AISF Aug 23rd Tyrone v Cork

[full back]

What was actually wrong with Cavanagh?

[Doogie Browser]

What was actually wrong with Cavanagh?

Dunno but he was able to bust his guts for ten mins at the end.

[BerfArmagh]

Spillane was an absolute clown yesterday, I would safely say he is becoming an embarrassment for Kerry people, he was like a demented eegit at half time, shouting about mulligan diving etc... He has a srious chip on his shoulder regarding Ulster teams.... At least Brolly, O Rourke, Mc Stay etc have a bit of common sense

[pintsofguinness]

that's exactly how we felt with him after fermangh 2004

You mean when he didn't send off Stevie McDonnell??

Ronan Clarke could have been decapitated and we still wouldnt have got a free.

[Logan]

We're all entitled to our differing opinions on this but .... in my view

Peaking is a myth parodied by sports scientists who are involved with a winning team in order to make them appear brighter than everyone else. When in fact having the most highly skilled players in a particular code in a particular season with the collective drive and desire to win has actually won them the competition.

I've listened to Dublin talking about peaking for generations now- even this year they didn't start training till april to "peak". Look where it got us. When you haven't the players -peaking is as big a myth as the Yeti in the Himalayas.

Tyrone never won an all-ireland due to peaking -neither did Kerry. Ha d David kelly scored the spot kick against kerry a few weeks back- what use was peaking to kerry then? Observers use a run through the qualifiers as some master-stroke to "peak" at the right time. When in fact they are just playing crap and its more the inepitude of the teams and plain dumb luck that keeps them in the competition.

Tyrone never played at the level they are capable of this season in any game because they were a tired outfit. They never peaked at all this season- as its called.

I half agree - There is peaking - it's just not as pronounced as people think - or as you say 'gurus' espouse.
I don't agree it's a myth.
You're right about Dublin though - they bs'ed about how they'd peak and all that nonsense but they were badly caught out, where as Kerry are coming right.

I know the point you're making about the Mayo game - but that scenario has nothing to do with peaking - two teams on the similar level etc in a game is not decided by peaking. 

[blewuporstuffed]

We're all entitled to our differing opinions on this but .... in my view

Peaking is a myth parodied by sports scientists who are involved with a winning team in order to make them appear brighter than everyone else. When in fact having the most highly skilled players in a particular code in a particular season with the collective drive and desire to win has actually won them the competition.

I've listened to Dublin talking about peaking for generations now- even this year they didn't start training till april to "peak". Look where it got us. When you haven't the players -peaking is as big a myth as the Yeti in the Himalayas.

Tyrone never won an all-ireland due to peaking -neither did Kerry. Ha d David kelly scored the spot kick against kerry a few weeks back- what use was peaking to kerry then? Observers use a run through the qualifiers as some master-stroke to "peak" at the right time. When in fact they are just playing crap and its more the inepitude of the teams and plain dumb luck that keeps them in the competition.

Tyrone never played at the level they are capable of this season in any game because they were a tired outfit. They never peaked at all this season- as its called.

would agree with that,
momentum is a something that can be a key to a team s success rather that so called peaking

[Quarterback]

Difficult defeat to take yesterday on a day when everything went for cork.

I felt right from the start we lost the personal battles all over the field...In particular our HB line was pulled all over the place, harte looked well off the pace, and has to be targeted by apposing teams as a weak link.  This was shown yesterday and to an extent John Doyle exposed it in the kildare game. 

Felt bannon had a terrible game, Tyrone didnt get the frees that they normaly get, as seen when gormley persisted to run  into the tackle looking a free when had he have kept going he would have been in the clear....

The loss of sean was massive, i feel had he off started canty wouldnt of had the same influence on the game.....

Anyway its over now and we must look to the future...And in paticular filling the void left by the great dooher.  I feel harte must look at the option of playing more out and out forwards as a posed to the likes of Joe Mc Mahon who is IMO a better defender..  Cassidy looked good for the short time he was on the field as did sean o neil from dromore....

