Tyrone County Football and Hurling

[youhavenofans]

My stab at the Tyrone un21 team tonight, know most of the lads really well and from what people are saying i also think ciaran mclaughin and meyler will both start, also i wouldnt be surprised if dan mc nulty also starts at full forward. Big question over the team is midfield and where to play rory breenan and cathal mc shane. I think paudie hamspey is a cert for full back as logan and dooher really like him, which i cant blame them, so where do you play rory breenan? from last year he struggled at full back against cavan so id say either half back or at midfield. Cathal Mc Shane is another, i dont think he best position is midfield but with the lack of quality at midfield i think they will play him here, ideally id play him at wing half forward instead of matty walsh

1. Sean Fox (Killyclogher)
2. Ruiari Mullan (Cookstown)
3. Paudie Hamspey (Coalisland)
4. Ciaran Mclaughlin (Omagh)
5. Michael Cassidy (Arboe)
6. Rory Breenan (Trillick)
7. Kieran Mc Geary (Promeroy)
8. Cathal Mc Shane (Owen Roes)
9. Frank Burns (Promeroy)
10. Mathew Walsh (Dungannon)
11. Mark Kavanagh (Errigal)
12. Conor Meyler (Omagh)
13. Ruairi Sludden (Dromore)
14. Dan Mc Nulty (Clonoe)
15. Mark Bradley (Killyclogher)

[Man Marker]

Yeah agree hes a not a top manager and mightn be. Time will tell. Any team he has went to has improved from him being there thats for sure.Fermgael you better not boo him tomorrow night, he only took about 120g of yous over 2yrs   

Glad you finally agreed with me

[Sunny Day]

Made the journey to Ballybofey yesterday,  bleak situation Mickey finds himself in with only a few short weeks to revisiting Donegal on the same sod again.  Hard to envisage the tables getting turned with a Tyrone win in May.  On the face of things it seemed we lacked any type of strategy, at best it was haphazzard. There seemed no plan on how to break down the 15 man Donegal blockade, certainly nothing new about Donegals game plan in last 4 years.  Our counter attack lacked pace, precision and cutting edge, it was laboured, predictable and Donegal could easily choke our attack to death.  70-80% of Donegal scores came from over-turned ball on a Tyrone attack.  We seemed extremely weak in the tackle and certainly there appeared no spear head for our forward attack. The forward fist pass process to the full forwards wasnt possible against the Donegal defensive blockade.  It would have taken a sonar device on the ball to make its way into them.  I wonder if Tyrone would have opted for some height within their Full Forward line and test an 'isolated' Donegal full back line, by whipping quick and fast high diagonal ball into the scoring zone on the counter attack,  it might have yielded something, at a minimum the high ball would have cut out at least 12 defenders if nothing else.  Mickey and his back room staff find themselves again in dark waters,  I sincerely hope he can turn this one around as it will be extremely hard to stomach another defeat to Donegal in Ballybofey in a few weeks time.

[everymanaman]

Out-thought, out-muscled, out-played. Tyrone in a very bad place, as the man says

[redzone]

Made the journey to Ballybofey yesterday,  bleak situation Mickey finds himself in with only a few short weeks to revisiting Donegal on the same sod again.  Hard to envisage the tables getting turned with a Tyrone win in May.  On the face of things it seemed we lacked any type of strategy, at best it was haphazzard. There seemed no plan on how to break down the 15 man Donegal blockade, certainly nothing new about Donegals game plan in last 4 years.  Our counter attack lacked pace, precision and cutting edge, it was laboured, predictable and Donegal could easily choke our attack to death.  70-80% of Donegal scores came from over-turned ball on a Tyrone attack.  We seemed extremely weak in the tackle and certainly there appeared no spear head for our forward attack. The forward fist pass process to the full forwards wasnt possible against the Donegal defensive blockade.  It would have taken a sonar device on the ball to make its way into them.  I wonder if Tyrone would have opted for some height within their Full Forward line and test an 'isolated' Donegal full back line, by whipping quick and fast high diagonal ball into the scoring zone on the counter attack,  it might have yielded something, at a minimum the high ball would have cut out at least 12 defenders if nothing else.  Mickey and his back room staff find themselves again in dark waters,  I sincerely hope he can turn this one around as it will be extremely hard to stomach another defeat to Donegal in Ballybofey in a few weeks time.

