Tyrone v Down - Sun 18th May, Omagh

[BennyHarp]

Would not get too carried away if I was a Tyrone man. Down have lost some amount of top players over the last while and are no great team. Monaghan will be a tougher ask but are missing McManus at least. The winners of that should make Ulster final. Can't see them going much further though.

Yes all the lads who wanted Mickey sacked now think we'll win the All Ireland. 

[thebuzz]

Will Big Joe get back to fitness this season or is he out for the forseeable future? He can play anywhere but he'd be some addition in defence if fully fit.

[tyroneman]

A few observations from the game.....

Morgan is invaluable. His free taking and, even more importantly, his kick outs were first class. I would be a bit wary of his sojourns up the pitch though. Might need to reign those in a bit as he was almost at half way with the ball on one run.

Sean Cav has one of his poorer games for most of last night. Hitting the bar with just the keeper to beat. Putting easy chances wide, turning over the ball and making a lot of silly decisions. BUT like all great players he kept looking for the ball, working hard and won some solid possession to keep Downs comeback in check.

Colm Cav was immense. Put some shift in. He has quietly gone from a very hit and miss player to being a key cog in this Tyrone machine.

Clarke was much improved. Roamed all over the diamond. Now if we could get him using that WWF physique a bit more.....

McNabb played well. Won ball in front of his man and linked play.

Harte drove the team on. When on form he is very hard to stop during a run. Still divides the support though as I heard some fairly uncomplimentary views being expressed in the crowd. IMHO well worth his place on tonight's showing

Forward line were...ok. RoN the pick. Shame he doesn't have just a little more pace but he played like a man proving a point to MH. Coney was subdued. Rushed shots and took wrong options. McCurry battled hard. Good free taking including another monster from the sideline but needs to start scoring from play.

McGinley is a curates egg. Took the scores well. Very very athletic. It looks like he is on fast forward when chasing players down. Still prone to poor passing though. With more work he could be a real prospect.

McCrory has now effectively shut down one of the best playmakers in football. Twice. Well done that fella.

McNamee. Not much to say. An upgrade on Tierney.

McKenna wasn't much to write home about. Still a place there for Joe if he ever gets fit.

The vets......do exactly what they need to do. SoN worked his ass off and played some lovely passes in. Justy was composed and gave real stability at the back. Block was...block.  I don't think I have ever seen him have less than an 7/10 game. Just did  the small things right. And kept those around him on point.

On the other subs...McAliskey nailed a great point on introduction, Penrose worked hard and mcBride was game.

McAliskey always seems to be a fella who will get between 1-3 points a game but never cuts loose like Coney or mcCurry can. But when those two are off form those 1-3 points could be invaluable. With RoN in the mix it will be interesting to see who MH goes for against Monaghan.

The defence overall was much better. No isolated Mano a Mano type play. Plenty of cover in the centre.

All in all a great night out.

Had a nice chuckle at Newry 'rocking' to The boys are back in town.......they sure were.

In all seriousness though - No one in Tyrone should get carried away. We are by no means the finished article. But it's nice to be finally moving in the right direction.

[CD]

Nothing wrong with that Tyroneman.

It'd be nice if Clarke, McGinley Coney could do a Colm Cavanagh - go from being hit or miss to being a key cog.  I think all three will get there.

[omagh_gael]

Cheers for that Tyroneman. Always good to get level of detail if you didn't get to see the game.

Any comment on the referee?  Q101 giving out quite a bit about him. Seemed to be extremely card shy. Not that that is a bad thing but rather it seemed to be reffed completely differently to the previous week.

[orangeman]

Only for Sean Cavanagh there would gave been no last night. He pulled The game out of the fire last Sunday. He got a lot of "treatment" over the 2 games.

[orangeman]

Did anyone notice James trying to compete with Paddy O'Rourke along the sideline  last night ?.  James to be fair was jumping a lot higher than Paddy did ever did.

Mickey Harte could never do that. Horse not bad at it either.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Genius Mickey, to contrive two valuable games out of that to compensate for failing to make the League Final as we head into the first round proper of the Ulster (not to mention letting the Dubs scrape by us by the bare minimum). 

Don't be afraid Monaghan, don't be very afraid at all!

Sláinte tyroneman, great summary.

[Fuzzman]

Excellent read Tyrone man and exactly what I was looking for. It seems balanced and not OTT.

Who do you think is our best option at MF now?
Is Justy back to his old self and will he stay at FB?
Was McNamee struggling for fitness?