3 All Irelands in the Bag....Cant Complain about that....




   

[na cleirigh]

Dunno how Collie Holmes got on yday.

[mick999]

Can anyone post the players ratings from the Irish news?

CORK RATINGS

Alan Quirke: Varied his kick-outs well, untested, not a save to make. Helped out as the woodwork denied Cavanagh's late strike. 6

Ray Carey: Given occasional problems tracking the pace of Penrose. Steady, composed game and cleared his lines effectively. 6

Michael Shields: A few worrying moments early on in keeping tabs on Mulligan. Safety around 'the house' aided by Tyrone's failure to get much supply into the inside forwards. 6

Anthony Lynch: O'Neill caused a couple of missed heartbeats in the first half but, as with Shields, not overly tested due to Tyrone's stifled service to the full-forwards. 7

John Miskella (below, with Martin Penrose): Delivered a superb display. Pace going forward was a constant source of concern and linked defence and attack tirelessly. Outstanding bar one blot, a punch on Brian McGuigan could have merited a red card. 8.5

Graham Canty: Star Man

A colossus. His surging runs out of defence tore Tyrone's back-line cover apart. Hand in Cork's goal. Played on the edge at times but this game demanded Cork to step up to the plate and in Canty they had an inspirational leader on the field. 9

Noel O'Leary: Tough as nails, put in good day's work, got forward now and then while defensively his ability to pressure and give few yards away was impressive. 7.5

Alan O'Connor: In a game of such magnitude, to be sent off for what looked no more than a ticking incident when momentum carried him into an opponent was ridiculous. Before then, had produced a powerful display as Cork dominated midfield. 6.5

Nicholas Murphy: Appears to be back approaching his best. Murphy covers acres of ground, fielded well early on before his game was limited to link play as Tyrone switched to short kick-out mode. 7

Paul Kerrigan: He showed again that he has the pace to trouble the best of them. Kept Tyrone's defence very busy, scored a good point. Finishing not as good as against Donegal. 6.5

Pearse O'Neill: Although he did not register on the scoreboard, covered a lot of ground, working back in defence as Cork continually put plenty of bodies behind the ball. 6.5

Patrick Kelly: Full of running, quick and used possession effectively, though it was his defensive work that contributed so much to Cork's overall game plan. 6.5

Daniel Goulding: Took his goal superbly. A constant threat, gave Justin McMahon a testing time and showed improvement generally from the Donegal game. 7

Colm O'Neill: After making his debut against Donegal, this year's U21 captain again impressed. Kicked three excellent points and gave PJ Quinn plenty to think about. 8

Donncha O'Connor: Knocked over three frees and added another point from play. His pace was a source of problems for Gormley. 7

Substitutes:

Fintan Goold: A quality replacement for Goulding for the last quarter-hour. Again, very quick and took a good point. 6

John Hayes: Not on long enough to be rated

Michael Cussen: Not on long enough to be rated

Kieran O'Connor: Not on long enough to be rated

Eoin Cadogan: Not on long enough to be rated

TYRONE RATINGS

Pascal McConnell: Made a good stop from Daniel Goulding and was good under the high ball. Had little chance for the goal. 6.5

PJ Quinn: Was unlucky when he made an excellent block from Colm O'Neill, only for Goulding to finish to the net. Made a number of good blocks and interceptions. One of Tyrone's better defenders. 6

Conor Gormley: The normally reliable Carrickmore man didn't have his best day for Tyrone, perhaps due to an injury picked up early on. Got caught in possession for a Goulding point in the first half and was dispossessed a number of times in the second. 4.5

Ryan McMenamin: A surprise choice to mark the towering Pearse O'Neill, but coped well in the first half and grabbed Tyrone's first point with a marauding run. Ironically, wasn't as effective when played as the extra man in the second half. 6

