get a job as a reporter and suddenly you are an expert in GAA.

I don't know if this guy played football to any serious level but he starts telling a double all Ireland winner where he is going wrong.

Is he wrong though?

Is he right? That's the thing about shooting from the sidelines. You don't put your ideas on the line to get tested. It's easier to hypothesis a reason for a failing that won't be tested than to implement a solution.
 And I say this as no major fan of Dooher either.

[HokeyPokey]

What exactly are people expecting from sports journalists?

Should only successful former players/managers be able to offer an opinion?

I for one can't wait to see every column filled by Pat Spillane lamenting the death of 'real football' every week and offering tactical insight of x team need to kick in high balls.

[Snapchap]

Good article by Cahir OKane in todays Irish news about the problems with our attack. he's saying essentially the players are there its the shape thats wrong. i would strongly agree with him

He is basically saying Brian Dooher and his coaches aren't up to it.

That might well be the case.

Very good. Strange Cahir wasn't asked to take Derry when Rory Gallagher left

Exactly. You get a job as a reporter and suddenly you are an expert in GAA.

I don't know if this guy played football to any serious level but he starts telling a double all Ireland winner where he is going wrong.

Is he wrong though?

Is he right? That's the thing about shooting from the sidelines. You don't put your ideas on the line to get tested. It's easier to hypothesis a reason for a failing that won't be tested than to implement a solution.
 And I say this as no major fan of Dooher either.

Is the argument then that sports journalism should be discontinued? That they shouldn't be allowed to critique management/tactics? Or that they can only do so on the condition that journliasts must be either former or current managers with a proven track record of success?

As far as I'm concerned, you don't need to be a sports journalist to see that Tyrone, tactically, are lagging behind the top teams. The problems that Cahair O'Kane spoke about are the exact same things that you hear Peter Canavan saying in his TV analysis during every Tyrone game this year to date. His frustration at the lack of support for Darragh in particular is very evident every day he's on punditry duty (although he's typically diplomatic about it). Is it OK for Peter to say it, but not a journalist, even though they are both stating the absolutely blindingly obvious?

[trueblue1234]

Good article by Cahir OKane in todays Irish news about the problems with our attack. he's saying essentially the players are there its the shape thats wrong. i would strongly agree with him

He is basically saying Brian Dooher and his coaches aren't up to it.

That might well be the case.

Very good. Strange Cahir wasn't asked to take Derry when Rory Gallagher left

Exactly. You get a job as a reporter and suddenly you are an expert in GAA.

I don't know if this guy played football to any serious level but he starts telling a double all Ireland winner where he is going wrong.

Is he wrong though?

Is he right? That's the thing about shooting from the sidelines. You don't put your ideas on the line to get tested. It's easier to hypothesis a reason for a failing that won't be tested than to implement a solution.
 And I say this as no major fan of Dooher either.

Is the argument then that sports journalism should be discontinued? That they shouldn't be allowed to critique management/tactics? Or that they can only do so on the condition that journliasts must be either former or current managers with a proven track record of success?

As far as I'm concerned, you don't need to be a sports journalist to see that Tyrone, tactically, are lagging behind the top teams. The problems that Cahair O'Kane spoke about are the exact same things that you hear Peter Canavan saying in his TV analysis during every Tyrone game this year to date. His frustration at the lack of support for Darragh in particular is very evident every day he's on punditry duty (although he's typically diplomatic about it). Is it OK for Peter to say it, but not a journalist, even though they are both stating the absolutely blindingly obvious?

Don't think anyone is saying sports journalism should be discontinued. But neither should it be blindly followed or assumed to be correct. There's a balance and I actually think Cahir is one of the better ones around. But as I stated it's much easier to hypothesise the problems when you're not required to implement a plan. You're never really going to be proven wrong. Shouldn't stop him writing pieces as everyone's got an opinion.
I actually believe our problems lie more with the half back and half forward lines. Some of that is due to injuries to the likes of Meyler, oneill, Donnelly etc. plus I personally don't believe we do have the squad to challenge Dublin/ Kerry at the minute no matter what way we set up. I look at the Derry squad even and think it's a much more rounded squad than ours as well.

[Jim Bob]

Why not just pay an experienced ex county player or manager to write a piece?

At least they have experience in county football and would offer a more informed opinion that someone who has qualified in journalism and has an interest in GAA

[marty34]

Why not just pay an experienced ex county player or manager to write a piece?

At least they have experience in county football and would offer a more informed opinion that someone who has qualified in journalism and has an interest in GAA

Everybody has an opinion. Thing is as long as they can back it up with detail.  I don't mind that.

Just because somebody has won an All-Irelnd doesn't mean they can write a goid piece.  It's a mixture of both for me.

Read the articles and move on.

[JoG2]

Why not just pay an experienced ex county player or manager to write a piece?

At least they have experience in county football and would offer a more informed opinion that someone who has qualified in journalism and has an interest in GAA

Jim Bob, you're taking this article very badly. Should papers just do away with professional journalists? Cahair lives and breathes football, he definitely knows his stuff, but it's just his opinion at the end of the day. You don't have to like it, but no need to dismiss the views because an intercounty player / manager didn't write it.

[imtommygunn]

Also I think he's right. Tyrone should be getting better but it doesn't look like current management are getting them going in that direction. I was surprised they got another term.

[tyroneman]

Good article by Cahir OKane in todays Irish news about the problems with our attack. he's saying essentially the players are there its the shape thats wrong. i would strongly agree with him

He is basically saying Brian Dooher and his coaches aren't up to it.

That might well be the case.

Very good. Strange Cahir wasn't asked to take Derry when Rory Gallagher left

Exactly. You get a job as a reporter and suddenly you are an expert in GAA.

I don't know if this guy played football to any serious level but he starts telling a double all Ireland winner where he is going wrong.

Quintuple all Ireland winner, inc his 2 management wins tbf   

[Derryman forever]

The fact,so many of you are exercised by his article,shows that  he is doing what he is paid to do. And doing it well.

[Knock Yer Mucker In]

Well, I have no problem saying our managers are not at the level to built our team to All Ireland level. They inherited a team that Mickey Harte built, a team that had been to an a final 2 seasons before and the addition of a couple of forwards helped. What they did do was take the defensive shackles off that team, and for that they deserve credit and our respect. The team was able to express themselves and the result was an All Ireland.

However building a team on solid defensive and attacking principles is a different thing.