Tyrone v Westmeath

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

A win's a win's a win, but we can't take too much more from it. Still, we're still there, though I wish the GAA would stop appointing Armagh referees for Tyrone games.

[AN other]

I think you summed the refeering situation up well there O'Neill, along with the Sunday Tribune article on the match today. We got a couple of marginal calls for fouls on Glennon in the first half, but there was only the one I would say was "definitely not a foul" after watching the highlights. Any marginal calls in the second half seemed to go to Tyrone. The Tyrone crowd's general reaction to referees and umpires was well over the top anyhow, as are accusations of bias. He was also the referee in charge for the Dublin v Westmeath game and gave similar marginal frees. Indeed, seeing as he has been the man in charge in both of Westmeath's championship defeats this year I won't be too disappointed if I don't see him in featuring in any of our games next year!
Can't have any complaints with Harte's sending off even if Dooher made a meal of it. To do it right in front of the referee was just plain stupid, and I wouldn't have expected that from Harte. If Healys sending off was a straight red the referee got it wrong, i thought it was a deserved second yellow. Healy's first was for nothing. Much more sinned against than sinning with Dooher acting the prat.
We really battled following the sendings off and if it had only been the one sending off it could actually have worked in our favour.
Tyrone dominated midfield and the game for the first ten minutes or so and it wasn't until about half way through the first half we came into it. When we did come into it John Smith had another good game and has been a vital link in the team all year since his return against Monaghan. Has eradicated the errors big time. Gets through some amount of work, picks up some amount of breaking ball and takes serious punishment. Even got his name on the scoreboard off his left, a true collectors item...
The defence did little wrong again also, Gavin worth a mention for his performance on Cavanagh resulting in him being moved out the field. Unfortunately he didn't do as well on Cavanagh's replacement. (I think it was T McGuigan)
Glennon did well enough. Great flick for the goal and didn't do much wrong all day. Not nice to see McMenamin shouting at him on the ground when he obviously got some sort of a knock to the head. Unfortunately, this sort of behaviour is to be expected from him. I also noted Dermot Bannon heavily winded when in McMenamin's presence at one stage and Bannon questioning umpires. I wonder was it a cleverer version of Harte's punch to Dooher's stomach...If it was, fair play to Bannon for not making a meal of it.
Midfield did okay and over the 70 minutes matched Tyrone. Flanagan wasn't at his best but this was to be expected. Took the 45 well! As with the referee, I think it's unfair to accuse the linesman of bias. Healy's kick was so far wide you could understand why the umpire might have assumed it to have taken a deflection...obviously wrong as he was. I wouldn't have liked to see the crowd's reaction had Tyrone lost or drew this one, and I'd say this could well have been in the back of the referee's mind too.
The sending offs aside, I guess the loosing of this game was the failure to get enough scores on the board again. Considering we have workers like Smith in the half forward line and providers like O'Donoghue and Flanagan in midfield, I would really have liked to see Dolan deployed nearer to goal this year. Also in the tribune today, Kieran Shannon I think it was that wrote it, alluded to Dolan's new role on the wing blunting his scoring instincts highlighting the goal chance near the end. This was just the tip of the iceberg though, his role this year and the amount of work that went with it, while playing it very well and contributing alot, left him so tired he hadn't been able to take men on and get scores/frees. I think O'Flaherta has done a great job this year but when we are crying out for scores it makes no sense to not be playing Dolan inside. I don't recall Dolan scoring from play against either Tipperary or Tyrone. If so I doubt this has ever happened in two consecutive Dolan performances before. He has been confined to scores from frees and has lost some of his scoring prowess. He needs to be played inside more next year. Dolan from the past as we know him, and Glennon, would cause most full back lines big problems.
That aside, there's loads of positives to be taken from the year, probably our best season since '04 and I think a better team than '04. We're a couple of scores short of a team to compete with anybody. We had a clear game plan and whether by accident or design had a clear style of play. It may not have been the prettiest but it was effective. Obviously biased as I am, I think we've got little credit for our performances from the media. Dublin, and now Tyrone didn't perform against us and alot of emphasis has been put on these bad performances rather than Westmeath's effectiveness in not letting them play. We saw what Dublin did to Wexford and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Tyrone did something along similar lines to Mayo.
Duffy/Boyle/Gavin/Glennon have proved themselves to be quality intercounty players and credit must be given to O'Flaherta for their development. If Flanagan and Duffy hadn't picked up injuries we would likely be celebrating our second provincial title and looking forward to a quarter final. I think there's another year or two in Flanagan and Healy. Both are obviously aging but I would hope they're not finished yet! I certainly don't think management will be asking either to leave. I'd also like to think there's another year or two in O'Flaherta and the current management team. He's done very well this year (apart from the deployment of Dolan!) and the hunger and commitment the team displayed this year was exceptional, not least the closing stages of yesterday's game.
We've been improving steadily since '05 and if we can find another forward or two, combined with the return of O'Shaughnessey and hopefully another year or two from Healy and Flanagan we can continue to do so next year. Doubtlessly, we'll be one of the favourites for relegation from division 1 next year but if we can continue to improve the experience of division 1 could be the making of this team. Stick with it Tomás, you're not finished yet!