Davy Harte: Let Kerrigan away for an early point, but recovered well and kept his man scoreless after that. Set up a couple of points with long balls out of defence and grabbed one himself in injury time. 5.5

Justin McMahon: Lost Goulding for the goal and gave up a couple of scoreable frees. 5

Philip Jordan: Had his attacking intent curtailed by the industrious Kelly. Made a couple of good runs second half and scored a point. 5

Kevin Hughes: Stood up to some robust treatment in a bruising midfield encounter with Murphy, but came out second best over the 70 minutes. 5

Enda McGinley: Had his plate full on his return from injury. Had Alan O'Connor to deal with before the Cork man's sending off in the 29th minute and then Pearse O'Neill in the second. Struggled to impose himself. 5

Brian Dooher: Excellent work-rate as ever, foraging for breaking ball which set up many Tyrone attacks. The Red Hands captain was replaced in the 54th minute. Could this be his last appearance in a Tyrone shirt? 6

Tommy McGuigan: Brought in as a late replacement for Cavanagh. Worked hard but got little change out of the excellent Noel O'Leary. Made way for brother Brian at half-time. 5

Joe McMahon: Had a game to forget on

man-of-the-match Canty. The Cork skipper was the instigator of all that was good about the Munster champions' performance and left the Omagh man trailing in his wake. 4

Martin Penrose: Scored a fine point, but otherwise found little room to create many more opportunities in the face of a resolute Cork defence. 5.5

Stephen O'Neill: Kicked some sublime scores, but was starved of good service and frequently found himself swarmed by Cork's full-back line. 6

Owen Mulligan: Two fouls on him led to pointed frees, another to Alan O'Connor's second yellow card. Proved troublesome enough for the Cork defence. 6

Substitutes:

Brian McGuigan: Came on at half-time, but struggled to find any more room than his brother Tommy did in the first period. 5

Sean Cavanagh: A stomach upset ruled him out of the starting line-up. Was industrious and purposeful when introduced on 47 minutes and carved out Tyrone's only real goal chance in injury-time. 5.5

Sean O'Neill: Injected a bit of urgency into Tyrone when introduced on 54 minutes. 5

Tactical Take...

Cork

Conor Counihan opted to switch corner-back Anthony Lynch to the edge of the square to man-mark Stephen O'Neill with Michael Shields deployed at right back to mark Mulligan. Kerrigan and Kelly switched wings to take on Harte and Jordan and all the changes paid off.

Cork were helped by the lack of pace and ability to track back of the Tyrone half-forwards and this allowed Canty and Miskella to surge out of defence time and again to have a hand in scoring moves. Canty's running game was particularly effective.

When a man down, Cork approached the second half with a commanding lead and funnelled midfield and half-forwards back, often inside their own 45, to pack the defence.

They adopted more of a counter-attacking approach and, so good was the pressure they applied, they turned over the ball several times and gave Tyrone little space to build.

Tyrone

PLAN A went out the window once Mickey Harte learned that Sean Cavanagh couldn't start. The Footballer of the Year's physical presence was supposed to limit the influence of Cork's half-back line's attacking prowess.

His replacement, Tommy McGuigan, worked hard but, with Graham Canty giving Joe McMahon a hard time of it, Tyrone found it hard to plug the gaps.

Once the Cork running game clicked early in the first half, Tyrone were chasing shadows.

The sending off of Alan O'Connor may have provided some respite. Tyrone opted to leave the extra man (Ryan McMenamin) in defence for a large part of the second half, perhaps hoping to hit Cork on the break while trying to restrict he movement of their dangerous inside forward line.

However, that seemed to limit that Red Hands attacking abilities when it became apparent that they needed to create goal chances.

oduced on 54 minutes. 5

Ref Watch...

John Bannon (Longford)

Very harsh call to show Alan O'Connor a red card. Questionable decision, as was the yellow card for Miskella who appeared to strike Brian McGuigan. This incident led to a bit of rumpus. Inconsistent with

over-carrying, several debatable decisions for frees given and incidents where frees were not awarded. Poor overall.

