Messages

A potential forward line for next year doesn't look too bad, assuming Sean isn't around or could be used as an impact sub...
10. Richie Donnelly
11 Niall Sludden
12. Conor Meyler
13. Lee Brennan
14. Cathal McShane
15. Mark Bradley (I think he could do more damage inside and is more accurate than he has shown so far)

Benny - Mattie Donnelly has to be full forward. He can score 2-3 a match from midfield. I'd expect 3-4 of him from full forward plus he's very creative. Think of the pass to put Skeet in plus the pass to Ronan O'neill in the league final. Richie could replace him in midfield

With the Holyhead - Dublin ferry I've found that Irish Ferries are more likely to go in the rougher weather. In a bad sea the fast Irish Ferries ferry is a nightmare. The most comfortable is the Stena Superfast X - it's 3.5 hours but has kids entertainment and a big family area which is seperated from the main areas. Useful if you're travelling with kids or not

What's the date? Im booking a hotel room for it now!

Check with Tony Fearon. He mightn't have got rid of his room yet

Mickey Harte's take on it

https://vimeo.com/157031439

3:33 if you want to cut to the chase! Mickey hits the nail on the head!

Yeah, i agree with Mickey there.
I certainly dont think this rule change will have the effect that is intended.
To not properly trial it was crazy.

Nail on the head from MH. An utter pile of shite.

And the dreary steeples people reject change........

No - trial it and then make a decision based on the trial instead of guessing that this will improve high catching

Tyrone won 1-13 to 9 points

[England since 1989]

Where did you go?England since 1989

Why did you go?Had been at QUB for 5 years and wanted to get out of Belfast - applied UK and Ireland and took the first job offered

What profession are you involved in?IT - analyst programmer

What is your standard of living?comfortable

What do you miss about home the most?Not having to repeat myself twice - ease of conversation and the shorthand we have with each other when you're brought up in the same culture

What do you love about being away?I've made good friends and have enjoyed myself - lived in London and Manchester so have enjoyed the opportunities that big cities give you.

Anything else you'd like to add?Was transferred to Dundalk 2000-2003 but work brought me back to England. The time in Dundalk crystallised what I missed when I went back to England. We're moving back this summer probably to Kildare where my wife has family.

my wife (who is from Limerick) pronounces Tyrone as Tie Rone. I corrected her for the first 10 years but have now given up. 

my grandparents generation pronouced Omagh as Omey but I haven't heard that used for a while

[Had an 8 week ban been handed out then to Shields]

Couldn't be bothered to read the whole thread but this 8 week ban is probably very harsh considering, as other people have pointed out, that there was no action against Michael Shields in the Munster Final.

HOWEVER, I think most GAA supporters would agree that this diving/ simulation/ trying to get people sent off is a blight on the game.
A strong message needs sent out to try and eradicate it so its probably something that needs to happen.

It is unfortunate for Tyrone that its their man that has been highlighted.
It was highlighted about Michael Shields weeks ago but no action was taken.
Had an 8 week ban been handed out then to Shields, McCann may not have considered diving for fear of retribution and this hoohaa surrounding it wouldn't be taking place.

Some county was going to suffer the consequences of this eventually as the GAA weren't going to let this happen indefinitely.
Tyrone are the unfortunate ones.

But why should Shields have got an 8 week ban for a yellow card offence?

Fair point.
Should it be more than a yellow card offence for there to be an effective way of removing these actions from our game?

But Cavanaugh took a dive when he got a tip in the belly from McManus. Is that worthy of a ban too? There was more contact than McCann got, but no less of a dive. Where does the line get drawn?
But to be honest, that's all irrelevant. It does not matter what any individual thinks should be the punishment, all that matters is that the rulebook states that feigning injury is a yellow card offence.

I've no problem with McCann being embarrassed, and every single diver / injury feigner on their team having their manliness being called into question - but banning any of them for it is just ridiculous!

This case really winds me up - Cavanaugh is well to the side from where McManus is running - Mc Manus moves towards him with his elbow jutting out and bangs into him. Cavanaugh falls down. He didn't instigate the incident and somehow it's his fault for falling down. If McManus had breezed past him, never touching him and Cavanaugh had fallen down then yes accuse him of cheating but this is ridiculous.

