Tyrone County Football and Hurling

[Norf Tyrone]

I notice Cathal McShane coming in for some criticism on here. Hard to know why a sub that gets 18 mins gets the blame today. However, it is far to say that he has been somewhat off the pace the last 2-3 games. Someone further back states they have yet to see him contribute for Tyrone. Well they obviously weren't at the Derry game last year, where he was in the top 2-3 performers, and the Cavan game in the Ulster SF (Can't mind which one) where he was Tyrone's MOTM.

However, I think the fella is being flogged to death and badly managed.

Cathal started the 2015 season early with the Tyrone U21s, and as we know Tyrone got an extended run, with Cathal MOTM in the final. He went straight from that into the Tyrone senior squad, coupled with our senior side. Owen Roes season ended on 22nd Nov 2015.
He got 2 weeks rest before he was back out with Tyrone seniors in the O Fiach Cup which was 13th December 2015. Two weeks rest!

The O'Fiach Cup final was 20th December 2015, and Cathal was out in January with Tyrone U21s and the senior side (Top scorer from play in the 2016 final) via the McKenna Cup. It was then into the NFL and back to Club football. Again our last game of 2016 was on 12th November.

Then it was straight to training with St Marys and getting ready for the McKenna/ Sigerson, not to mention being back with Tyrone and the O Fiach Cup on 11th Dec. January was McKenna Cup, National League, and Sigerson Cup. Then it'll be Tyrone ACL action 2 weeks today.

Bar all that I've no idea why he looks a bit off the pace and jaded.

With the Club season for us ending early this year, no play offs, and no U21 duty, the rest, that I mentioned was badly needed, appears to have helped Cathal start the season with some promise.

Someone should do a study on the impact that too much games and training has on a player's performance.

I am not saying he's going to be POTY but sometimes, and I'd be guilty myself, people post things, only with a 1D view.

Thank fake for the win today!

[Thebigdog]

Tyrone supporters have learnt a lot today. Cathal Mc Shane, Conor Meyler and Lee Brennan are the new leaders in this Tyrone senior team. Why Brennan was taken off with 15 mins left was very odd and how the manager blanked him was equally disturbing. We had a free near the end on the right hand side and Mr anonymous Peter Harte duly kicked it wide when Brennan was on the bench.

You saw no leadership from the captain then?

Matty certainly pulled it out of the fire at the end and has to be commended. A good leader though has to show a consistency in their performance, the other lads I have mentioned do that  and that is what is required in leadership. We have seen that in all the great Tyrone captains of the past. Matty Donnelly though can prove me wrong and as the season goes on, I hope he does.

[southtyronegael]

big 2 points today. mattie with a fab winner. not sure the overall performance would be good enough to win any of the remaining 4 games though.

[BennyHarp]

Tyrone supporters have learnt a lot today. Cathal Mc Shane, Conor Meyler and Lee Brennan are the new leaders in this Tyrone senior team. Why Brennan was taken off with 15 mins left was very odd and how the manager blanked him was equally disturbing. We had a free near the end on the right hand side and Mr anonymous Peter Harte duly kicked it wide when Brennan was on the bench.

You saw no leadership from the captain then?

Matty certainly pulled it out of the fire at the end and has to be commended. A good leader though has to show a consistency in their performance, the other lads I have mentioned do that  and that is what is required in leadership. We have seen that in all the great Tyrone captains of the past. Matty Donnelly though can prove me wrong and as the season goes on, I hope he does.

I'd be a big fan of those 3 lads you mentioned and I agree that they are definitely the future but to say that they are more "consistent in their performance" than Mattie Donnelly at this stage of their careers is just incorrect.

[trileacman]

We're obviously playing higher up the pitch and it will lend itself to poorer defensive displays like today. Hugh pat and Hampsey doing a lot of fireman defending but bailed us out admirably. They're vital to the long term prospects this season.

As regards lee and skeet ending up defending it's not really a policy but they obviously have to follow their marker as he raids forward. I'd like to see us push up on opposition kick outs. We hand cheap possession away all the time and then flog the shit out of lee and skeet as 2 men chasing 3 men with the ball. It tires them and fucks them for preforming in the second half.

Couldn't complain with subbing lee, he's played a lot of football and he's flogged as I said chasing defenders that he shouldn't have to. Hartes missed free was far enough away, Lee would have it tight for range too. It's our right hand frees that's killing us, need someone to step up badly.

The Mc canns have been very quiet in the new season, Tiarnan in particular. Half backs weren't great today, needed to see more from them. Mc Laughlin has huge potential but tires too quickly, the stamina now needed for county football is immense, he could be 6-12 months getting to the level of Harte, donnellys, Hampseys and Mc cans level of fitness.

[trileacman]

Sluden is a curate eggs too, an unbelievable stepper but such a poor finisher at times. People like to give mickey a hard time on here but surely he's looking at these fckers and saying to himself, "yer playing football since you could run how the f**k do ya not know where the posts are"

[sensethetone]

i thing Thebigdog makes a fair point regarding pyshcological scars. we could be entering a post meath '96 scenario which took us 3 or 4 yrs to get over. and that was with new mangagement, could be worse this time.