Key Battle...

Graham Canty (Cork) v Joe McMahon (Tyrone)

THE Cork skipper could be homing in on the ultimate honour his illustrious career so richly deserved. His determination to become the first Cork man to lift the Sam Maguire since 1990 was evident in his performance yesterday. McMahon has proved more than up to the task when asked to provide some physicality and industry to the Tyrone half-forward line, but yesterday he was way off the mark.

The tactic that had knocked the stuffing out of Donegal in the quarter-final worked a treat again as the Canty was able to stretch the Tyrone defence from deep with either pin-point passing or bursting runs. That helped the Rebels build up the comfortable lead that Tyrone never looked like threatening.

Top Score...

It may have been scrappy in it's eventual execution, but Daniel Goulding's seventh-minute goal owed much to the excellent build-up play. Graham Canty ran on to a perfectly times hand-pass from Donnacha O'Connor before finding Colm O'Neill with an equally measured pass. O'Neill saw his shot well blocked by PJ Quinn, but Goulding was alert enough to smash home the rebound.

[na cleirigh]

Did Aidan Cassidy not get a rating. Can understand why Collie Holmes has been left out of the ratings but thought Aidan was very good when out round MF. Maybe should have been on eariler

[mick999]

Other Irish News articles ...

Double dream shattered All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final: Cork 1-13 Tyrone 0-11
By Kenny Archer in Croke Park
24/08/09
   

AS one journey ends, another begins – and another continues. The Rebels march on into the All-Ireland final, having finished off the Red Hands' hopes of holding on to 'Sam' for the first time ever. For now, anyway.

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte was philosophical about the new experience of a campaign coming to the end of the road at Croke Park at the All-Ireland semi-final stage.

"It's very difficult to retain the title, as we all know. It hasn't happened that many times in the last 25-30 years. It's something that we've never achieved before and the only way you can achieve it is by being the champions.

"It's not easy being the champions, so this knocks us back to square one. Therefore if we want to achieve that, then we've a long, long road to go. When you're at the top of a hill and get knocked down, it's difficult to take."

However, Harte put the disappointment of defeat in perspective, saying: "We in Tyrone know that life has given us worse knocks than losing semi-finals. We've dealt with that, so we'll deal with this too.

"We'll be hurt, we'll be annoyed, we'll have many regrets – but they're only sporting regrets. Ultimately, in the real scheme of things, it won't be that crucial."

Besides, Harte was honest enough to admit that Tyrone did not just lose this match – Cork won it, and won it well. "Some days you meet teams that are better than you – and we certainly did that today.

"For me, the crucial score was the goal. Even though Cork were hungry for the game and looking sharp, if we hadn't conceded the goal I think there was still every chance that we could have kept in touch.

"That made it difficult for us. They had that cushion, continued to play good football, and coped well with losing a man."

The game's only goal came as early as the seventh minute, Daniel Goulding lashing the loose ball high to the net after PJ Quinn had blocked down Colm O'Neill's shot. That put Cork into a lead they were never to lose, despite the frankly wrong decision to dismiss midfielder Alan O'Connor around the half hour for an unmerited second yellow card.

Tyrone reduced their deficit to five points by the break but, despite their numerical advantage, could only draw the second half.

Yet Harte preferred to praise the opposition rather than blame his team: "I can't fault our players for their effort. They played everything they knew, but Cork had the game well sewn up at that stage.

"They were comfortable letting us have the ball deep up the field and knowing they could make life difficult for us.

"The opposition today were superior – and we have to accept that."

Tyrone also had to deal with the absence of reigning Footballer of the Year Sean Cavanagh from their starting line-up due to a stomach bug, but refused to use that as an excuse.

"Sean told us that he wasn't feeling good. It was very disappointing, of course. In a game like this, with the whole emphasis on the physique and size of Cork, we lose one of our biggest men and biggest players – that's a big setback. But we had to live with that.

