Tír Eoghain vs Maigh Eo AIQF 6/8/2016

[jp2020]

Not long home, bitterly disappointed with how things panned out. Huge congratulations to Mayo, always give it a 100% on the pitch and backed by a great bunch of supporters.

Two things leave a bitter taste in my mouth. Firstly, the ridiculousness of our free taking set up and how this is crucifying us and secondly this shite some of our defenders are at. Ronan McNamee has to take a long hard look at himself after the bullshit I witnessed in the first half in front of me. He made a great dispossession of AoS when first ball came in but made a total dick of himself with his actions afterwards. I really struggle to understand what advantage he thinks he gains from it. Does he really think the forward Will cower away for the remainder of the game? Justy McMahon is another serial offender and is one of the most civil lads you could meet off the pitch. I help coach the u-6s in my local club and if I saw them at that when they were older I'd haul them off immediately and give them a kick up the hole.

Lots to discuss but needed to get that off my chest. Really do hope the Mayo bucks go on and win the thing. However, watching the dubs afterwards doesn't fill me with confidence.

Mickey obviously at the very least condones this behaviour, or at worst encourages it. Unless he wins another Sam his legacy is going to be tainted by this behaviour! Its no coincidence that too many of the Tyrone players spend half their time goading opposition players! And i think its getting worse, would Horse have any influence?? This whole thing leaves bad taste and sets an extremely bad example to our children! Maybe Mickey should be asked to explain that instead of yapping about the "targetting" of Sean!!

[Erne Man]

Tyrones lack of quality forwards really shone through today - typified by McAliskey's goal effort in the second half which was reminiscent of his effort against Kerry last year - no confidence and a lack of class in front of goal. 1-12 they can compete with any team, but they have no inside forward who can win a game at the highest level. I have seen a lot of Brennan at colleges level over the years and he looks the real deal, but it is early to be pinning hopes on him.
Don't know what Tyrone folk think but i thought there were some strange decisions made on the line today. Allowing the Keegan / Cavanagh duel to be played out on Mayo terms was poor from Hartes point of view - he should have called their bluff and left Cavanagh on the edge of the square. McMahons early substitution left them ragged looking, and they were attached through the centre quite easily after that. Sludden was marvellous throughout the game, but too often had no-one to hit inside.
Mayo's experience and class got them over the line. O'connor was tremendous and a supporting cast of Keegan, O'Shea x3, and Boyle were superb. Hope they finish the job this year

[Disillusioned]

Mickey obviously at the very least condones this behaviour, or at worst encourages it. Unless he wins another Sam his legacy is going to be tainted by this behaviour! Its no coincidence that too many of the Tyrone players spend half their time goading opposition players! And i think its getting worse, would Horse have any influence?? This whole thing leaves bad taste and sets an extremely bad example to our children! Maybe Mickey should be asked to explain that instead of yapping about the "targetting" of Sean!!

Harte has full plausible deniability on the behaviour of the players towards their opponents, there are always others to ensure this occurs and is systematic.  The black card was introduced to halt this behaviour but no referee has the backbone to use it for this purpose with his officials able to feed him with the information about it.  This type of behaviour is endemic in Tyrone football and is drilled into players from their earliest competitive representative stage.  Coaches know that their players are sent out to goad the opposition and their role models at county level are there from 2003.  The problem with this type of behaviour is that players actually believe that they are affecting the opposition.

Yesterday, Tyrone met a Mayo team that is no longer as flaky as in the past, they have developed a meaner streak that may make some of them unlikeable but they stood up to the Tyrone tactic and went back as hard.  Ironic, that the only time all day Cavanagh rolled around on the ground looking for a yellow card, he got a yellow card for it and it led to Tyrone's failure. On SKY, Canavan firmly blamed Cavanagh's foolish yellow card for the Tyrone loss, saying that he wasn't there when Tyrone needed him.

Glory hunters lost the game for Tyrone in the final 10 minutes when it could have been drawn or even won. McCann, McCarron and Morgan should not have been attempting to score, the system allows for the ball to be held up until a score can be taken. Morgan should stay between the sticks, yesterday was another example of how he can kick Tyrone out of a game when he is allowed to take the long range frees.

[ONeill]

Fcuk it.

