Tyrone v Fermanagh

[J70]

Someone needs a word with the keeper though. Even the Fermanagh lads near us were laughing at him. Every time Tyrone scored 2  in a row - he goes down with some mystery injury. Didn't stop him running 40 yards to get involved in handbags in injury time though. According to the Ferm lads he's always at it.

Tony Blake use to go down with contact lens trouble. Charlie Mulgrew must have picked this trick up from his Eunan's clubmate!

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Fair analysis Tyroneman, it would seem to me. More positives than negatives to be taken from that game, tough on Fermanagh though.  Getting fed up with totally inadequate/incompetent refereeing.

[ONeill]

Devine: shaky at times, poor kick outs, redemed by excellent first half save       6/10

Yes, that save prevented Tyrone suffering a similar fate to last year's debacle against the in-breds


Ricey: lucky boy to stay on long enough to get subbed. Right decision from MH  5/10

I thought that was a mighty brave decision, taking off your vice-capt. The correct decision as we'll need him v Donegal. Too wound up.

McGinley: did better than I thought he would. Still not a county player - Fermanagh fans could not believe thier team didn't exploit him more 5/10

For some reason Fermanagh stopped doing what they were excelling in. The thing here is that McGrath was perfect for McGinley but he still didn't snuff him out. Steady 2nd half.


Carlin: solid game 7/10

Agreed. He wasn't really called into serious action.


Harte: slow start then started picking out good passes in the 2nd half 7/10

Harte is becoming a real necessity in this team. Took a wonderful score and set up many plays in the 2nd half.


Block: Immense - held defence together  9/10

Solid

Jordan: quiet as expected back from injury, did little wrong 6/10

Good to see him back though. Started to feel his way back into it as time wore on. Will stand to him.

Hub: played himself inot the game. Shots beyond 15 yrds should not be attempted though 6/10

Average. Some horrendous decisions early on and could've had a nightmare. His point steadied him.

Cavanagh Snr: MOM. Best player on park. Scores level seconds left, our kick out - he's the go to man
tired a bit in 2nd but there for all the good work we did. 10/10

Immense. He stood up and was counted when we needed him.

Dooher: hoover back to form 8/10

Correct. Good to see him returning to somewhere near form.

Tommy: strarted well, looked very assured in his role. Scored some wonderful points. Faded when Owens got a grip but promising. 7/10

Very Brian-like brain at times. Some excellent incisive passing and great scores.

Mellon: poor. Should not be allowed near a free kick again. 5/10

Scored a great point when needed in the first half and mixed the ludicrous with the useful.

McCullogh: tried hard but often hid behind man. 5/10

The biggest disappointment.

Gormley: lucky to get a chance in 2nd half - most of the crowd wanted him off before the half. Then socred two beauties out of nothing. 5/10

Took a while to get going but if the match had went on any longer he'd have been the match winner. Needed that first point.

Cavanagh Jnr: looked ok until injury. Nothing special. 5/10

Effective. Involved in both of McGuigan's early points, beating Owens on both occasions.

As for Fermanagh, they simply blew it. Some 2004-ish play but missing that winning feeling.

[ONeill]

Fair analysis Tyroneman, it would seem to me. More positives than negatives to be taken from that game, tough on Fermanagh though.  Getting fed up with totally inadequate/incompetent refereeing.

Some inconsistencies ok (esp with interpretation of tackle) but good to see a ref punishing mouthing after decisions.

[corn02]

Cavanagh 10/10? a bit much Tyroneman.

Although himself and McGuigan were the two stand out players for Tyrone. Great call by Harte to take McMenamin off, he would not of finished the game. Fermanagh needed a draw today, in the replay they would of been well beaten.

[tyroneboi]

I bet Harte wouldnt have minded a draw cos then that would have meant no club championship games next weekend!! just a thought like

[ONeill]

A draw, believe it or not, would've been a welcome result. That extra match is needed as so many of the players today seemed to be on differing wavelengths. In the first half the link play between defence and attack was haywire with too many balls sent over the sideline.

What's the betting we get a few more injuries to key players in the club championship?

Another thought that struck me was Tyrone's once-lauded but seemingly outdated gameplan. I'd be slightly worried that it hasn't developed at all since its peak in 2005. Teams now funnel players back somewhere between the full back line and half back, knowing full well that Tyrone will run into cul-de-sacs if overlaps are covered. Now and then McGuigan, Harte or Cavlan would play a low-trajectory ball into McCullagh or Gormley but the same was happening to Mulligan and Canavan. By the time our corner forwards have collected the ball in front of their man, they're faced with a plethora of defenders. Colm Cavanagh never really got the chance to field under the high ball today.

On the other hand, if Harte can convince his players to believe that they're the best at what they do and to stick to the tried and tested  then fair play to him. Still not convinced that our fitness levels are what they once were.

[ONeill]

One other thing - this game and result will do Tyrone the world of good. We'll head into the semis as underdog regardless of who we meet. Strong memories now of Tyrone-Derry in 03 and Tyrone-Cavan in 05. Both times we looked like we'd struggle in the Tommy Murphy.