"We can't point to any single thing and say 'that's what beat us today'. Just the collective effort of Cork beat us, their quality and their desire. We haven't met that in a long time. We met it today and everything we had wasn't good enough to turn it over."

The end of a chapter, then, but Tyrone's story will go on.

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Red Hands can't keep pace with superb Cork All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final: Cork 1-13 Tyrone 0-11
From Eamonn O'Hara at Croke Park
24/08/09

   
AS with all good things, Tyrone's run as

All-Ireland champions came to an end yesterday as the dream of the double was emphatically crushed.

Pace and power and spells of brilliant football brought Cork to within touching distance of the county's first title success for 19 years.

The Rebels had it all.

Awesome athleticism, Cork proved beyond doubt that they had it to burn. Tyrone did not have the mobility or the strengths in their game to cope.

There was no answer they were able to summon or sustain as more than 52,000 spectators watched arguably the closing chapter to an era scripted in bright, bold red letters.

It is possible many of the outstanding players who gave so much, who thrilled in this theatre of sporting excellence to capture three All-Irelands this decade, will not grace this stage again.

Tyrone's team game just did not have the legs to compete with Cork's physical might, the speed they moved the ball with, and a running game out of half-back led superbly by centre-half and captain, Graham Canty.

The massive performances required, the intensity, the alert and agile defensive stamina required from Tyrone's half-forward line, the quality needed, did not materialise.

Canty and his attack-minded collaborators in the Rebels half-back line, his man-of-the-match rival John Miskella and Noel O'Leary, ran last year's kingpins ragged.

That Cork managed to forge a comprehensive victory despite losing midfielder Alan O'Connor to a suspect red card after 29 minutes and scoring only four points in the second half illustrated how dominant they were.

They had finishing class and the ability to repeatedly stretch Tyrone at the back with forwards Colm and Pearse O'Neill, Daniel Goulding, Donncha O'Connor, Paul Kerrigan and Paddy Kelly.

They also missed a litany of chances, kicked some bad wides, but as extra defenders, as many of them were, especially second half, they contributed impressively to Cork's tremendous work to stifle the champions attack.

Tyrone ran into a brick wall, one with few chinks of light in it.

They were consistently, robustly, closed down, found space strictly policed, often facing a defensive set-up that had 10 to 12 players stationed behind the ball.

The Ulster champions rarely found a way through the red sea of tackling, pressuring bodies.

They were not helped, second half especially, by numerous debatable decisions not to award them frees, a potential sending off incident that was dealt with leniently, yet whatever gripes Tyrone might have, none concerned the result.

Their general performance was flat. They appeared exhausted. The loss of Sean Cavanagh from the starting line-up – he was suffering from a stomach – ailment was a significant setback.

Canty had the run of the place as a result, though his direct marker, Joe McMahon, did not perform anywhere near his best. Canty exploited the freedom.

He popped up unmarked to set Cork in for Daniel Goulding's goal after seven minutes. Miskella had too much pace for Dooher and O'Leary kept Cavanagh's replacement, Tommy McGuigan, quiet.

Cork won a huge percentage of possession in the middle third and, from an early point, Tyrone's defence of their title looked in serious trouble.

As the game unfolded, more and more unforced errors crept into Tyrone's link play, with passes going astray, possession turned over, inside their own 45 as well as inside Cork's. Even the benefit of an extra man after referee John Bannon harshly dismissed O'Connor made little difference.

Cork funnelled midfield and almost all their forwards back to defend and break on the counter. As Tyrone were so good at in past years, their work-rate was fantastic.

They smothered and spoiled, tackled ferociously, disrupted supply routes towards Stephen O'Neill and Owen Mulligan, though Tyrone's poor approach play aided this also.

Between Cork's physical intensity, the terrific mobility and speed of their game and Tyrone's poor use of possession, only two Tyrone forwards managed a score from play from the 26th minute.

