Tyrone v Kerry All Ireland Final 2008

[healypark]

Add to best wishes already for both teams for tomorrow. Here's to sam & tom on display in omagh town come Monday night!!

Tir Eoghain Abu

[tyssam5]

Based on the line-outs in the Irish Times, our small, skilful Tyrone team will have its work cut out against the tall, weight-lifters from Kerry. Coming in at an average of just under 6 foot, Tyrone lose an inch and 3rd to Kerry. At 13 stone, we are half a stone a man lighter than the Kingdom. Can we overcome these physical shortcoming with our superior skill and team work, like 03 and 05?

[thebuzz]

Paddy Heaney put me in bad form. He tips Kerry. Then I archived the 2005 prediction: opening

Tyrone's bid to usurp the Kingdom is too big a step
All-IRELAND SFC FINAL
By Paddy Heaney
24/09/05

Bank of Ireland

All-Ireland Senior

Football Championship final:

Kerry v Tyrone

(Croke Park, tomorrow, 3.30pm, live on RTE2)

KERRY have won the All-Ireland football title on 33 occasions. Tyrone have won it once. Given the huge disparity, the greater will to win should lie with the Ulster side, but not this time.

Yahooooooooo

Thought that was a good omen myself. Heaney gets it wrong on lots of occasions. Come on Tyrone. The wife keeps telling me about all these Derry kids dressed up in Kerry colours but I've never heard of so much Derry support for Tyrone.

[Norf Tyrone]

Anyone hear of a bereavement in the Tyrone camp?

[Bensars]

Nah. A relative of a player ?

[Norf Tyrone]

Sent u a PM there Bensars.

[Bensars]

Hope its only a rumour .

[Kerry Mike]

Dúchas

You say tradition counts for naught when two teams take the field,
I fear you are mistaken, lad, but the years will make you yield,
And when your hair's as grey as mine, and time has made you old,
Then you'll invoke the truth I spoke of the Kingdom's green and gold.

You cannot box or bottle it, nor grasp it in your hand,
But pride of race and love of place inspire a love of land
Time honoured is our birthright, we'll never break the mould,
It's deep within the soul of us, who wear the green and gold.

Grey lakes and mountains soaring high, Mount Brandon's holy hill,
The little church at Gallerus, our language living still,
The Skellig Rock, stout football stock, they can't be bought or sold,
For our county's fame, we play the game in the Kingdom's green and gold.

And when the battle's fiercest and the fortunes ebb and flow,
We're still alive, we can survive, we never will let go,
For the spirit of our fathers and of stories yet untold,
Will lead us on to victory, in the Kingdom's green and gold.

We savour Kerry victories, we salute a gallant foe
And when we lose, there's no excuse, we pick up our bags and go,
So raise your glass each lad and lass to our warriors brave and bold,
Who again aspire to the Sam Maguire in the Kingdom's green and gold.


C'mon the Kingdom , the time for talking is over.

Good luck to all and safe travelling, am away into town for a skelp of beer.  The excitement is savage. 

[ONeill]

Just hearing your fears were true NT. 

[stew]

This Armagh man can't bring himself to wish Tyrone anything but the biggest hiding they have ever had in championship football.  I have no love for kerry either but having played against Tyronies when I was at school etc, there is no way I want to see them win anything, not even the McKenna Cup.

For jasus sake would you catch a grip of yourself & give them a bit of support, isn't it the unique thing in Ulster that when a team from the Province reaches an All-Ireland Final that the whole province is rooting for them.
Wishing both Tyrone teams success in Sunday's final's.

I don't buy into this Ulster 'all for one, one for all' shite. What relevance will a Tyrone win, or defeat for that matter, have to the average supporter in Donegal, Cavan or Down. This is an archaic attitude that stems from the pre-qualifier days when each province only had one representative in the All Ireland series. The championship is more open now and the provincial backgrounds of counties are less important, so as an Armagh supporter I see Tyrone or Kerry as equal and direct rivals to my own county on the All Ireland scene, regardless of their geographic location. I feel no impulse to view these teams through rosy provincial goggles.

Arent you the enlightened one.

I have more in common with tyronies,  Munster teams have won far more AI's than any other province. My brother in Law is from the Brantry and lives and breathes Tyrone football. There has always bene a provincial connotation in football and it may be archaic to you however I would rather see my neighbours delirious with excitement after winning the AI than I would Kerry people, shure have they not won it enough?

I am happy to wear the provincial goggles and I am proud to see any Ulster team play on AI Sunday. Come on Tyrone and feck the begrudgers.

[ziggysego]

I haven't heard the rumour going around. Can someone IM me please?