yeah it wasn't good, reminded me of the monaghan game. we recovered after that so the Kerry game should be a great battle. I wouldn't totally write the team of yet. if Kerry beat us by 10/11 points next week then I would be worried.  they were very well organised and are near experts at this defenisive game. they continually fouled/stopped tyrone out the field in second half when we had the wind, and stopped the man taking a quick free until they got organised, whether it was by holding onto the mans hand after the whistle was blew or simply tapping the ball away a few yards, it all helps.id say they are the most cynical team ive seen.mcquillan never caught onto any of this but in fairness u need help from linesmen and umpires which never happened. even a man taking a free for a score they were roaring at him as he was takin the free which def isn't allowed. to put matty in fullforward in the second half just didn't work. ronan oneill should have stayed on, maybe he was injured. im sure he would have kicked a few in the second half. justy was the only player that came out of it with any credit. McCarron tried hard as did McNamee. at least the lads know nothing but a 9/10 performance from them all in 8 weeks time will get us over the line.

Will we do away with the blanket for the champ match. I think we should. Go man to man and push up on them up the field. It will take a furious workrate by the forwards and if we can get ahead of them early on they will have to come out and attack. Your only playing into donegals hands by playing a defensive game in ballybofey

   

[Sunny Day]

Agree 100% with you Redhand on the refereering aspect to yesterdays game,  the problem with this lies with the inconsistency of refereering.  What is a tackle and what is not a tackle?  Each referee has completely different interuption to a tackle.  How is this then coached technically by trainers/coaches?  Its outside the control of players and Management. Without question,  Tyrone full back line has been extremely consistent in this league campaign and I have been impressed by McNamee, McCrory and McCarron over the games.  You correctly point out the cuteness of Donegal,  but on the flip side of that,  Tyrone should be well aware of these small areas of Donegals game and by now we should be trying to counter act these in some shape or form. As mad a suggestion it might be but is it time to move away from the skin tight tops and back to older more loose styled top to accentuate the quick pull back by opponents that now goes un-noticed, unbooked?   Michael Murphys frees again could be looked at, would there be any possibility of putting him off his stride?  I did notice (I stand corrected if wrong) that Michael Murphy kicked a free wide in the second half, third quarter,  but seconds before his kick Peter Harte walked across the path of the ball (intentionally or not, I'm unsure).  Two years ago Donegal focused on Morgans kicks,  this year Tyrone need to be coming with new ideas, new forward thinking strategies to counter act Donegals strong points. It will be difficult in Ballybofey at the best of times, but a no show would be unbearable.  It will be a great battle in Healy Park come Sunday another massive yardstick for Tyrone to measure against the 2014 All Ireland Champions. 

[Norf Tyrone]

Agree 100% with you Redhand on the refereering aspect to yesterdays game,  the problem with this lies with the inconsistency of refereering.  What is a tackle and what is not a tackle?  Each referee has completely different interuption to a tackle.  How is this then coached technically by trainers/coaches?  Its outside the control of players and Management. Without question,  Tyrone full back line has been extremely consistent in this league campaign and I have been impressed by McNamee, McCrory and McCarron over the games.  You correctly point out the cuteness of Donegal,  but on the flip side of that,  Tyrone should be well aware of these small areas of Donegals game and by now we should be trying to counter act these in some shape or form. As mad a suggestion it might be but is it time to move away from the skin tight tops and back to older more loose styled top to accentuate the quick pull back by opponents that now goes un-noticed, unbooked?   Michael Murphys frees again could be looked at, would there be any possibility of putting him off his stride?  I did notice (I stand corrected if wrong) that Michael Murphy kicked a free wide in the second half, third quarter,  but seconds before his kick Peter Harte walked across the path of the ball (intentionally or not, I'm unsure).  Two years ago Donegal focused on Morgans kicks,  this year Tyrone need to be coming with new ideas, new forward thinking strategies to counter act Donegals strong points. It will be difficult in Ballybofey at the best of times, but a no show would be unbearable.  It will be a great battle in Healy Park come Sunday another massive yardstick for Tyrone to measure against the 2014 All Ireland Champions.