Cork's array of forwards contributed 1-8 from play, Tyrone's four points with their out-gunned half-forwards no scores at all. But for some poor free-taking and a rash of chances that should have counted, Cork would have finished eight or nine clear.

No-one could have argued that they were value for it if they had, but five points on the day was an emphatic enough statement that these Rebels will be hard to stop on September's deciding Sunday.

A massively disappointing end to Tyrone's double bid, possibly to the All-Ireland campaigning careers of a few of their famous number, but Cork so deserved it.

MATCH STATS

Cork: A Quirke; R Carey, M Shields, A Lynch; J Miskella, G Canty (capt.), N O'Leary; A O'Connor (0-1), N Murphy; P Kerrigan (0-1), P O'Neill, P Kelly (0-1); D Goulding (1-1), C O'Neill (0-3), D O'Connor (0-4, 0-3 frees).

Subs: F Goold (0-1) for Goulding (58), J Hayes for Kerrigan (60), M Cussen for D O'Connor (66), K O'Connor for O'Leary (69), E Cadogan for Miskella (70).

Tyrone: P McConnell; PJ Quinn, C Gormley, R McMenamin (0-1); D Harte (0-1), Justin McMahon, P Jordan (0-1); K Hughes (0-1), E McGinley; B Dooher (capt.), S Cavanagh, Joe McMahon; M Penrose (0-1), S O'Neill (0-4, 0-1 free), O Mulligan (0-2 frees)

Subs: B McGuigan for T McGuigan (h-t),

S Cavanagh for McGinley (46), A Cassidy for Dooher (54), Shaun O'Neill for Gormley (54), C McCullagh for Joe McMahon (63).

Referee: J Bannon (Longford)

Attendance: 52,492.


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Take it as Red that Cork have the power All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final: Cork 1-13 Tyrone 0-11
From Kenny Archer at Croke Park
24/08/09
     
Red was the dominant colour yesterday, the red of the Rebel county Cork, who ensured that it wasn't to be the Red Hands' day.

In the pre-match predictions and punditry it seemed that you couldn't slip a piece of paper between these two sides. Yet, as it turned out, even an extremely powerful piece of red card couldn't stop Cork.

Conor Counihan's charges deservedly dethroned the All-Ireland champions, winning well by five points, despite the dubious dismissal of midfielder Alan O'Connor around the half-hour mark.

One man made a major difference to this match  and it wasn't one of the players, even though Cork had a number of star turns.

Referee John Bannon made a series of strange calls but, in the end, all his wrongs did not prevent the right result emerging.

When Cork looked like they were going to kill this as a contest, the Longford official chose to send off O'Connor for a second yellow card, when most people in the ground didn't even see a foul.

Then, throughout the second half, the man in the middle was as generous to Tyrone as a miser with toothache. Frees barely came to the Red Hands at any price  and Cork wing-back John Miskella somehow stayed on after striking Brian McGuigan midway through the second half, an incident that sparked a series of scuffles.

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte, who acknowledged that Cork fully merited their victory, chose his words carefully after being asked to assess Bannon's performance:

"You know we don't talk about referees here. All I'll say is that one thing I like to see in refereeing is consistent application  and I'd like to see that consistency between referees as well. I don't feel I saw that today.

"I think that some of our play was penalised when many other days it wouldn't be. People can make their own judgments on that."

No-one sensible would question Cork's worth as winners. Part of the problem for the Red Hands was that they were unable to get any change out of Cork, struggling to find any holes in the wall that the Rebels' rearguard put up against them.

Cork almost completely bottled Tyrone up, stemming any flowing football from the Ulster champions.

The Munster men were giants in defence. Just as the predicted rainfall never materialised, so Tyrone's supply of scores dried up. The weather was holding, and the Rebels were holding the Red Hands.

Not comfortably, because this was a bruising battle, but Cork were always in control.

Five points clear at half-time, but a man down, the Rebels might have worried about their ability to hold onto the lead.