[muppet]

I haven't heard the rumour going around. Can someone IM me please?

Story???

[CoDeo2]

Terrible news!! RIP!

[Norf Tyrone]

Tyrone goalkeeper John Devine has suffered a bereavement on the eve of Sunday's All-Ireland Football final after his father died on Saturday.

The expectation now is that the mourning keeper will miss the decider against Kerry with Pascal McConnell taking over in goals.

Third-choice keeper Johnny Curran is in line to move to the Tyrone bench.

Devine had already arrived at the team hotel in Dublin with the squad when he was informed of his father's death.


The build-up to the game has been dominated by speculation over whether Stephen O'Neill will start for Tyrone but all the machinations over team selection will be put into perspective by Saturday's sad news.

The Tyrone squad has had to deal with more than its fair share of tragedy over the years, notably Cormac McAnallen's sudden death in March 2004.

Sunday's game will go ahead but there is expected to a minute silence to honour Mr Devine's memory prior to the throw-in.

On Thursday, Mickey Harte said that Stephen O'Neill would available for selection for Sunday's All-Ireland final despite not being included in Tyrone's 30-man panel.

O'Neill's name was surprisingly absent from the official team list released by the Red Hands on Thursday afternoon.

"Only 30 names could be submitted for the match programme but Stephen will be available and is very much part of the squad for Sunday," Harte told the BBC.



Tyrone hoping for a repeat of 2005
"He is a quality player and will be in action in the not too distant future."

"Stephen will be part of the team list on Sunday, his fitness levels are very high and Tyrone fans will see him in action very soon," added Harte, in a clear indication that the forward would play some part in the decider against Kerry at Croke Park.

Harte would not be drawn on whether O'Neill would start in Sunday's final.

O'Neill made a dramatic return to the panel a fortnight ago after holding discussions with manager Mickey Harte.

The only change from the win over Wexford is Brian McGuigan's inclusion in place of Martin Penrose.

After being a late call-up, Penrose was hugely impressive in the win over Wexford but he has to be content with a place in the subs with McGuigan return to the starting line-up.

There has been continuing speculation over McGuigan's fitness in recent days but he was named at centre half-forward in the selection released on Thursday afternoon.

There are also believed to be question marks over the fitness of Dermot Carlin, who has been named in the subs.

O'Neill was reported to be "flying" in training and his apparent omission was a huge shock.

The defence has a number of positional switches but the same six backs that started against Wexford have been selected.

606: DEBATE
Give your thoughts on Stephen O'Neill apparent omission

The named 15 has Ryan McMenamin switching from centre half-back to corner-back with Conor Gormley named at number six.

Kerry named their team on Thursday's evening with full-forward Kieran Donaghy fit and in the starting line-up.

Donaghy missed training for around two weeks after the semi-final win over Cork because of a knee problem.

However, he is said to have trained without any ill-effects at the weekend.

Kerry's only major selection issue saw Eoin Brosnan edge out Paul Galvin for a place in the attack.

Kingdom skipper Galvin was available again after serving a three-man ban imposed after he knocked a notebook out of referee Paddy Russell's hands in the Munster SFC game against Clare on 15 June.

However, Brosnan is included in the half-forward line with Declan O'Sullivan and Bryan Sheehan.

Padraig Reidy saw off the challenge of Tommy Griffin to take the full-back berth.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tyrone: J Devine, R McMenamin, Justin McMahon, C Gourley, D Harte, C Gormley, P Jordan, C Holmes, E McGinley, B Dooher, B McGuigan, Joe McMahon, T McGuigan, S Cavanagh, C McCullagh. Subs: P McConnell, D Carlin, C Cavanagh, P Donnelly, N Gormley, K Hughes, C McCarron, D McCaul, M McGee, R Mellon, R Mulgrew, O Mulligan, Shaun O'Neill, M Penrose, PJ Quinn.

Kerry: D Murphy, M O Se, T O'Sullivan, P Reidy, T O Se, A O'Mahony, K Young, D O Se, S Scanlon, B Sheehan, D O'Sullivan, E Brosnan, C Cooper, K Donaghy, T Walsh.
Subs: K Cremin, T Griffin, S O'Sullivan, D O'Sullivan, M Quirke, D Walsh, D Bohan, M F Russell, R O Flatharta, P O'Connor, K O'Leary, D Moran, P Galvin, A Maher, P Corridan, M Moloney, K Quirke, A O'Shea.

[ONeill]

The build-up to the game has been dominated by speculation over whether Stephen O'Neill will start for Tyrone but all the machinations over team selection will be put into perspective by Saturday's sad news.

Sums it up well.