An Lú vs Tír Eoghain 19/07/2008

[orangeman]

I'm reliably informed that after Saturday's match there was the mother of all rallying calls from Harte and a senior member of the panel. Braveheart was mentioned. I also believe training has been stepped up including the Sabbath.

The dying kick starts now. Where will it take us?

Nowhere !

[orangeman]

In my opinion Harte made made a fcuk upo when picking hisa panel this year, and I think he needs to look at who are the current form players in Tyrone.
Harte will probably want to stay on but hes walking no road until he acknowledges his errors
1) Mulligan /  Hughes - thanks and goodbye
2) Analyse the capabilites and potential of the Peter Donnellys, C Gourleys, R Mellons, R Mc Menamins, D Hartes on the paneland ask,  Are they still county standard and better than many club players out there - Surely these guys are now panellists at best.  
3) HArte placed his conviction since 2006 on Raymie Mulgrew and has been proven wrong to the greater extent
4) Mc Cullough had a match saving ball to win and he wouldnt bend for it at the end of extra time.  Bravery should be a prequisite.  
5)  Is Harte picking 2 many small men, old men, yellow men, average men,.
6) He used Gourley in midfield in the championship niot in the league
7) His bizarre on off relationship with Mc Caul - 2 shampionship games - no league football
His bizarre restrictions on Sean Cavanangh
9) The body language of Tyrones gretest ever defender Conor Gormley
10) His continual reference to injuries over the last 3 years in the media qualified by "Ill not use that as an excuse."  In the Independent recently  they talked about Paul Quinn / Aidan Mc Carron / Brian Dooher / and Brian Mc Guigans injuries.  Excuse me but the first two were not Tyrone regulars.  When would you hear about injured Kerry players who had played less than an hour for their counties in the national media.  
11) It was Mickeys risk to take but he pinned Tyrone fortunes this year on Dooher and Mc Guigan coming back to full fitness - this was a high risk strategy and it failled, as much in the fact that it failed to deal with and was never going to deal with many of the other problesm that were obvious.  
12) The loss of talent like Steven O neill, Aidan Mc Carron, Niall mc ginn, Shane Sweeney. Declan Mc Crossan - Could they have been managed better, Can they be got back - thats a huge grey area.  
13) The qualifiers could be his last hurrah for the good of Mickey as a person and for Tyrone football which is more important than any one individual. Theres a nuimber of questions he probably needs to address if he is to achieve in the longer teram again..
Tir Eoghain abu  
 

Great post FOF - But as for Tyrone's GREATEST EVER DEFENDER ? That's quite a boast ! He is a great defender no doubt, but Tyrone's greatest ? That would make a great debate and should be the subject of a separate thread.

[snappiered]

OM try and be optomistic not pessemistic. Can you tell us much about Brians rib injury? He be out for long?

[Uladh]

I can leave you lads to wake your own in peace if you like but one point i'd make given that i keep seeing his name pop up for praise - i thought Joe McMahon pushed hub hard for worst player on the pitch sat night

[passedit]

I can leave you lads to wake your own in peace if you like but one point i'd make given that i keep seeing his name pop up for praise - i thought Joe McMahon pushed hub hard for worst player on the pitch sat night

In fairness to Hub he wasn't around long enough to do much damage.

[orangeman]

OM try and be optomistic not pessemistic. Can you tell us much about Brians rib injury? He be out for long?

I really don't know anything about it.  I hope he isn't out too long.

I think you have to look at it like this :

In 2003 and 2005 Tyrone had the best, fittest, hungriest, most committed, most talented squad players who ( with a bit of luck along the way on both occasions ) performed at the highest level in order to achieve what they did, i.e. 2 All Irelands -

In 2008 Tyrone are not the best, nor are they the fittest, - they inevitably with the passage of time have not the same hunger or same level of commitment to the cause and very definitely have been cursed by bad luck since 2003 and even before that.


So it's no shame for them - they have achieved - we'd all like to achieve more, but it simply isn't going to happen - you can't flog a dead horse !

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

In 2003 and 2005 Tyrone had the best, fittest, hungriest, most committed, most talented squad players who ( with a bit of luck along the way on both occasions ) performed at the highest level in order to achieve what they did, i.e. 2 All Irelands -

There'd have been several games towards the business end of the season in both those years where you'd have been hard pressed to say that we had the "...best, fittest, hungriest, most committed, most talented squad" of players. Think Derry '03, Wexford & Cavan '05.