Firstly, in the minor match the Ulster champions (Armagh) had overturned an interval deficit to convincingly beat the Munster champions (Kerry).

Then, in the Inter-provincial Super Sprint Relay, organised jointly by the GAA and Athletics Ireland, the Munster squad needed a late surge to pip their Ulster counterparts at the winning line.

Yet, as it turned out, Tyrone never even came close to Cork. Only once, with the first score of the second half, did they narrow the gap to four points, but the Rebels had them at arm's length after that.

Mickey Harte brought up his ton in charge of the Tyrone senior side but his team ran out of steam. The smoke of a fire burning near Croke Park filled the corner of a ground for a spell during the second half but, when that cleared, the Red Hands' dreams of retaining Sam Maguire were in ashes.

Reigning Footballer of the Year Sean Cavanagh came on for the final third, after being unable to start due to illness, but played mostly in his own defensive third  apart from a late forward foray when his shot struck a post, but Tyrone needed two goals, not just one. His crown could now pass on to a Corkman.

For Cork as a collective, this was another step forward on their mission to win their first football All-Ireland in 20 years.

After a decade that has seen many 'Tyrone power' headlines, Cork's power could write them into the history books.

The Rebels have mostly been beating teams well this season, in League and Championship. Winners of the Division Two title, their task now is to prove themselves number one in the country.

They sent out another serious statement of intent by beating the holders of that title, Tyrone, but the final step could be the toughest.

Arch-rivals Kerry, or old rivals Meath – their fiercest challengers in Counihan's playing days of the late '80s and early '90s – will join them in the All-Ireland final on September 20, after next Sunday's second semi-final.

The Rebels showed once again their ability to win All-Ireland semi-finals without Kerry as the opposition. But, if they come up against the Kingdom again, don't take victory for the green and gold as read.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spillane twists Kerry knife in the Red Hands Pundit Focus
By Niall McCoy
24/08/09

THE death knell was sounded on the current Tyrone team following yesterday's comprehensive All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Cork, while one happy Kerry chappy got something off his chest which looked like it had been eating away at him a long time.

Pat Spillane, the GAA's Mr Marmite, would certainly have left a sour taste with the Red Hand folk as he stuck the knife in after the final whistle.

"Can I just conclude by saying at least this puts to bed one argument? Might I suggest Joe (Brolly), that the team of the decade has four All-Irelands and two National Leagues?

"The second best team of the decade? Tyrone. Don't give me any more crap about team of the decade –Tyrone.

"They are great All-Ireland champions, a very, very good team, but great teams put All-Irelands back-to-back, great teams put All-Ireland semi-finals back-to-back."

"Is this the level you must descend too?" replied Joe, before paying credit to the Rebels.

"It was as comprehensive a defeat as you could imagine," he said. "Tyrone will never be annihilated, but that is as close to it as you will get.

"They found Tyrone out in all the wee areas of weakness, Brian Dooher no longer has the legs, Conor Gormley no longer has the legs."

"They (Cork) were absolutely magnificent," said Colm O'Rourke. "Their sheer athleticism took its toll on Tyrone.

"It is probably the end of Tyrone, today they met the sort of hungry fighter. We probably won't see the likes of Brian Dooher and Brian McGuigan playing in Croke Park again."

Debate had been fierce at the interval too with the sending off of Cork's Alan O'Connor raising passions. Incidentally, questionable incidents involving Graham Canty and John Miskella received much less attention.

It was not surprising to hear Spillane leading the charge, with John Bannon and Owen Mulligan facing a barrage.

The Kerry man said the half-time boos for the controversial whistler were "deserved."

"If I was outside I would throw in my couple of boos as well," he said.

"The second one (yellow card), there was no physical contact, that was a feckin' glorified dive by Mulligan which would get 10 out of 10 in the Olympic diving competition, he codded the referee."

Brolly, who went against O'Rourke and Spillane by saying there was physical contact between Mulligan and O'Connor, was also scathing of the Longford official.

