NFL Round 1: Monaghan v Tyrone

[WT4E]

Driving up to this match I was hopeful. After 20min I was quietly pleased. Tyrone had purpose, were kicking quick ball in, moving it fast and looked solid. Then it all turned to sh!t.

At 7-2 we stopped doing what had worked and reverted back to the ponderous lateral handpassing nonsense that got us nowhere. Trying to break tackles and getting turned back every time.

And after that we didn't score for another 40 odd minutes.

Once Monaghan exerted a little pressure it was back to type from Harte. Sean pulled out of FF and we lost all momentum.

Then PJ and Hughes were taken off. Two of the best first half performers. Unbelievable.

You could talk about Paudie Hughes (slide tackles now allowed apparently) but he didn't beat us.

Too many players who didn't stand up to be counted. McNamee was never and is currently not a full back. McCarron still can't man mark. Tierney was anonymous and the great hope of Tyrone football RoN was shockingly bad. I don't think he touched the ball after the break until 15 min into the second half, not that he did anything with it when he did. 

Mattie going off was a big blow. Colm was justifiably frustrated with The Paudie Hughes Monaghan love in but should know better than to yap at a ref that just loves making it all about him. 

What was really evident was the physical difference in teams. Bar 4-5 players Monaghan looked like men against boys.

Harte doesn't seem to have any answers.

PJ was dirt useless and Hughes had a good 10 mins where he scored a couple of good points but let his man run riot!

[BennyCake]

Harte arguing with officials again tonight. He seemed to be really spitting venom too. In previous years he didn't do such things. I imagine he knew in past years he had faith in his players to come through. This behaviour suggests he doesn't have faith in the current squad so uses anything he can to influence things. His whiter than white reputation well and truly ruined now.

[babarino]

"Colm was justifiably frustrated with The Paudie Hughes Monaghan love in but should know better than to yap at a ref that always seems to love making the game all about him."

Aye right 'Tyroneman". Just admit it, Monaghan were the better team....

[Íseal agus crua isteach a]

I only seen the game when Tyrone were leading seven points to four with the video live stream. I just couldn't understand some of the Tyrone attacks. Player in possession wouldn't lay the ball off fast to the man in space, or when he did he took the wrong option. Why do some players need to try and beat their opponent twice? This happened a few times tonight where a player "hogged" the ball to long then only got it taken off him. Some of Monaghans scores came from direct turn overs. I think another problem Tyrone have is the team changes so much every time they play. Makes it hard to read the game.

[tyroneman]

"Colm was justifiably frustrated with The Paudie Hughes Monaghan love in but should know better than to yap at a ref that always seems to love making the game all about him."

Aye right 'Tyroneman". Just admit it, Monaghan were the better team....

Absolutely. I made it clear in my post he wasn't the reason we lost.

[Club Rossa]

Bad and all as Tyrone were last night,I have to say I was very impressed with Monaghan.They were in great nick and are very powerful through the middle.Their movement up front was in complete contrast to Tyrone who seem reluctant to play the early ball into the ff line which must be very frustrating for the forwards.
We can blame management all we like but the harsh reality is that we do not have the quality of player now to compete with the top teams.I looked at our subs last night and without being disrespectful to any of them,I didn't see any game changers.Will be some time before we will be competing at the top table again!!

[babarino]

"Colm was justifiably frustrated with The Paudie Hughes Monaghan love in but should know better than to yap at a ref that always seems to love making the game all about him."http://209.200.237.116/~gaabo3/board/Themes/default/images/bbc/unformat.gif

Aye right 'Tyroneman". Just admit it, Monaghan were the better team....

Absolutely. I made it clear in my post he wasn't the reason we lost.

Fair enough Tyroneman. And it's something we've learned through bitter experience. Yappin' at the ref isn't a good tactic.

[mylestheslasher]

Excellent result for Monaghan but I wouldnt write Tyrone of just yet. It is still January (well it was yesterday) and there can be funny results and performances this time of year. Cavan played both these teams in the last two weeks. Trashed both of them for a half and then struggled badly against both for a second half. Who knows what training is going on during the week.

[seafoid]

Bad and all as Tyrone were last night,I have to say I was very impressed with Monaghan.They were in great nick and are very powerful through the middle.Their movement up front was in complete contrast to Tyrone who seem reluctant to play the early ball into the ff line which must be very frustrating for the forwards.
We can blame management all we like but the harsh reality is that we do not have the quality of player now to compete with the top teams.I looked at our subs last night and without being disrespectful to any of them,I didn't see any game changers.Will be some time before we will be competing at the top table again!!

Monaghan were disappointing last year and this year is important for them. Tyrone are slipping back and the question is how far down until they find a balance.

[Maguire01]

Excellent result for Monaghan but I wouldnt write Tyrone of just yet. It is still January (well it was yesterday) and there can be funny results and performances this time of year. Cavan played both these teams in the last two weeks. Trashed both of them for a half and then struggled badly against both for a second half. Who knows what training is going on during the week.

I didn't see the Monaghan/Cavan McKenna Cup game, but Cavan definitely didn't 'trash' Tyrone for a half - they went in 4 points up.

