Tyrone v Monaghan USFC Final

[Norf Tyrone]

Perfect Tyrone performance today. Not too good, so as everyone will get carried away. Not too bad, so that people write us off!

Did anyone think Gormley was just ok today, and not MOTM as the Sunday Game gave him? I thought he was out of position a few times, and was ball watching for the goal, if you see the replay from behind the posts. However I am judging him by his exceptionally high standards.

For me, Cavanagh just ahead of Carlin.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

For me, Cavanagh just ahead of Carlin.

Agreed Norf, when Cavanagh turned it on he stemmed the tide and turned the flow of the game.

[Main Street]

Cavanagh was MOTM with BBC NI.
Obvious choice.

[tyssam5]

A lot of people chatting about various mistakes being made, just wondering about the weather before the game, as I was watching on the internet from a fair distance away. Seemed to me that from the start the surface was giving players bother and they were getting some bad bounces when trying to run with the ball?

[Goats Do Shave]

Cavanagh was MOTM with BBC NI.
Obvious choice.

Hard to believe, he did nothing in the 1st half (bar one good point) & he did nothing in the 2nd half (bar 2 good scores - his solitary catch led to one of these)
I don't think anyone really shone for the red hands, though Philip Jordan, Dermy Carlin both had sound games. Gormley was good, yet Freeman still got 1.02? from play off him!!!

For Monaghan I thought Finlay's distribution was very good, Tommy Freeman was a big danger & once Corey was moved out the field, he had a stormer! Dick Clerkin did a lot of good work round the middle also.

Dooher had a quiet game also...I suppose that means Damien Freeman had a good game. Also thought JP Mone did very well on Sean Cavanagh!

[Norf Tyrone]

The game reminded me somewhat of that Sligo game in 2002!
Tyrone cruising it early, and then taking the foot off the gas allowing their opponents back into it. However yesterday Tyrone repeated the dose in the 2nd half which ensured they 'got away with it'. Curiously I think Monaghan yesterday were better than Sligo 2002.

[bingobus]

Terrible start yesterday cost us big time yesterday. Still think Tyrone are the better team and could go up a few gears.

Strange that Monaghan prob kept the Tyrone big guns at bay (Dooher, Mulligan, McCullagh-from paly, Hughes, Calvin) but still couldn't beat them. Kavanagh drifted in and out but when he did contribute it had a big effect. He's one serious athlete.

Monaghan turned over very silly ball. JP's missed placed hand pass out in the second half and strimmers slip and foul on the ball in the first very prime examples of Monaghans bad use of the ball. But in fairness Tryone made similar mistakes and got punished - Riceys poor solo led to Monaghans goal. But the general ball into the Monaghan forwards was very poor and ive them no chance, particulary in the opening 5 minutes when we had some ball but didn't make anything out of it.

Team showed great spirit and fight but it isn't enough in championship football. Mulligan won two frees early on by pulling at the defender as much as he was pulled. Ref bought it twice and booke Corey for it. Old school won out and Mulligans tricks where something Nudie would have proud of.

Thought Finaly had a poor game, kicked a couple of nice scores from play but thought he struggled with pace of game and his marker (Carlin) hurt Monaghan on number of occassions going forward. Freeman had a poor first half but showed his class in second with well taken scores.. He should have hung off Coreys shoulder though near the end and on two ocassions Corey broke ball to no one and Tommy actually kicked one of th balls in to him.

Wouldn't be scared of Donegal though and am happy to take them. Would love a crack at Dublin if we get past them. Love it.

[rrhf]

Thought Carlin was superb and my m.o.m however Cavanagh played for 35 minutes and was the difference.  Though it was very intense Monaghan hit very hard - a few sore Tyrone men last night but the game was in the right spirit.  Midfield was a tactical mess, We created that one ourselves by pulling 3 men in there.  Tyrone didnt win the breaks with Dooher off form.  Mc Menamin is a liability and mixes the good with the ridiculous, = no good.  Can any team in Ireland afford 2 attacking corner backs especially with your full back in midfield - I dont think so either.  Back to basics and Tyrone can win an all ireland but theres a few lads need to come down a level or two. Mulgrew i fear is struggling at that level the past 2 games..  Hub and Sean in the centre for the next game Joe to f/b.  When Dooher is off form we have no half forwards imo.  Great to win an Ulster title though, Tyrone football has flourished from the 80s and will not be pigeon holed  to a golden era of 10 years. I think its now fair to say that Tyrone have been the outstanding  force in Ulster football for the last quarter century.       

[snappiered]

Good to win our 11th USFC yesterday. Monaghan can be proud of their efforts gave us a real fright and hope we will learn alot from it.
On the controversial umpiring in the Minor game the ball was defiantely wide. But in the Senior gam Ciaran Hanrattys point in the first half was also wide. Had a perfect view of it sitting in the Gerry Arthurs. Just making the point.

[uselessfootballer]

Throughly enjoyable game yesterday, agree with a lot of posters that Monaghan lost the game at the start (first 10 mins) when they seemed intent on spoiling Tyrone's game rather than focusing on their own strengths. After that early spell when Tyrone scored 1-03 Monaghan outscored Tyrone for the remainder of the game (approx an hour) by 4 pts. Good to see McCullough have a good game in relation to score taking again, this will continue to help with the confidence.

