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[Was wondering were you were]

I really hate how slow the management is to accept they need to make changes. Happened all the time this year. Was clear at 1/2 time yesterday that Hampsey needed to be moved off Clifford and McCurry needed to be subbed. They however did the same as they did against Armagh. Waited for 10-15mins into the half after which Tyrone were facing a substantial deficit.

It would have been so easy to move Teague who held O'Shea to next to nothing onto Clifford. It was what, Hampseys 3rd start of the year? They took the risk of starting him on Clifford that's fair enough, but at half time they surely had to realise their choice was wrong. They even had Aidan Clarke on the bench to come on mark Ose if Teague was moved on to him.

Likewise McElholms best impact has been off the bench, all year they've tried to play 3 small forwards and all year it's been a disaster. Whether McCurry, Dara and Ruari v Armagh or McCurry, Dara and sparky against Mayo it hasn't worked and hamstrung our attack. What ends up happening is because of the 3v3 rule and because Matty Donnelly usually stays up then one of the 3 has to play as a CHF. McElholm and McCurry chasing shadows around their own defence and offering nothing on breaks or kick outs really holds Tyrone back. Or Dara who's the only one of them who is a tenacious tackler but wasting all his energy chasing defenders.

McElholms best performances have been off the bench as the game opens up and his pace can cause problems. There was a better kickout strategy at least yesterday but so much of the rest of the setup didn't make sense.

Was wondering were you were... waiting for Tyrone to lose to give management a slating. 

I'm living rent free in your head.

Just when Tyrone play knowing you're waiting at the buttons in hope of defeat and an opportunity to slate MO'R... and true to form 

Is that really slating management!
MOR seems a big improvement on the last 3 years but the above is just a couple of observations / comments.
Management did seem a little slow in responding to a few situations that required fire fighting - MOR even mentioned that they had left Hampsey hung out to dry a little. Seems fair in a discussion forum to ask how they could have responded - better, sooner, etc. - genuine question - be good to have a few insights how they could have responded.
Same with Mc Elholm - as good as he has been it's his first year in senior with a lot of S&C still required ahead of him - was it a good idea to start him - again a genuine question!
Appreciate Tyrone are short of a few players in some positions and also suffering with injuries but some of the questions are still worth raising.
MOR said that Kerry were better at penetrating Tyrone's defence but Tyrone struggled to penetrate Kerry - be good to have a better understanding of how and why that happens.
Haven't seen any stats for the game overall - be good if they were more readily available.

I thought McElholm should have been held in reserve.
First year in Senior and it has been fairly patchy.
A lot of Tyrone errors - unforced turnovers throughout the game.
Decision making and delayed passes and subsequent movement poor.
A game going well handed back to Kerry who didn't have to dig too deep!
Still not sure how good Kerry are - still feels like they haven't been tested yet.

New threads for each of the semi-finals probably a bigger reason!

Strange games yesterday - equally good and bad at the same time.
Monaghan did so well in the first half - but should have expected the response and been better prepared to manage the game in the second half - started panicking and feeling the need for two-pointers - kicked the game away. They'll have long regrets over this game. Donegal can probably breathe a sigh of relief that when they stepped up Monaghan stepped aside - a tougher game may have made that 6 day turn around a bit more relevant in the final quarter.
Tyrone v Dublin was the strangest game I've seen in Croke Park at this level - both teams carrying into tackles and passing into tackles constantly. It's odd that a bit of rain and slick conditions would have such an impact on a pitch such as Croke Park. Goldrick's refereeing probably left everyone equally perplexed - but at least he was erratic against both teams!
Donegal will be hard to beat if they can put two halves together.
Tyrone got away with one - and if they can sort out basic mistakes will probably match any semi-final opponent.

Very unlucky not to be PotY in 2021 - not to take anything away from McGeary.
And very unlucky with such bad injuries for two years now, especially when he takes such care of himself and the effort he puts in. He has mentioned before about overdoing it with training, etc. and I wonder was that a factor again?
Great that he speaks out on all those things - we complain when footballers don't say anything!
Everyone built different ways - he takes it all very seriously as an athlete - maybe doesn't find it so easy to enjoy the craic like some others.

That last attack was so frustrating by Donegal. 2 points down with 60 secs on the clock and passing, passing, passing, passing.

In all the games this weekend that long ball into the square caused severe difficulties for defences and yielded goals or goal chances. I couldnt understand why they just didn't lump it in?

The long ball in can causes problems because it's random - and a lot of ball in is harmless.
If its done more regularly teams can adjust very easily and I think defenders always have an advantage - in numbers, goalkeeper and direction of play!
Possibly more effective it is kept for suitable opportunities and mixed up with the running?

True, but I'm talking about those last 2 minutes. In both the Laois/Down and Kerry/Armagh game in similar circumstances at the end of the game, that long ball very nearly yielded a goal. What had Donegal got to lose at that stage?

Yes - a frustrating one for Donegal - slow - and when they did put it in all the players were on left hand side of square and the ball went harmlessly wide on the right hand side. Difficult time in the game though - any player is going to be really fatigued at that stage and under severe pressure with decision making and execution. And hard to create anything like that environment in training!

That last attack was so frustrating by Donegal. 2 points down with 60 secs on the clock and passing, passing, passing, passing.

In all the games this weekend that long ball into the square caused severe difficulties for defences and yielded goals or goal chances. I couldnt understand why they just didn't lump it in?