I wouldn't write off Tyrone at this stage either, but most people would look at League performance as a better indicator of where teams are at than the McKenna Cup - and especially in the case of Tyrone, who seem to put a lot more effort into the McKenna Cup than most of the other teams.

[ose 14]

think the lights are out for good with that bunch of players. lads i wouldnt be calling for hartes head as hes the perfect man for where we are at. nobody in their right mind would want that team for another 3 years.  petee donnelly has worked his conditioning magic? not and on last nights evidence he must be still planning or else hes left his kettles in his kit bag. harte will insist his way is the best and i cant see him keeping tyrone anywhere near the top table with his limited approach to modern tactics. a few relegations and the time would be right for change then. interesting that the two best trainers in ulster football have been lost to derry and monaghan. porter has transformed monaghan and i note MOR has no worries in asking him for advice . the only thing harte seems to be doing is asking the linesmen about decisions.

[mylestheslasher]

Excellent result for Monaghan but I wouldnt write Tyrone of just yet. It is still January (well it was yesterday) and there can be funny results and performances this time of year. Cavan played both these teams in the last two weeks. Trashed both of them for a half and then struggled badly against both for a second half. Who knows what training is going on during the week.

I didn't see the Monaghan/Cavan McKenna Cup game, but Cavan definitely didn't 'trash' Tyrone for a half - they went in 4 points up.

I wouldn't write off Tyrone at this stage either, but most people would look at League performance as a better indicator of where teams are at than the McKenna Cup - and especially in the case of Tyrone, who seem to put a lot more effort into the McKenna Cup than most of the other teams.

They did but not on the score board if you know what I mean. They completely out played them. Point is Maguire, you are not world beaters based on this games and neither are Tyrone write offs.

[Maguire01]

Excellent result for Monaghan but I wouldnt write Tyrone of just yet. It is still January (well it was yesterday) and there can be funny results and performances this time of year. Cavan played both these teams in the last two weeks. Trashed both of them for a half and then struggled badly against both for a second half. Who knows what training is going on during the week.

I didn't see the Monaghan/Cavan McKenna Cup game, but Cavan definitely didn't 'trash' Tyrone for a half - they went in 4 points up.

I wouldn't write off Tyrone at this stage either, but most people would look at League performance as a better indicator of where teams are at than the McKenna Cup - and especially in the case of Tyrone, who seem to put a lot more effort into the McKenna Cup than most of the other teams.

They did but not on the score board if you know what I mean. They completely out played them. Point is Maguire, you are not world beaters based on this games and neither are Tyrone write offs.

Absolutely, i'm just saying i'd read more into a league performance/result than a McKenna Cup one.

[ONeill]

Really hard to see how Tyrone are going to pick up many points in this division. The drip effect of seeing top players retire over the last 3-4 years is seeing Tyrone plummet in the rankings.

The most frustrating thing last night was Tyrone's inability to deal with the massed defence and this has been the case since Donegal turned them over in 2011. There's almost a blue print now on how to beat a Mickey Harte team. Cavan managed it in the first half of the McKenna final. Laying the ball off to a team mate who's obviously about to be swallowed up by 2-3 defenders and turned over is hard to watch repeatedly.

Then on the counter it's usually 2 v 2 or 3 v 3 with Tyrone not possessing any reliable man markers for that scenario. Donegal, Monaghan, Kerry, Mayo and (maybe the new) Dublin would never face that situation.

When Tyrone do deliver early ball into the corners they perform rather well. Then it just stops when the opposition start screening the FB line and Tyrone revert to the rugby league approach. We don't have the physical strength to break the tackle.

Mickey knows best but surely Tyrone have to persist with getting quick ball into a 3-man FF line. The talent is there in McAliskey, McCurry, McKenna and/or Cavanagh to cause damage instead of bringing Sean out (maybe he does that himself) every time an extra defender screens him.

[Rodman]

Really hard to see how Tyrone are going to pick up many points in this division. The drip effect of seeing top players retire over the last 3-4 years is seeing Tyrone plummet in the rankings.

The most frustrating thing last night was Tyrone's inability to deal with the massed defence and this has been the case since Donegal turned them over in 2011. There's almost a blue print now on how to beat a Mickey Harte team. Cavan managed it in the first half of the McKenna final. Laying the ball off to a team mate who's obviously about to be swallowed up by 2-3 defenders and turned over is hard to watch repeatedly.

Then on the counter it's usually 2 v 2 or 3 v 3 with Tyrone not possessing any reliable man markers for that scenario. Donegal, Monaghan, Kerry, Mayo and (maybe the new) Dublin would never face that situation.

When Tyrone do deliver early ball into the corners they perform rather well. Then it just stops when the opposition start screening the FB line and Tyrone revert to the rugby league approach. We don't have the physical strength to break the tackle.

Mickey knows best but surely Tyrone have to persist with getting quick ball into a 3-man FF line. The talent is there in McAliskey, McCurry, McKenna and/or Cavanagh to cause damage instead of bringing Sean out (maybe he does that himself) every time an extra defender screens him.

I don't think Mickey knows best anymore. We have to go by facts and the fact is w,e have been playing the same style of football for 5+ years and have got nowhere.