Cavanagh feigned injury (cheating)at least twice in the match resulting in no football being played (you know, the reason everyone tunes in) for about 4/5 mins...you're trying to defend the indefensible, the man is a serial offender

Could you stick up some video of this. I was at the game so did not have the advantage of TV coverage so would be interested to see it..

The best I can get is this - about 1.30 in
http://www.rte.ie/sport/player/#!/clip/734/

[Had an 8 week ban been handed out then to Shields]

Couldn't be bothered to read the whole thread but this 8 week ban is probably very harsh considering, as other people have pointed out, that there was no action against Michael Shields in the Munster Final.

HOWEVER, I think most GAA supporters would agree that this diving/ simulation/ trying to get people sent off is a blight on the game.
A strong message needs sent out to try and eradicate it so its probably something that needs to happen.

It is unfortunate for Tyrone that its their man that has been highlighted.
It was highlighted about Michael Shields weeks ago but no action was taken.
Had an 8 week ban been handed out then to Shields, McCann may not have considered diving for fear of retribution and this hoohaa surrounding it wouldn't be taking place.

Some county was going to suffer the consequences of this eventually as the GAA weren't going to let this happen indefinitely.
Tyrone are the unfortunate ones.

But why should Shields have got an 8 week ban for a yellow card offence?

Fair point.
Should it be more than a yellow card offence for there to be an effective way of removing these actions from our game?

But Cavanaugh took a dive when he got a tip in the belly from McManus. Is that worthy of a ban too? There was more contact than McCann got, but no less of a dive. Where does the line get drawn?
But to be honest, that's all irrelevant. It does not matter what any individual thinks should be the punishment, all that matters is that the rulebook states that feigning injury is a yellow card offence.

I've no problem with McCann being embarrassed, and every single diver / injury feigner on their team having their manliness being called into question - but banning any of them for it is just ridiculous!

This case really winds me up - Cavanaugh is well to the side from where McManus is running - Mc Manus moves towards him with his elbow jutting out and bangs into him. Cavanaugh falls down. He didn't instigate the incident and somehow it's his fault for falling down. If McManus had breezed past him, never touching him and Cavanaugh had fallen down then yes accuse him of cheating but this is ridiculous.

Cavanagh feigned injury (cheating)at least twice in the match resulting in no football being played (you know, the reason everyone tunes in) for about 4/5 mins...you're trying to defend the indefensible, the man is a serial offender

In this case who caused the problem was it Cavanaugh or McManus?

[Had an 8 week ban been handed out then to Shields]

Couldn't be bothered to read the whole thread but this 8 week ban is probably very harsh considering, as other people have pointed out, that there was no action against Michael Shields in the Munster Final.

HOWEVER, I think most GAA supporters would agree that this diving/ simulation/ trying to get people sent off is a blight on the game.
A strong message needs sent out to try and eradicate it so its probably something that needs to happen.

It is unfortunate for Tyrone that its their man that has been highlighted.
It was highlighted about Michael Shields weeks ago but no action was taken.
Had an 8 week ban been handed out then to Shields, McCann may not have considered diving for fear of retribution and this hoohaa surrounding it wouldn't be taking place.

Some county was going to suffer the consequences of this eventually as the GAA weren't going to let this happen indefinitely.
Tyrone are the unfortunate ones.

But why should Shields have got an 8 week ban for a yellow card offence?

Fair point.
Should it be more than a yellow card offence for there to be an effective way of removing these actions from our game?

But Cavanaugh took a dive when he got a tip in the belly from McManus. Is that worthy of a ban too? There was more contact than McCann got, but no less of a dive. Where does the line get drawn?
But to be honest, that's all irrelevant. It does not matter what any individual thinks should be the punishment, all that matters is that the rulebook states that feigning injury is a yellow card offence.

I've no problem with McCann being embarrassed, and every single diver / injury feigner on their team having their manliness being called into question - but banning any of them for it is just ridiculous!

This case really winds me up - Cavanaugh is well to the side from where McManus is running - Mc Manus moves towards him with his elbow jutting out and bangs into him. Cavanaugh falls down. He didn't instigate the incident and somehow it's his fault for falling down. If McManus had breezed past him, never touching him and Cavanaugh had fallen down then yes accuse him of cheating but this is ridiculous.