"John has a problem with judgement and he always has had, and it's why people groan when they hear he is assigned to a game."

Dodgy decisions or not, apparently Tyrone are finished, Dooher and co are over the hill and, according to Spillane, the Red Hands have no great individual footballers. It will be interesting to see if Mickey Harte can gag the trio next year.


-------------------------------------------------

[rrhf]

Terrible disappointment, but enjoyed the craic with some decent cork men before during and after the game - full of craic, I wish them well and dont know much about this Meath team who I wouldnt rule out at all., but can understand why Kerry cant live with this Cork team this year.  Pats' so called team of the decade have neither the pace, hunger or physicality to compete at the level we were at yesterday.  Pat from the sounds of it,  made a tr**p out of himself on national TV yesterday, I will say no more on Pat, he is what he is. I cant believe the vitriol spouted on here by some posters, its very sad, to see such hatred in the GAA.

We are looking into the abyss with referees in Gaelic Football.  We are sending out men to all ireland semi finals, ill equipped in every way with poor knowledge of the rules and an inability to marshall a game, punishing players for nothing, preventing Tyrone from having the chances to come back into the game, he undoubtedly done athe job on Tyrone yesterday, missing the big fouls - the most cynical I see yesterday was the breaking of Conor Gormleys ribs with the pointed elbow., Striking from behind is kinda yella also.  Pat Daly tried to change the rules, thats like blowing away the smoke but the fires still burning.
 
All this however takes away from the finest team Tyrone have played since that fantastic Armagh side in 2002, Cork were simply magnificent, and may well have heralded  in their own era.  Their power size pace and tackling were awesome, they deserved to win by a few more.  I think they will win Sam this year and maybe more.   

As for Tyrone, Brian Dooher undoubtedly the player of the decade, he must have been carrying an injury in -  he didnt look comfortable running or jogging, yet was left on too long.  I had heard about the intensity of their training coming into the game, to me it looked like Tyrone had been overtrained, off the boil and were not fresh.  Management has made serious mistakes this season -  simply didnt give enough game time to at least 2 of the subs brought on yesterday, we didnt let Sean O Neill into the half back line when he was the form player, we was wrong to persist all season with a clearly struggling Tommy Mc Guigan and we hadnt sorted out his freetakers.  I think we believed the lazy press analysis that all Tyrone players can play anywhere, Justin Mc Mahon played much of the first half in corner back, Ryan Mc Menamin marked a player twice his size etc.   The loss of Cavanagh was sheer bad luck, I think he has been the difference between winning and losing in the big games over the years and his absence was fatal from the start.

As for the future, I hope Harte sticks at it for at least another year, yes he makes mistakes but his sensational  successes outweigh them na d is still one of the best managers ever,  I would love to think all our senior players would do the same, what amazing servants they have been to Tyrone football, but I have a feeling we will see a number of players retiring, anything above and possibly including a couple of panellists from the 97/98 era might decide they have shouldered the wheel enough.   I think our entire half back and half forward line needs rebuilt, we need a new midfield so we have difficulites.  I think Tyrone can win more all irelands but we need the pace and enthusiasm of youth come august and we need to let that youth make mistakes and come through and augment the experienced lads.  Today we are down but from Tomorrow I cant wait for the mc kenna cup. Congrats Cork and that fantastic Armagh minor team.         

 

[Lazer]

Tyrone never peaked because they never had a decent challenge this year apart from Kildare until the Cork game where they were caught


That would not have helped them at all.

Or maybe - Tyrone's peak just wasn't good enough this year?

[maggie]

Did Aidan Cassidy not get a rating. Can understand why Collie Holmes has been left out of the ratings but thought Aidan was very good when out round MF. Maybe should have been on eariler

Aidan Cassidy: Came on for Dooher, but couldn't match his work-rate or influence. 4.5

I thought he was quite good as well.

[SidelineKick]

That's twice now I've seen the line "Player of the Decade".

Let it go.