The long ball in can causes problems because it's random - and a lot of ball in is harmless.
If its done more regularly teams can adjust very easily and I think defenders always have an advantage - in numbers, goalkeeper and direction of play!
Possibly more effective it is kept for suitable opportunities and mixed up with the running?

I think it needs to be done a lot quicker than 2 mins to go, 2 pts down and horse it in. No good.

Needs to be done a lot earlier in the play before teams get set up.

Plus as a drop kick for a better trajectory on the ball for a forward.

Comer was waiting for a few to come in to him yesterday early in the phases but they never kicked it unfortunately. 

It was hard to see with the camera angles - commentary suggested an early ball in was on a few times - but in fairness to Donegal they scrambled vert effectively and put a lot of pressure on to stop that early kick inside and turn a player back - frustrating for Comer and others - but difficult to see the wider picture for those opportunities.

That last attack was so frustrating by Donegal. 2 points down with 60 secs on the clock and passing, passing, passing, passing.

In all the games this weekend that long ball into the square caused severe difficulties for defences and yielded goals or goal chances. I couldnt understand why they just didn't lump it in?

The long ball in can causes problems because it's random - and a lot of ball in is harmless.
If its done more regularly teams can adjust very easily and I think defenders always have an advantage - in numbers, goalkeeper and direction of play!
Possibly more effective it is kept for suitable opportunities and mixed up with the running?

Donegal had to put on a scramble defence quite a few times in the first half.
That takes its toll over 70 minutes regardless of fitness levels.
Galway were probably slightly better/ wiser with their defence tactics.
Donegal had to score some fantastic points from distance but it's hard to sustain that for 70 minutes.
When you are suffering with fatigue and the hits late on in the game those points get harder and harder.
Donegal did something similar to Dublin in 2012 - Dublin kicked some fantastic points but couldn't sustain it either.

The most alarming thing yesterday was after 11 minutes, Roscommon had a turnover and Aaron Kernan made a point of saying how many Tyrone defenders were jogging or in no panic at all to get back and defend.

For what it's worth I thought McElholm done well when he came on. O'Hare should have also been given longer rather than come on after 64 minutes.

That, and with 11 minutes left and a 1-point game Tyrone couldn't find another score in a knockout game.
Management could point to number of wides and missed opportunities over the course of the game - but when a team is less than rather than more than the sum of its parts it says something amiss - whether that's management or elsewhere.
I think the management have often been slow to react on the sideline to what is happening on the pitch - Tyrone didn't need to wait and go in 6 points down at half time before seeing a reaction.
That said, what was the expectation for Tyrone this year - particularly with a few injuries to key players?

I though Roscommon's earlier goal chance was possibly a foot block by the keeper.
Referee too far away.
Second goal chance for Roscommon I don't see as a foot block - the ball seemed to be kicked at his foot but he was a reasonable distance away.
Actual penalty was on the soft side but there was a foul - but lots like it not given.
Mayo penalty was a foul but player had already overcarried - ref in decent position and should have seen it.
But then overcarrying is rarely penalised - it would be a different game if players could only take 4 steps!

I think we'll beat Donegal when the ref isn't a Donegal man.

Wha..?

Pay no heed. Donegal deserved winners today. That second half performance was Dublin-esque. Congratulations.

Ref made some strange calls for/against both teams - possibly slightly more fortunate for Donegal - but not the reason for the result. Tyrone were not particularly poor but Donegal were very good. I thought they looked fairly average with everyone else in the UC but they raised it a level for this game.

Very poor from Derry, sending off aside. So flat.
First half us where the game was lost, too many dropped short.

Too many of derrys star players were nowhere to be seen, glass didn't seem interested.

We were chasing the game, lachlan Murray just scored 3 I think, made a score saving tackle and Harte takes him off. Can't see the logic in that.

Galway were good. Should rightly leapfrog derry in the AI rankings and must be in that top 3 tier now.

Didn't listen to the commentary after the game but there can be no defending mckinless.
However,  I did think in general galway got their frees easier than us.

I'm trying to take my Galway hat off here (not easy of course) but I honestly didn't feel that we were getting frees easier.
In terms of scores from frees I'm not sure how many we ended up with but when we had 1-12 on the board only two of those were frees.
I can think of two off the top of my head tap over frees Derry got that were never frees (to me anyway).
McGuigan wins a high ball in first half & doesn't call a mark. He gets shepherded and throws himself down and gets a free.
One in second half (I think number 10) who runs into 2-3 Galway defenders and gets a very soft free.
Anyhow I'm only picking them as examples. The red card changed the game.
Who knows what would have happened if it didn't happen. It was going to be tight regardless

My understanding was that if a player doesn't call the mark for the free kick he plays on but cannot be tackled until he has taken 4 steps - Mc Guigan was tackled immediately he caught the ball.

I'd say you could only really gripe about 2012 and 2014 as poor years.
...didn't beat Dublin - that was the entire country for eight of those years!

That team that Harte was 'holding back' were beaten by Dublin in the semi-finals in 2017; beaten by Dublin in the final in 2018; and beaten by Kerry in the semi-final in 2019 - and after a Covid disrupted championship in 2020 won a final in 2021. I've no problem with a change in manager but do people really think Tyrone lost out on 3 AIs they would or should have won with a different manager? I hope Tyrone are 'held back' this year.