TCM - I'm supportive of your point -  You can refer back to a post I made after the Tyrone Donegal league game regarding a tactic that Tyrone should adopt.  If they have a skilful, tall, strong full forward it could reap rewards especially against the blanket defence situation.  A swift counter attack coming down the wings and launching a high diagional ball into the scoring zone would test any full back,  but in particular Donegals Full Back Line.  The problem being Tyrone needs Sean Cavanagh and Mattie doing the hard work in the middle third. Catch 22.  As I say, we lack 1 spearhead forward.  Daniel McNulty might be the makings of one.  Maybe if Conor Clarke, Joe McMahon, Cathal McShane gets some more game time it could free up Sean C or Mattie D to take up a new role.  Would also like to see Richard Donnelly get some game time in the qualifiers.  Pity that fella Kyle Coney didnt stick with it,  he might have been able to present another option.  He seemed to pull the plug very early in the year when in actual fact he was on the starting team.

All we can hope is that Micky has a Damascene conversion on the road to Garvaghy and sees the light.

I thought there was a bit more variety and tactical than we had seen recently.
The long ball from which Colm hit the cross bar had been tried earlier with a ball dropped in on McNulty. A bit like the move for McCurrys goal it looked like something which had been worked on in training but was to be used sparingly.

Granted 2 occasions (and to be truthful they are the only 2 that I can remember) - the long ball to Colm was at the end of the game when a goal was required and we'd spent the second half running into brick walls. If we'd hit a target man round the square a bit more often we might have created a few more score chances. Remember we didn't score for the last 23 minutes of the game.

As an aside it just shows how conditioned you get to watching a style of play. When I watched the U-21s playing in the semis and final I was shocked seeing  long ball being hit into Dan McNulty so often. I'd got so used to watching the perceived safety of constant hand passing of the ball that I couldn't believe that we were taking a risk by hitting it long

I agree with you Sunny Day re Cathal and Ruairi Brennan - they will have learnt so much from the game against Donegal and hopefully more of the U-21s will get blooded over the summer. My main gripe is with the tactics. There is no variation in our play. For 10 minutes in the second half it might just have been worth having Sean and Mattie in full forward and launching it on top of them. The one thing it might have done is forced the Donegal defence further back so you might have had more room to run at them. As Jimmy McGuinness said they knew that Tyrone were going to run at them all day. The running game will work against the lesser counties but it has been proved over the last 5 years that it doesn't against top 8 counties. We haven't taken a major scalp in 5 years.

[But they lacked a point of reference at the top of their attack. I thought that could have been another string to their bow.]

Jimmy McGuinness's analyse of the game


http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/jim-mcguinness-column-mature-donegal-display-could-herald-a-new-era-1.2217272


The most pertinent part for me is :

Tyrone are so well coached and are patient and their running game worked. Peter Harte and Mattie Donnelly were terrific. They played with a lot of width and retained possession well. But they lacked a point of reference at the top of their attack. I thought that could have been another string to their bow.

The Donegal defenders knew that they were facing a running game all the time and prepared for that.

We've been running into a brick wall for 5 years now - if the man won't change then it's time to change the man.

Ye know fcuk all about football.

Maybe but Tyrone are only a reasonable outfit at present. You need another 5/6 players like Peter Harte realistically before you'll worry the top 3 in Croke Park. You're never going to win anything with Darren Mc Curry playing at midfield.

You just don't score enough and I didn't see any obvious plan how to go about it. Donegal had a plan to get shooters between the two banks of Tyrone defenders by getting runners from deep traversing across the pitch and hitting the space between the two banks at precisely the right time. As much as I despise Rory Gallagher , the guy can coach and he had his homework done.

That finish for the goal yesterday by Mc Curry was absolutely sublime - it's a terrible shame to see him wasted around the middle. You played to keep the score down and you lost. Fortune favours the brave most of the time.

As a Tyrone man I've got to admit that Indiana is right when it comes to our game plan - The only time we hit some long ball in was in the last 2-3 minutes when we were looking for a goal. Mickey will not play a target man so we keep running the ball into the masses of the Donegal defence. We've been doing this for 5 years and it still isn't working. The only  change in tactic was to stick to murphy like a limpet. At least with the U-21s there was some variety to their play. We created some panic when the high ball went into the square. I can't figure out what's so wrong with doing that 10-15 times a game. It's ten times better that coughing up the ball 50 yards out. I'm loathe to say it but if the man won't change then it's time to change the man.