Iarmhí Abú.

[ardmhachaabu]

Dooher should have got an Oscar.

[Double Cross]

Are Tyrone still playing football? I thought Down knocked them out

[Over the Bar]

Dooher should have got an Oscar.

I'm sure he's happier with his 2 all-ireland medals.......

[AN other]

Really liked the discussion on this game from the lads on TSG. Great work fellas, keep it up!

[orangeman]

Armagh will go out in the quarters ! 

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

The ref had a bad, bad day at the office. I don't think he was biased...

Yeah, it's genetic -- he's from Armagh.

[Croí na hÉireann]

Tyroneies, fierce decent people to say howya before the game, some amount of whingers during it. A lot of giving out about the referee on here too but the funny thing is that he was the reason they won it in the end. People forget that Westmeath were punished by him during the Dublin for "soft" frees and I think they went out on Saturday with the intention of playing him. What I mean by that (and it usually happens in most games once the teams see what the ref is giving frees for and not) is that Westmeath weren't going to give any "soft" frees away inside the 45 and were prepared to let their man shoot under pressure rather than giving a quick tug of the jersey, pulling back the arm, etc. Took Tyrone an awful long time to cop on to this. The reception the ref started to get from the home crowd in the second quarter (if I can put it like that) and especially at half time could have had nothing else apart from an effect.

Nearly crashed the car on the way back to Donegal when I heard O'Flaherta's interview, apparently they were happy with the performance in the first half.  Westmeath were shocking from midfield up, didn't see anything from O'Donoghue at all. Budda is more or less finished at inter county level and David Glennon doesn't have the pace for the inside line. Only for the backs and Natchie's goal the game would have been over at half time. Flan did ok for a player who's been out for nearly 2 months and the half forward line tried at least. Special mention to John Smyth who was obviously finding it tough on the hard ground, he gave everything he had. Was nice to Cavanagh was able to appear before the camera after the game and thankfully he didn't seem to have done too much damage to himself.

The game was won and lost in the fifty whatever minute it was. Pictures weren't conclusive last night but Dooher grabbed Healys hand (which shouldn't have been as high as it was) and made it look he was pulled down, easy to see how the ref was fooled by it. Incidentally Healys first yellow resulted from Dooher using him as a bucking broncho in the first half. The sooner the GAA issues a directive to book the aggressor and not give out the two token yellows the better off our games will be. I didn't actually see the sending off incident but from Dooher's reaction and the fact it was a straight red I presumed it was a slap to the jaw or God forbid a headbutt. Can't believe what actually happened, first time of viewing the immediate reaction was the Dooher would have been a very embarrassed man waking up yesterday morning but the more I thought about it the more sure I became that he'd be on the other end of the spectrum. That man is clearly going to go to any lengths necessary to ensure a Tyrone win and nothing is too big an embarrassment. Same with McMenamin except that he's more malicious. Didn't see the Smyth incident but I did see him kneeing the fellow on the ground in front of the linesman  and him standing over Glennon giving him verbals and being pushed away by his own player. Incidentally, if Harte deserved to go for a strike to the solar plexus when surely Joe McMahon (I think) should have gone in the first half. I hope Harte apologised to every single player and backroom member after the match as it was an incredible selfish and stupid thing to do. He was a great find for us this year and I hope he learns from this harsh lesson.

I think there's another year left in this team. Healy and his travel commitments is hopefully the only one who might go but it would be great if he stayed. It was a decent year from Westmeath and while it may have ended sooner that it should, injuries and luck (the lack of it) more than played their part. A Westmeath team of old would have thrown in the towel after the sendings off but credit to them they kept their heads up and may even have snatched a draw at the death. There must have been a realigning of the planets around 2000 and hopefully they maintain their current alignment for many's the year yet...

[feetofflames]

Did anyone hear there that Dooher had to go to the hospital after the game.  Id like to wish him all the best. 

[Norf Tyrone]

Did anyone hear there that Dooher had to go to the hospital after the game.  Id like to wish him all the best. 

Funny enough. I happened to see him yesterday, and his eye was a right old mess. Defintely looked like a few stitches along the lid. I'll pass on your heart felt thoughts all the same.

[orangeman]

Did anyone hear there that Dooher had to go to the hospital after the game.  Id like to wish him all the best. 

So much for him diving !