That's actually a good point re the jersies.

[Soup an Samajiz]

Agree 100% with you Redhand on the refereering aspect to yesterdays game,  the problem with this lies with the inconsistency of refereering.  What is a tackle and what is not a tackle?  Each referee has completely different interuption to a tackle.  How is this then coached technically by trainers/coaches?  Its outside the control of players and Management. Without question,  Tyrone full back line has been extremely consistent in this league campaign and I have been impressed by McNamee, McCrory and McCarron over the games.  You correctly point out the cuteness of Donegal,  but on the flip side of that,  Tyrone should be well aware of these small areas of Donegals game and by now we should be trying to counter act these in some shape or form. As mad a suggestion it might be but is it time to move away from the skin tight tops and back to older more loose styled top to accentuate the quick pull back by opponents that now goes un-noticed, unbooked?   Michael Murphys frees again could be looked at, would there be any possibility of putting him off his stride?  I did notice (I stand corrected if wrong) that Michael Murphy kicked a free wide in the second half, third quarter,  but seconds before his kick Peter Harte walked across the path of the ball (intentionally or not, I'm unsure).  Two years ago Donegal focused on Morgans kicks,  this year Tyrone need to be coming with new ideas, new forward thinking strategies to counter act Donegals strong points. It will be difficult in Ballybofey at the best of times, but a no show would be unbearable.  It will be a great battle in Healy Park come Sunday another massive yardstick for Tyrone to measure against the 2014 All Ireland Champions.

That's actually a good point re the jersies.

nonsense, the reverse would be the case to highlight any pulling, a baggy jersey would do nothing only leave you more open to getting pulled and hauled and go unnoticed.. 'mon boys if we didn't have skins sure there'd be no point in getting a six pack a tall a tall

[God14]

"Will we do away with the blanket for the champ match. I think we should. Go man to man and push up on them up the field. It will take a furious workrate by the forwards and if we can get ahead of them early on they will have to come out and attack. Your only playing into donegals hands by playing a defensive game in ballybofey"


Isnt that what Dublin did last August? Go man to man & push up the field? Tactically I cannot see how Tyrone can possibly get out of Ballybofey with a win. Donegal are masters at the defensive game and will prevail if we decide to sit deep and get men behind the ball. Equally if we push up we will get slaughtered.

It sounds crazy, but id put the 3 best fielders of a ball in a 3 man forward line. Sean Cav, Clarke & Joe McMahon for example. Hoof occasional ball directly into them - high, direct & early. Deploy the rest of the team in a 12 men behind the ball in the zonal defensive strategy. You have effectively a half back line of about 8 men here. Id select in this position the best long range kickers in the squad - McAlisky, McCurry & the likes - over more traditional traditional defenders like McNabb, McCrory & grafters like Tiernan McCann. When you defend in such numbers your defensive skills arnt tested as much, its more the ability to swarm. These lads need to be kicking points accurately at 45M, or delivering fast accurate ball into the 3 forwards.
The 12 defenders need to either kick the ball early to the full forward line (Plan A) or work a shooting chance in under 4 passes amongst themselves (Plan B). If your taking more than 4 hand passes - your playing into Donegals hands.
Another thing - don't contest the kickouts. Again overload team selction with men who can kick points from distance, over the likes of Colm Cavanagh (who in a different tactical battle may well be the first name on the teamsheet)