Couldn't understand why Joe McMahon wasn't dropped back on Corey in the Second half, Gourley was being roughed up and came out 2nd best for most of this half, McMahon have proven before to be probably our best current option when faced with that type of tactic/opponent. Also in the latter stages of the game Tyrone continued to go man for man on the full-back line (mostly 2 against 2) even though they were losing out in the individual battles, they were slow to bring back a spare man as cover in the end Justin Mc came back and Gormley was spare.

Thought that Gormley seemed to be carrying an injury, limped slightly throughout the second half and looked like a man with a lower back/hip problem.

All in all thought we were a wee bit fortunate to win on the day, we look to have more in us but maybe that's just wishful thinking.

[Mr. Nakata]

I have a head on me like a lobster. 4 hours in the baking heat of clones. I enjoyed the game though it was definitely not a classic. However, my pints tasted good, as the anglo celt is a greart return for the year thus far.. How did hub last the 70 minutes though? I'm looking forward to watching the tape to see how many times he touched leather. Midfield took one hell of a beating yesterday. I thought Joey played well, though he should have been put on Corey in the second half. When he was drafted in as full back against the Dubs in '05, he lorded it under the high ball. Think of the damage Donaghy would have done out there yesterday. This might sound harsh on Gourley who I thought defended well in patches. I think for SAM to be a realistic proposition, McGuigan would need to be directing affairs and a fully fit O'Neill would need to be playing, kicking points from every angle a la '05. I hope I'm wrong, but I am more than happy with an Ulster this year if that is all we get. The school boy errors that were made yesterday were all punished and a better team would have sent us packing.

[rrhf]

Mr Nakata you love your pints.

[Fuzzman]

To be honest I didnt enjoy the whole day yesterday though that's probably because I couldn't get in contact with my mate to get my tickets as mobile network was F**ed and then his phone was.

Anyway some of my points are.
I said prematch that if Monaghan rough us up a bit and even get someone sent off we will have a hard day at the office.
I thought they were very borderline on a number of instances with even a few punches and a knee drop onto Cavanagh I think at one stage.

Was disappointed Mickey let Gourely stay at FB all game as it seemed obvious to me he was struggling with even Corey making easy catches in his chest and not even above his head at times. Gourley was hestitant and giving him to much respect whearas Block or even big Joe would have been out first and not so fearful of making a mistake or letting him get goalside.

Devine did well all day I thought and think he's a bit more assured now. Was a great stop as Clorey did well putting it where he did though the other misses where brutal
Thought Ricey did OK but yes made a few misatakes that lead to important scores. Carlin was great I thought and is another smart player.
I think its fine if either CB pushes forward as others then cover back. Its a great tactic for unlocking 9 man defences which teams to do us a lot more now.

Dooher had a off day and as someone else said Mulgrew and Calvo did feck all in my book bar the odd incisive pass. Usually our half back and esp half forward line make up for poor midfield performances but to me this is where we lreally lost out yesterday and so they had loads of balls directly into their FF line so Gourley was getting bombarded all 2nd half.

I felt Tyrone were very economical with their scoring chances as for once we didnt actually create that many with the Monaghan defense HOLDING their man very tight and thus McCullagh and Mugsy were depending mainly on frees, which the both hit well.
My calls for Calvo at FF did materiialise at one stage but he looked well off the pace and I was calling for him to be replaced much sooner by SON.
Stevie didnt seem to get any supply worth chatting about and so I found it hard to judge his performance.
Maybe I'll see it better tonite when I watch the tape.

Anyway, I left feeling a bit dejected as I thought we probably didn't deserve to have won it in the end but maybe I was just feeling relieved as the Armagh Twat behind us in his full Orange gear and big Monaghan flag had been stirring it all day. Eventually I had to ask out LOUD
"Anyone hear how Armagh did last night in the BACK DOOR"

And of course about 10 voices replied with
Ach sure they werent playing

Yer man replies with
"Rackard Cup"

My biggest fear now is that every manager from now on is gonna go route one every time vi a Tyrone and even with Block in a FB, I would be wary of how well we will cope
Step forward Joey and prove me wrong

[ONeill]

Teams will not run at Tyrone for the simple reason that there is no better team at coping with this than Tyrone. Their turnover haul was phenomenal from 03-05. All teams will hit this long ball be it diagonal or straight to cut out the traffic. If, like Monaghan, the opposition are allowed to do it almost unopposed for 70 mins, it won't matter how good your full back line is, every now and again the ball is going to fall to the opponent. The only way around this is savage workrate around the middle to prevent that delivery - only then will the opposition change that tactic, although Monaghan's tactics weren't working for the first 15 mins but they persisted with it and it paid off. However, they needed the big man in there to do that, and most teams now have natural FF of such a stature. If we can limit the delivery from MF and have our top FB line in place (Ricey, Joe, Carlin) we'll do OK. I'm not sure what happened around the middle yesterday but Monaghan do look strong there anyway. Another reason for teams to play this system of the long ball is that it prevents too many players going forward, leaving space for Tyrone's possession and support play to thrive. Derry suffocated Tyrone last year. It was good to see Tyrone vary their attacking options yesterday with Mulligan winning a few frees from the diagonal ball.

[tintin25]

Was a decent game alright. Have to say that Mulgrew isn't quite up to the standard abeit he is still relatively young and don't think they'll ever find anyone to fully replace McGuigan. I'd be worried bout guys like McCullagh against bigger teams with better defenses too. Cavanagh's class shone through when Tyrone needed abit of spark.