[omagh_gael]

can anyone tell me what format the qualifiers will take this year? is it now an open draw between all the losing provincial quarter finalists (bar division 4 teams), or will, for example, the losers from the semi final also be in 1st round draw, saying that ulster semi finals will be over by the time the 1st round of qualifiers will be played?

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

From the GAA's website, og:

Round One - 19.07.08 (Sat)

Sixteen Teams to be drawn to play eight games in a completely open Draw. First team drawn to play at home, subject to home venue having satisfied the National Infrastructure and Safety Committee criteria.

Round Two - 26.07.08 (Sat)

Eight Teams drawn from the eight First Round winners
As Round 1 above.

Round Three - 02/03/04.08.08 (Sat, Sun, Mon)

The four Winners from Round Two drawn against the Four Provincial Final
Losers. Venues to be determined by the Central Competitions Control Committee.

Quarter-Finals - 09-10.08.08 (Sat/Sun)

The four Provincial Champions draw against the four Round Three Winners. Venues to be determined by the Central Competitions Control Committee.

[Aaron Boone]

From the GAA's website, og:

Round One - 19.07.08 (Sat)

Sixteen Teams to be drawn to play eight games in a completely open Draw. First team drawn to play at home, subject to home venue having satisfied the National Infrastructure and Safety Committee criteria.

Louth? Can't think of any other county with a poor home ground.

[Tyrone Dreamer]

I'm not saying it will benefit us but any team entering the quarters having won 3 qualifiers 3 weeks in a row are bound to be confident. If we can get through the first couple of qualifiers I think we'll be hard enough to beat. A home draw against Tipperary would be a nice first round draw followed by the winners of Roscommon and Limerick in round 2 again at home.

Did Harte give the players the week off or were they back at it tonight? Would be interesting to know if everyone turns up. This could be Dooher's last year and considering the unbelievable effort he has given the past 11 years he deserves to be repaid by a big effort from the rest of the players for the qualifiers.

[Tyrone Dreamer]

As I said before I wish peope would stop moaning about Harte at this point. We got beat on Saturday night after a terrific game by one point. We were missing 4 potential starting forwards - McGinley,McGuigan,Mulgrew and Mulligan. We also lost another forward Colm Cavanagh to injury. When you add this to losing Canavan and O'Neill you cant be too critical of the manager.

Although I think Harte got some things wrong the other night Im not convinced any other manager would have done any better. Brian McIvor has been mentioned but his Donegal team has blown it this past 3 years (and his 1 league title at county level hardly compares to Hartes All Ireland Minor, 2 u21 All Irelands, 2 ulster senior and 2 all ireland senior) and after watching his antics against his home county this past 2 years (including shouting at our free takers in Edendork to put them off)  I dont think he should get the job. The U21 dream management team last year (with Tally as trainer) was unable to do anything with a very strong Tyrone team who got beat by an average Armagh outfit.

If we go nowhere in the qualifiers then people can start to discuss a change in management but it will do no good at this point. You's will have plenty of time to complain when the season is over.

[Lamh Dhearg Alba]

This could be Dooher's last year and considering the unbelievable effort he has given the past 11 years he deserves to be repaid by a big effort from the rest of the players for the qualifiers.

Similarly Brian McGuigan made a supreme effort to get back to inter-county football and he deserves more than being dumped out of the championship at the start of July.

Must say I find it bizarre somebody could call for Mugsy to quit. He was really coming back onto form in the league before injury and is still a young enough lad, a fit Mulligan has a lot to offer. Similarly Mulgrew often gets a hard time when its not deserved. He has suffered due to being hyped up (and coming into a struggling team and being expected to save them) but he has had some excellent games for Tyrone and will get better. Other lads like Ricey and Harte are good players who still have plenty to offer and even the likes of Mellon and Gourley are good panelists.

If the panel rallies around now and we finally get a bit of luck with injuries then Tyrone could still have a decent summer (without winning Sam). More likely though that half the team will go down with more injuries and we'll get Meath in the first round .

[Tyrone Dreamer]

I agree about Mulligan. He was very good down in Galway and was playing well against Laios. He looked sharper than he had done in a long time and seemed to have his confidence back. Just typical of Tyrone's luck that he picked up an injury that has already kept him out for 3 months and still doesnt appear to have gone away.

[ziggysego]

Round Two - 26.07.08 (Sat)

Eight Teams drawn from the eight First Round winners
As Round 1 above.

If Tyrone make it through to Round Two, that's the first round of the County Championship out the window.