UC 2010: Aontroim vs Tír Eoghain 23rd May, Páirc Mhic Asmaint

[imtommygunn]

Being honest I think we'll either win a tight match or get beat out the gate.

Events of this last week have not been good in Antrim. Michael Magill was an excellent target-man for us. To lose him is bad. Having Kevin McGourty even near the panel is a very bad idea too.

I'm also seriously concerned about our WHFs. There's no place for the two of those boys on that HF line. Unless Crozier moves up and Loughrey back. Being honest Loughrey is probably the only man with the athleticism for Kavanagh so hopefully he'll move back.

All in all not sure how confident I am...

[aontroim]

I'm a lot more confident of a win in this game than I was before the Ulster Final last year.  Question is - did Antrim learn all the lessons they needed to from that performance to prevent Tyrone from racing into a lead that they would be in no danger of losing?  I still don't see enough cynicism being brought into Antrim's game, and while they can play great football at times, Sunday will require a little bit more than just that alone.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Harte's faith in some of the older players is worrying. He's picked a number of players that have shown no form and a number that have had next to no game time. David Harte, Ricey, Swift and Dooher can consider themselves fortunate to get starts. I hope I'm proven wrong but the decision not to use the younger players will hurt the team in the long run regardless of the result.

Mickey Harte, on the evening of the September 19th, 2010: "Well, there were many who said that most of these lads were finished, including a good number from our own county, that they hadn't the legs anymore and that they were running on empty, but I'm delighted that today proved just how wrong they were. I never had any doubts about those lads, that when the Championship chips were down that they would produce the goods, and how they produced them today..."

So, there you have it, straight from the horse's mouth 

[A Quinn Martin Production]

Harte's faith in some of the older players is worrying. He's picked a number of players that have shown no form and a number that have had next to no game time. David Harte, Ricey, Swift and Dooher can consider themselves fortunate to get starts. I hope I'm proven wrong but the decision not to use the younger players will hurt the team in the long run regardless of the result.

Mickey Harte, on the evening of the September 19th, 2010: "Well, there were many who said that most of these lads were finished, including a good number from our own county, that they hadn't the legs anymore and that they were running on empty, but I'm delighted that today proved just how wrong they were. I never had any doubts about those lads even after the defeat to Antrim, that when the Championship chips were down that they would produce the goods, and how they produced them today..."

So, there you have it, straight from the horse's mouth 

The full quote FoSB

[Mr. Nakata]

Swift and Carlin are both very accomplished at going forward, less so at shooting. They are both good solid defenders. Justy is a natural number 6 or 8 and thus steams forward maybe more times than he should. Will Justy ever get his chance out the field? It doesn't look like any time soon. Davy has been given a free role for years and has been exposed last year and how he retains his selection after this particular league campaign is a mystery. Jordan and Ricey are both very attacking as well. Jordan is top notch as usual, Ricey has looked off the pace. Gormley waiting in the wings has looked busted in a few league games, but he'd always be my first defender named on the starting 15. All in all the defense I think would get ripped to shreds if we were facing the rebels on Sunday. Maybe, I'm being harsh, but I'm hoping we get 5 or 6 hard championship games in with a couple of outings at HQ before we get another crack at the rebels. I hope I'm eating my words and all defenders put in a top drawer display. It's not an easy job.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

The full quote FoSB

I'd gladly give you that one 

[rrhf]

By my counting thats 33 all ireland senior football medals on that Tyrone team.  Holy fcuk

[Fuzzman]

Personally I'm quite confident about Sunday.
I think our squad is much better than it was for most of 2008
We've a lot more options at midfield and still quite a lot of good forwards even if Brian McGuigan has not got back to where he was and I for one was naive to hope he would.

Tommy will come good again as well and maybe as yer Ardboe say he needs a run out around the HF line

If we can afford to play Joey as wing Forward then our defense must be not too bad.
I'm sure he'll be the target for a lot of kickouts like Cavlan used to be so without sounding over confident I think we should win this reasonably well.

It will be interesting to see how much we hand pass on Sunday
I think we could see less of our sideways passing and more long kick passing

I DO hope we dont see Mugsy & SoN in FF on their own being marked by 4 men and the ball never reaching them. Even if our MF HF & HB do score a fortune I wanna see Stevie and Mugsy get some nice scores.

[loughshore lad]

Personally I'm quite confident about Sunday.
I think our squad is much better than it was for most of 2008
We've a lot more options at midfield and still quite a lot of good forwards even if Brian McGuigan has not got back to where he was and I for one was naive to hope he would.

Tommy will come good again as well and maybe as yer Ardboe say he needs a run out around the HF line

If we can afford to play Joey as wing Forward then our defense must be not too bad.
I'm sure he'll be the target for a lot of kickouts like Cavlan used to be so without sounding over confident I think we should win this reasonably well.

It will be interesting to see how much we hand pass on Sunday
I think we could see less of our sideways passing and more long kick passing

I DO hope we dont see Mugsy & SoN in FF on their own being marked by 4 men and the ball never reaching them. Even if our MF HF & HB do score a fortune I wanna see Stevie and Mugsy get some nice scores.

You could look at that a different way in that if Joe is going to play a covering role like he did last year in casement against Derry then maybe the defence is not seen as being that strong?  Time will tell I suppose.

[ONeill]

We've a lot more options at midfield

Really? I thought it was quite the opposite.

[Fuzzman]

We've got Hub, Colm Cava, Sean, Joey & when he gets back Cassidy

Yeah I think yer right LSL.
Mickey likes to have wing Forwards that can often cover back and allow his HB's to push on forward so if they break up an attach you will either Ricey, Jordan or Harte pushing forward into that Brolly used to call that central shooting area and when the ball arrives their late they can then take a score with Dooher or Joey back covering in case it breaks down

[omagh_gael]

I think we're going into this game in a good place. Now obviously no one wanted to get relegated but that has definitely taken the limelight of us to a certain extent. The league was a success in that we've a few new lads who have got some good game time and are in a place were we know that they can be thrown in an do a job. Apart from missing Mc Ginley, Gormley and Cassidy we've got a relatively healthy squad and plenty of options in lots of different position. We appear to like having adversity to overcome and with so many writing our obituaries perhaps the lads will go out and play a blinder to prove there's life in the old dog yet!

Tyrone by 5/6.

[Man Marker]

V surprised that Dooher is starting, its kinda gives you a picture of how woorried Mickey is that he has to play somone who hasn't played a game in god knows how long.. he must think that he can get the tough part of the game over with so that when he takes off Dooher that the cooneys of this world willcome on and shot a few points with the intensity is gone from the game.

[EC Unique]

V surprised that Dooher is starting, its kinda gives you a picture of how woorried Mickey is that he has to play somone who hasn't played a game in god knows how long.. he must think that he can get the tough part of the game over with so that when he takes off Dooher that the cooneys of this world willcome on and shot a few points with the intensity is gone from the game.

Maybe he see this as an oportunity to give Dooher game time to get him up to speed for harder tests ahead!  Dooher will have a blinder and Tyrone to win by at least 5.

[rrhf]

I think Dooher is a unique player, the finest half forward of his generation,  I cant understand why people try to associate him with normal footballers retirement trends, and think that he should queue up to get a game like everybody else.  Dooher is different, Dooher goes straight back in there.  He'll be okay.  Thanks for your concern.