Any answers to these:

Why did McConnell start on the bench?
Why was Justy McMahon out? Something happen in the warm-up?
Why does Ricey continue to pursue the hard man image instead of doing what he does best?
Why does McCullagh go AWOL in the SFC?
Can McGinley (C) cut it or are we being over critical? Don't think his man scored.
Does Dooher have the legs?

[tyroneman]

Why did McConnell start on the bench?
I believe it was an attempt by MH to have more ko options than Packies hoof down the middle as we often got cleaned out in MF during NFL - Curren would have been ideal but Devine has SCF in him so safer option for MH

Why was Justy McMahon out? Something happen in the warm-up?
Prob injury but Jordan a better player anyhow - if he needs games.........

Why does Ricey continue to pursue the hard man image instead of doing what he does best?
Ricey no longer has the pace to stay with many top CFs and uses the hard man image to play to the gallery masking what have been poor recent showings.Needs to go back to basics.

Why does McCullagh go AWOL in the SFC?
Didn't vs Louth last year but seems to have regressed.

Can McGinley (C) cut it or are we being over critical? Don't think his man scored.
No - he can't. Exposed enough at NFL level - a good forward would roast him in SCF.Get Joey in.

Does Dooher have the legs?
Did today - got better as game went on.Needs sharpness more than anything.

[Fuzzman]

Incident packed first game which showed up our weaknesses and strengths big time and we will have loads
to work on for the next game.

Thought Devine did well with MOST of his kickouts and often went short though did do at least one over the sideline
The time he came out though thru his FB reminded me a bit like Packie. Think I prefer him to Packie now. Just about.

Cant understandd why Ricey was whinging when he went off. Just cos your Vice Captain doesnt mean you're too good
to be taken off. Think he needs a reality check as his head is getting too big and as soon as he got the black card
I immediately said take him off now. Good man Mickey. We've loads of good defenders and Ricey is gonna lose us a game
Some time with his foolish needless behaviour with his ego coming first.

Cavanagh was excellent again alrite and noticed he was passing the ball a lot more than usual.
We need to get two settled free takers and not have this indecision of "Ah you hit this wan then"
I'd much prefer to see a left and right footed free taker from the ground as too many misjudge from the hand.
I thought McCullagh would have been the right footed free taker.

Thought Gormley ended the game well but think he was lucky to have been left on as long as he was.
He's lively and wins good ball for himself but his shooting was very poor up until he hit those two very
difficult efforts.

All in all I was very disappointed with our efforts and although we should improve, I think we are away of the mark
and unless we improve HUGELY then we're in for a lesson next game.

Must say was very frustrated with Referee too but we must learn to shut up no matter what and have noticed since
2003 we have become whingers and Harte needs to get this across. How many times in the last few years have we
drawn matches or lost cos a free was brought forward into a scoring position. This must stop. Its Never worth it.

BTW I think Dooher has the legs and watch him get better. He was awesome for us against EC but I know County is a step up. He'll be fine but a wee bit slower.
I think McGinley will struggle too against any descent FF. Is Joey injured again or just being fat and lazy?

Any more news on Brian McGuigan. BBC were very positive about him last nite as was his brother. First time I saw
Tommy playing. He does look handy enough. Was he being rested during NFL or has he just come good in recent weeks
training?


€25 seems mad alrite. I wasnt at it as just back from Stag do in Edinburgh but thought the attendance for a
sunny day was terrible. Have Tyrone fans given up on watching us any more or was it cos it was on telly.

[loughshore lad]

Not a great performance yesterday but a victory none the less. Great perfromances from Sean Cavanagh and Conor Gormley who in my opinion is as good a defender there is kicking ball at the moment. Tommy can be very pleased with his debut he showed yesterday he has the ability to cut it at this level, as I said on the board last week I genuinely think Harte was holding him back for the championship.
Brian Mcguigan had the operation on Friday to repair the retina. It went as well as they could have hoped for  and the next 6-8 weeks are crucial in the recovery process. He may also require a further operation to repair gamage to the iris and pupil.

[Fuzzman]

Holy sh*t what did they stick into his eye?
Can he not see anything outta it at all since it happened?

Are they hopeful he will regain full sight then?

[loughshore lad]

Holy sh*t what did they stick into his eye?
Can he not see anything outta it at all since it happened?

Are they hopeful he will regain full sight then?

Not sure exactly how the injury happened but apparently the surgeon said the damage was equivalent to that done by being hit by a sledgehammer. His vision out of the inured eye is blurry, I dont think anyone can say for certain what percentage of his vision will return it is a case of waiting and hoping that his vision returns.

[armaghniac]

25 seems mad alrite. I wasnt at it as just back from Stag do in Edinburgh but thought the attendance for a
sunny day was terrible.

The TV said the attendance was only 13000, which is truly sad. There will be nearly that many who won't get to go to Armagh and Donegal and who would happily pay the €25.

[timmykelleher]

I timed Kavanagh's first dive of the championship at 4 minutes.
I could be wrong though as I missed the first 3 minutes of the match