Art and Eugene were the manager's around that time.

[southtyronegael]

i thing Thebigdog makes a fair point regarding pyshcological scars. we could be entering a post meath '96 scenario which took us 3 or 4 yrs to get over. and that was with new mangagement, could be worse this time.

Art and Eugene were the manager's around that time.

not sure what ur point is but danny ball took over in '97.

[LeoMc]

Tyrone supporters have learnt a lot today. Cathal Mc Shane, Conor Meyler and Lee Brennan are the new leaders in this Tyrone senior team. Why Brennan was taken off with 15 mins left was very odd and how the manager blanked him was equally disturbing. We had a free near the end on the right hand side and Mr anonymous Peter Harte duly kicked it wide when Brennan was on the bench.

You saw no leadership from the captain then?

Def Mattie did a few big Sean Cavanagh like points... not sure Mickey gets Lee Brennan and pandered to public opinion rather than his belief in him

Aye Mickey is known for pandering to the public.
When Lee was picked for this game there were complaints he was playing too much ball with Sigeraon games..

[omagh_gael]

We have to be happy with two points there. That Kildare team were fighting for their lives to stay in Division 1 and we matched their hunger and more. Two points were key and we got that.

McKenna cup next weekend then hopefully two more points from our game in Castleblayney.

You're right trillickman, our shooting is horrendous recently. There can't be too many teams across all divisions with our wide totals.

[Onthe40]

Not long in..

The Positives:
- we got what we went for, it was must a win game and the result was achieved.
- Donnellys winning point showed great leadership and self confidence kicking on his weaker side with ultimately the last kick of the game...this was the Donnelly of old..need more of it
- better fight in the second half when again it looked like the game was going away..unlike the last 2 games
-Mcshane is showing signs of improvement week on week

Negatives:
-Kildare are a div2 side..they are big, athletic but have no scoring forwards..their usual achilles hill (if i was a kildare supporter id be tearing my hair out at the amount of times Kildare fwds just ran into blind alleys getting continually overturned)
-ive a feeling todays 2 teams were the favs for relegation..hope im wrong
-our fwd line is still poor overall...mcaliskey i just cant work out..too inconsistent over the 70 mins... mccurry came on looked sharp then faded...Sludden is not as effective as hes been in previous seasons especially shot selection
Lee Brennan prob the pick up front...Meyeler does serious work but just refuses to shoot
-Petey again going missing for too long

a couple of big battles ahead....

[rrhf]

Tyrone quite bland at the moment with the first half display v Dublin the highlight. Good to get the points today but think we will just about stay up.,

[sensethetone]

i thing Thebigdog makes a fair point regarding pyshcological scars. we could be entering a post meath '96 scenario which took us 3 or 4 yrs to get over. and that was with new mangagement, could be worse this time.

Art and Eugene were the manager's around that time.

not sure what ur point is but danny ball took over in '97.

Maybe you do know the point.

[sambostar]

Good to get the win yesterday, would have been virtually down had they lost. As others have said encouraging performances from Conor Myler and McShane. Great scores in 2nd half from Matty, off either foot. He needs to be doing that more often though. He normally picks the ball up between the 21 and 45 and brings it out past midfield. He really needs to be the man picking it up in the opposition half and driving at the defence to either win a scorable free or take the shot himself. He's probably the best kicker from distance (remember his 3 from play in AI semi against Mayo).

I couldn't believe Morgan in the 1st half. He went to catch 1 Kildare shot that was miles wide, was under no pressure and he dropped it out giving away a 45 that their keeper then kicked over. He also took a short kick-out to Hampsey who wasn't outside the 21, ref threw the ball up, Kildare got a free and another handy point. 2 stupid, mindless mistakes that could have cost Tyrone the game.

The shooting is consistently woeful, maybe it's just because I'm supporting Tyrone but they always seem to kick double-figures in wides each game and kick way more than the opposition. I saw McBrearty on Saturday night and Tyrone have no-one near his calibre in terms of accuracy. The right-footed frees are a major issue - can Matty not hit these? McAliskey is not up to the task in terms of frees and it looks increasingly likely from play either. He might get the odd wonder point but you can't imagine him kicking 5 or 6 from play against any decent opposition. He has no composure on goal chances either. Great work-rate alright but not a reliable scorer.

Harte was quiet again. Thought McGeary did well in patches, won a few 1-on-1 against his direct marker. McCarron looks like he is well past his best at this stage. Also don't understand how C McCann continues to get game-time, he has been average at best in every Tyrone appearance since the Derry championship game last year - hard to think of 1 highlight in the intervening period. Is McClure injured or what?

[GetOverTheBar]

Nice to see Lee Brennan named again, another good test for him this week.

He's been looking really sharp, but lets hope he doesn't end up like young Clifford and Moran in Kerry and getting hurt out of high intensity games every few days with Sigerson and league this last wile

Completely agree - seen enough in these two league games - he can do it at intercounty level. We now need to protect a special talent best we can. See no reason for him to play in McKenna Cup to be honest if he's in any way showing effects to the recent burst of fixtures.