[God14]

my team for Donegal SFC, Ballybofey

Keeper - Morgan
Full Back line -McCarron, Justin, McNamee
Zonal defence (8men) Harte, McAliskey, McCurry, M. Bradley, Joe McMahon, M Donnelly, K Coney, R O'Neill
Forwards - Sean, Colm & Clarke

[Mikhailov]

my team for Donegal SFC, Ballybofey

Keeper - Morgan
Full Back line -McCarron, Justin, McNamee
Zonal defence (8men) Harte, McAliskey, McCurry, M. Bradley, Joe McMahon, M Donnelly, K Coney, R O'Neill
Forwards - Sean, Colm & Clarke

God14 - do you know something the rest of us don't..? K.Coney and M.Donnelly aren't even on the panel so unless they are back or due to be invited back they will not feature v Donegal....

[God14]

my team for Donegal SFC, Ballybofey

Keeper - Morgan
Full Back line -McCarron, Justin, McNamee
Zonal defence (8men) Harte, McAliskey, McCurry, M. Bradley, Joe McMahon, M Donnelly, K Coney, R O'Neill
Forwards - Sean, Colm & Clarke

God14 - do you know something the rest of us don't..? K.Coney and M.Donnelly aren't even on the panel so unless they are back or due to be invited back they will not feature v Donegal....

Mattie Donnelly is on the Panel. & Kyle Coney should be also. As I said it was "my team" for Donegal id be entitled to put whoever I liked on it.

[Mikhailov]

my team for Donegal SFC, Ballybofey

Keeper - Morgan
Full Back line -McCarron, Justin, McNamee
Zonal defence (8men) Harte, McAliskey, McCurry, M. Bradley, Joe McMahon, M Donnelly, K Coney, R O'Neill
Forwards - Sean, Colm & Clarke

God14 - do you know something the rest of us don't..? K.Coney and M.Donnelly aren't even on the panel so unless they are back or due to be invited back they will not feature v Donegal....

Mattie Donnelly is on the Panel. & Kyle Coney should be also. As I said it was "my team" for Donegal id be entitled to put whoever I liked on it.

God14 - apologies, I thought you meant Mark Donnelly and forgot about Mattie - yes he should definitely be on any team. As regards Coney, I agree 100% with you but unfortunately the man that counts disagrees with us on this one - Coney is a quality player.

It was 'your team' as you correctly state but like the rest of us we could pick teams with players that MH has dropped, forgot about or ignores and that is when they are on the panel...

All told it will take a super performance from whatever team is selected to come out of Donegal with a victory in a few weeks time....

[Sunny Day]

How is Joe McMahon getting on with his studies,  I'm wondering if he is worth carrying on the panel for the Donegal game, he's a guy that brings immense experience and 'grit' and goes without saying, he's a leader. I'm wondering if Gavin Devlin could bring Kyle Coney back into the fray?  There is certainly a argument for him to be 'coaxed' back to county football.  Management must be considering every possibility since Sunday last.  Niall McKenna is another option that might or could be worked on.

[redzone]

yes god 14 Dublin did go man to man and were looking like they were going to run away with after 15 min. they didn't take they scores and some very naïve defending cost them. I thing one thing is for sure u need to get ahead of Donegal early on, don't concede goals and make them come out and play.

will joe have a role to play. it will be hard coming in to play championship football having not played any league at his age.

Donegal aren't world beaters. they have it all to lose and tyrone are massive underdogs and sometimes that can hold a team back. at the end of the day lacey is the only natural defender they have. they are an oldish team but extremely cute at the dark arts. push up and go man to man. its something they wont be used to.obv have to win midfield/breaks but that is were the hunger will come in. im sure the lads wont let us down

sunny day unfortunately id say  the ship as sailed for coney as regards this year but u never know.