[From the Bunker]

Good performance yesterday from Mayo. Nothing vintage, but god are we a hard team to beat? Mickey Harte got a bit of the run-around tactically from Rochford yesterday. Starting Dillon and dropping Keane caught him completely off guard. In fairness, Mickey team has a lot of players still growing as footballers and yesterday was another big test for them. This is a hard defeat for this Tyrone group, they were really looking at minimum an All Ireland final this year. Mickey has Tyrone so disciplined and a decent system, that he can get an average group of players to Quarter finals and Semi finals year in year out. The next step is the hardest. Believe me Mayo know all about their next step, which is another step up and has been beyond this group so far. Hard to know if Harte is the Man anymore. There seems to be an Arsne Wenger feel to him. Past glories are keeping him untouchable and he seems to be an eternity building. Like Wenger qualifying for the Champions League, Mickey almost guarantees August football for Tyrone year in year out but no more!

Although we won yesterday - Just! I would not lose the run of ourselves and most won't in fairness. We have been here the last 5 years - All Ireland semi final numbers 6 in a row (8 semi-finals if you count replays)! We are back to dreaming again, but we have problems all over the place. Still great to be involved.

[Newbridge Exile]

Not long home, bitterly disappointed with how things panned out. Huge congratulations to Mayo, always give it a 100% on the pitch and backed by a great bunch of supporters.

Two things leave a bitter taste in my mouth. Firstly, the ridiculousness of our free taking set up and how this is crucifying us and secondly this shite some of our defenders are at. Ronan McNamee has to take a long hard look at himself after the bullshit I witnessed in the first half in front of me. He made a great dispossession of AoS when first ball came in but made a total dick of himself with his actions afterwards. I really struggle to understand what advantage he thinks he gains from it. Does he really think the forward Will cower away for the remainder of the game? Justy McMahon is another serial offender and is one of the most civil lads you could meet off the pitch. I help coach the u-6s in my local club and if I saw them at that when they were older I'd haul them off immediately and give them a kick up the hole.

Lots to discuss but needed to get that off my chest. Really do hope the Mayo bucks go on and win the thing. However, watching the dubs afterwards doesn't fill me with confidence.

Mickey obviously at the very least condones this behaviour, or at worst encourages it. Unless he wins another Sam his legacy is going to be tainted by this behaviour! Its no coincidence that too many of the Tyrone players spend half their time goading opposition players! And i think its getting worse, would Horse have any influence?? This whole thing leaves bad taste and sets an extremely bad example to our children! Maybe Mickey should be asked to explain that instead of yapping about the "targetting" of Sean!!

From my own or any other team I hate to see the goading / sledging in our game , terrible terrible example for young children It was no surprise to see to see Jim McGuinness on sky sports saying sledging is a part of the game and the bigger the game the more sledging there is ,

[straightred]

Peter Harte is some footballer, absolutely outstanding.
If Tyrone had a free taker they'd be through.
Fair play to Mayo though ground it out.

Sean Cavanagh STARTED on Keegan coming out after half time and they both got a yellow

The second yellow for Cavanagh was probably deserved, although O'Shea's antics where once again disappointing but it's simply not true to say that Cavanagh started the bother before the second half began. Keegan was at it all the way through the first half and the linesman stood and watched it and did nothing about it.

Better team on the day won although Tyrone kicked themselves out of it. For those lamenting about the ref I thought he was excellent and most of all consistent. Mayo's tackling was very poor and they where penalised for it but not fully punished as the lack of a good free taker came back to haunt Tyrone.

Agree with this and i hate the way the ref takes the easy way out and books both. same with connollys first yellow. Donegal were doing 5 minute shifts each marking him trying to get him booked. Tyrone are no angels either but that shouldn't excuse what was a bad decision by the ref which probably cost tyrone at least a replay. OShea might as well have given the 2nd yellow himself - he was trying to ref the game at that stage.

[Mdamd]

Totally agree with a number of you. Tyrone lost it on the line yesterday. Bringing Padraig mcnulty on and sticking him in corner forward. Mayo banked their half back line and stayed in position all game. 70 minutes later, Tyrone are playing the same tactics. When the game is in the melting pot and you have to make a tactical move... You got ta make it. No free taker is a big gap that needs filled. The better teams in this all Ireland era have scoring forwards in scoring forwards positions. Tyrone played the ball into the forwards in the first half and they got on it but not good enough to make a real impact. Just look at Dublin, scoring forwards......now there's an idea

[seafoid]

Fcuk it.