I hope we don't have to listen to the others fans all year harassing Morgan. Has he done anything to annoy them or is it just cos he takes his time and is successful.

[Walter Cronc]

Excellent read Tyrone man and exactly what I was looking for. It seems balanced and not OTT.

Who do you think is our best option at MF now?
Is Justy back to his old self and will he stay at FB?
Was McNamee struggling for fitness?

I hope we don't have to listen to the others fans all year harassing Morgan. Has he done anything to annoy them or is it just cos he takes his time and is successful.

Morgan is certainly a talent, and will probably be the best around in next 5-10 years. Fans probably slag him over the length of time he takes and his apparent cockiness. In saying that most sides would love to have him!

[Corner Forward]

No complaints from a down perspective better team won. Early penalty miss certainly would have helped us on our way but in the end probably wouldn't have made a difference. Thought our forward line of Laverty, Johnston and O'Hare looked sharp and caused Tyrone problems with their pace but unfortunately when chasing the game we resulted to pumping high balls into Laverty which Tyrone mopped up with ease. Mickey learnt from last weeks mistakes by bringing on the experience heads of Gormley and SON at half time to steady the ship after Down ended the first half strongly. Thought the Tyrone FF line were superb, McCurry doesn't seem to miss while Coney and RON completely roasted their markers. I don't like to be critical of individuals on public forums like this as they give a huge amount of effort and commitment to represent our county but if Dan McCartan and Ryan Boyle are the two best corner backs that down football has to offer then we are in a seriously bad place. Whether it be through arrogance or naivety down decided not to bother to mark McGinley-a fairly ordinary player ended the game with 2-01. Early days yet but I think the Tyrone forward line as a unit are probably the best there is in Ulster. Obviously you always want to see your county win but an early exit for down in the qualifiers might not be a bad thing-let the boys get back to playing uninterrupted club football and try to build towards next year.

[tyroneman]

Forgot to mention 2 players...

Matty D. Excellent. This lad will be a key player for years to come. Has everything. Physicality. Attitude. Work rate. Can score. Marked Coulter out of it. I remember him taking time out to build himself up for county football. He looks like he could run through brick walls now (a la Seamus mcCallan for those that remember that bit of commentary  )

Niall McKenna. He looked a completely different player last night. Whether he got a bit of a rocket midweek and upped his game or took advantage of a wet and tired marker I don't know but he was excellent when he came on. Took his score well. Out in front of his man.

Referee was a curates egg. Thought both penalties were harsh though Harte maybe a little unlucky to be denied one in first half. Did well to keep cards in pocket and although he fell for a few soft frees - on both sides - he didn't fall for much play acting in terms of faking injury.

I still don't think we have found our best defence and with MH seeming to have a lot of time for mcNamee there will be further permutations ahead. It's a real conundrum. Justy should be nailed on FB when fit Block is still the best pure defender in the county. Joe when fit is a Rolls Royce ...but we need the next gen to stand up and be counted now.

Last night some did and some were evidently still a bit short.

Would be tempted to stick with Clarke at MF. He needs a run in the one position. Having said that I was always surprised Justy has never got a run there as some would suggest he is the answer.

I also wonder why we don't use a traditional CHF in the playmaker role. For all his great strengths Sean is not that. For packed defences we need someone to thread a pass. Maybe Shea will come on more next year.....hope so..or RoN will move there.

Morgan will always get stick but this year it doesn't seem to affect him. To be fair he just got on with it. No response to the crowd other than over the bar and play on.

While I don't think we are AI contenders just yet the glass is def half full..

[EC Unique]

Last nights result was what I expected the first day out. The extra game will do Tyrone the world of good. I think quite a few men need to admit that Ciaran Mc Ginley has proved them wrong and is worthy of his place. I fully expect Tyrone to win the Ulster Championship.

[beer baron]

Sometimes gambling's very easy 

[Dubh driocht]

I think it's fair enough to question Mickey's selection and tactics the first day as ,unfortunately, we saw a different animal altogether last night. Tyroneman and others are right to highlight Morgan's contributions. I really like what he does and no Down supporter near us gave him a hard time as he moves the all round contribution of goalkeepers to the level beyond Cluxton.I expect Tyrone to be the last Ulster men standing-again- and Morgan will make the difference in August or even September.In contrast, Down have gone through three(yes,three) league and Ulster campaigns without scoring a 45- last night the otherwise excellent Madine was the latest to miss a long distance scorable free. Dublin, Cork or Mayo don't have three forwards with the talent of Coney or the O'Neills ,Matty Donnelly and Cavanaghs are also best in class so good luck to Tyrone.