Ciarraí vs Tír Eoghain NFL 2008

[ONeill]

Yes, I thought Donaghy did score.

[Tyrone Dreamer]

Thought we were poor enough. Hub and Mulligan might as well not have been on! Justy McMahon did well on Donaghy when he came on but the same quality of ball didnt come in as had done early in the game. Thought Phily Jordan was Tyrones best player by some distance - he'd some amout of possession and rarily wasted it. I said earlier we needed to sort out are free kick taking and we didnt. Owen Mulligan is now terrible at the free's - in order to be a good free kick taker you have to put in the practice and the signs are that Mulligan isnt doing any practice at them at all. The big worry going foward is our forwards and Im not sure if we'll be able to solve the problem without O'Neill. Is there any updates on Brian McGuigan? Is he still training away?

[magickingdom]

Yes, I thought Donaghy did score.

didnt think donaghy scored but havent seen it on the telly yet, presume it'll be shown during the week. met a lot of tyrone supporters in tralee last night and none were too happy. tyrone must get a free taker or they will have problems..

Would be happy eneough to avoid relegation this year and see a few new back come through but based on the reports from last night there is nothing wrong with the back line at present.

think the kerry backs are great at the minute and pick themselves

[Puckoon]

I dont know if it really matters if he scored or not. We werent competitive enough with our scoring. He was involved in most of what Kerry did.

[supersarsfields]

Watched the game on tv. I think most of the points have been made. Whether the star scored or not is irrelevant. He still did the majority of the damage to the makeshift full back line. Would have loved to see Gormley picking up Donaghy as it would have made it alot closer. Hopefully we'll get a chance to see that at some stage later in the year. Donaghy is just class. His ability to catch the ball one handed and the strength to hold of his marker is going to do alot of damage to teams this year.
From the Tyrone team I actually thought my MOM was Enda. Thought he covered some amount of ground as usually found Tyrone men with his passes. Jordan would have been the next closest in my opinion. Colm Cavanagh, Mulgrew, McGuigan, Gormley didn't feature enough and Tyrone never looked dangerous breaking, which has been their trade mark in past years. Unless a couple of these forwards hit a big patch of Form Tyrone's year may be very short!

[AZOffaly]

Donaghy got a point in the second half. Bryan Sheehan, I think, handpassed it over to him, and he punched it over the bar from the edge of the square.

Kieran O'Leary didn't look bad. He's been knocking about for Crokes for a couple of years. The first point he got was archetype corner forward play. Win the ball in your chest out in front. Dummy one way, go back the other and swing it over with your left. Very nice.

[ONeill]

To be fair to Mugsy, he received little good ball coming in. Kerry's defence was top-notch (was that their AI defence?) and were a step ahead every time. Tyrone's defence weren't the worst either but have seen little from Swift and Quinn to say that they're a better option to what we have. Jordan is looking fit and hungry already which is a great sign. McGinley had another fine game although Kerry lorded much of midfield. Don't know about Colm Cavanagh at wing forward. Maybe he'd make a decent 14 along the lines of the Star approach. Gormley was quiet.

Free-taking from distance is a problem and it's pointless rotating it 4-5 times a game. McCullagh is tidy from close in but seeing Mulgrew/Mulligan/Cavanagh lining up to take a 45 this summer will not inspire confidence. I don't know what the answer is given the present squad.

[Lamh Dhearg Alba]

Ive asked this before but isnt Justy McMahon a tidy free taker from distance for Omagh?? If he is going to force his way onto the team he might be an option for the frees?

[Puckoon]

Justin is a fine free taker from distance.

[ONeill]

Yes I was talking to an Omagh player at the Ulster minor final and he said Justin would be the man for the job. I'd say there's a good chance he could nail the FB spot, though MF wouldn't be ruled out. Not many FBs hitting frees these days!

[never kickt a ball]

Free-taking from distance is a problem and it's pointless rotating it 4-5 times a game. McCullagh is tidy from close in but seeing Mulgrew/Mulligan/Cavanagh lining up to take a 45 this summer will not inspire confidence. I don't know what the answer is given the present squad.

A bit of hard work and PRACTICE might do the trick. Since Colm Cavanagh was carried off during the Tyrone V Donegal game last year it's been obvious that Tyrone are short of a right footed free taker. I can't remember now who eventually took the free (and missed) but McCullagh, Cavlan and Mellon all prepared to take it while Colm was treated. Mugsy is the obvious answer but I get the feeling (maybe I'm wrong) that he never practices frees from one game to the next. Someone needs to be assigned the role and then a bit of practice and hard work and the problem might be solved. What's Tommy Fiddis doing this weather? Justy can be a fine free taker but like McCullagh he's left footed.  

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

• Holding Donaghy scoreless, with 2nd and 3rd choice full backs, though he was involved in just about every Kerry score

Errm, just watching it now - Donaghy scored a fisted point on 56 minutes, and it's fairly obvious so far that it is the 2nd and 3rd choice full backs, he's cleaning them. That been said if Tyrone had their full deck it would be a different game

Yes, completely correct, I meant goalless (d'oh!), which is always a bonus against Star.

[Aaron Boone]

Some of Tyrone's scores in the first half were very efficient and they used the ball well. They had to as Kerry were well on top in midfield. Kerry's defence was very good though when it mattered in the second half. It would have been a fortunate draw if Tyrone had got a goal at the end. The ref had a poor enough outing and didn't let the game flow.

[ONeill]

I thought Tyrone were rather laboured up front with the Kerry defence able to read the final ball with relative ease. However, a 12-9 scoreline ain't the worst. If Tyrone can find some kind of attacking spark - someone who will set the pulse racing when he receives the ball - they'll still cause some teams bother. Kerry have Donaghy and Cooper, Armagh have McDonnell, Derry have Bradley. Monaghan have Freeman, Cork have Masters etc - players who are well capable of sticking her in the net with a bit of individual magic. From what I've seen the only man capable of such brilliance is Mulgrew yet he seems to be employed around the breaking ball middle third, too far out to do any damage to the scoreboard. Mulgrew's not lightening but he has the class and verve to unlock defences. It's finding that consistant 3-5 points from play man to feed off the likes of Mulgrew or McGuigan that seems to be the problem

Last year I thought Niall Gormley was starting to show signs of being a dangerous corner forward with a turn of speed capable of creating havoc. He looked somewhat out-of-shape on Saturday night so there's time yet.

[loughshore lad]

I thought the defence played fairly well on Saturday night considering the immense pressure they were under. For me PJ Quinn is good enough to nail down a starting place and he did his chances no harm on Saturday night. Jordan put in an excellent performance and is starting to regain his form after a few injury blighted seasons. Its from midfield forward where we are struggling, seriously lack direction and incisiveness. As fine a player as Mulgrew is he is not nor ever will be a replacement for McGuigan - Mulgrew is not as direct. Apart from McCullagh the forwards didnt perform and its difficult to see things changing in the near future.