The day the county's interest in the championship is terminated is never pleasant

[seafoid]

Good performance yesterday from Mayo. Nothing vintage, but god are we a hard team to beat? Mickey Harte got a bit of the run-around tactically from Rochford yesterday. Starting Dillon and dropping Keane caught him completely off guard. In fairness, Mickey team has a lot of players still growing as footballers and yesterday was another big test for them. This is a hard defeat for this Tyrone group, they were really looking at minimum an All Ireland final this year. Mickey has Tyrone so disciplined and a decent system, that he can get an average group of players to Quarter finals and Semi finals year in year out. The next step is the hardest. Believe me Mayo know all about their next step, which is another step up and has been beyond this group so far. Hard to know if Harte is the Man anymore. There seems to be an Arsne Wenger feel to him. Past glories are keeping him untouchable and he seems to be an eternity building. Like Wenger qualifying for the Champions League, Mickey almost guarantees August football for Tyrone year in year out but no more!

Although we won yesterday - Just! I would not lose the run of ourselves and most won't in fairness. We have been here the last 5 years - All Ireland semi final numbers 6 in a row (8 semi-finals if you count replays)! We are back to dreaming again, but we have problems all over the place. Still great to be involved.

Boylan won all Irelands in 87 and 88 and built a new team in 96. I wouldn't drop Harte yet.
I hope Rochford can give Mayo that winning belief.

[maximus]

I think we can blame the system, tactics, inability to adapt but inevitably it comes down to kicking scores and Tyrone have struggled on that front throughout the year. If Harte had a player like Cilllian O'Connor at his disposal Tyrone would comfortably have won yesterday's game. At this level it's so difficult to compete without a free taker.

[ONeill]

Fcuk it.

The day the county's interest in the championship is terminated is never pleasant

At least in years gone by we could say 'at least we've the minors/ladies/Rose of Tralee to fall back on' but everything has changed utterly. And I've a holiday in Mayo to come. I'm going to immerse myself in their culture and bring back ideas and spices.

[omagh_gael]

I have to say that Niall Sludden was fantastic yesterday, always looked like creating something, just unfortunate that no one (outside of Matty Donnelly and Petey Harte) were at his level.

Our system will get us so far but having one man up front requires a special player to pull it off. Pains me to say it but Ronan O'Neill's performance has answered a lot of questions. It appears that the cruciate injury he got has taken the edge of his pace and against the top defenders he's ineffective. His long range shooting and distance free taking on the big stage just isn't there. Don't like to come down on individuals but McAliskey and McCurry don't appear to be the answer either. That extra 5% that separates good Full forwards from great ones hasn't been available to us when the big game moments come. Our hopes next year lie with Lee Brennan, a lot of responsibility to shoulder for such a young lad. What other options do we have?

[From the Bunker]

Good performance yesterday from Mayo. Nothing vintage, but god are we a hard team to beat? Mickey Harte got a bit of the run-around tactically from Rochford yesterday. Starting Dillon and dropping Keane caught him completely off guard. In fairness, Mickey team has a lot of players still growing as footballers and yesterday was another big test for them. This is a hard defeat for this Tyrone group, they were really looking at minimum an All Ireland final this year. Mickey has Tyrone so disciplined and a decent system, that he can get an average group of players to Quarter finals and Semi finals year in year out. The next step is the hardest. Believe me Mayo know all about their next step, which is another step up and has been beyond this group so far. Hard to know if Harte is the Man anymore. There seems to be an Arsne Wenger feel to him. Past glories are keeping him untouchable and he seems to be an eternity building. Like Wenger qualifying for the Champions League, Mickey almost guarantees August football for Tyrone year in year out but no more!

Although we won yesterday - Just! I would not lose the run of ourselves and most won't in fairness. We have been here the last 5 years - All Ireland semi final numbers 6 in a row (8 semi-finals if you count replays)! We are back to dreaming again, but we have problems all over the place. Still great to be involved.

Boylan won all Irelands in 87 and 88 and built a new team in 96. I wouldn't drop Harte yet.
I hope Rochford can give Mayo that winning belief.

Not saying that Harte should go. Just he seems presently to be going around in circles. Ulster title was needed this year. And they got it. Unlucky with QF draw. Mayo was not the team to meet at this stage.

[square_ball]

The best forwards in the county are in the squad. Is there anyone else you could say playing in the county are not in the squad? I'd think brennan will see more game time next year. On the free kick issue yesterday Morgan missed 2 in the first half that were very difficult I think he should have got the last one (he's still the number 1 keeper in tyrone by a distance imo). How many did ronan oneill miss? I can only remember one long distance he missed?

Niall sludden was excellent yesterday too. Best performance from a sludden in Croker since martin in the meath louth match.