Tyrone v Armagh - Ulster Championship 2009

[Donagh]

Hill...and i'll be staying away from the Buckie boys

Are the Clans tickets being given out tonight, illdecide?

[Mr. Nakata]

Clarke and McDonnell need to be taken care off. Justy will start at full back, I have a feeling block will be named at 6 but will move straight onto Stevie from Killeavy. Harte always likes to put the block on the dangerman. Ricey to move into centre half back, Swift over to the other corner and Joey starting at 12. That's my take on matters at this early stage of the week. Getting excited at the prospect of SON playing any amount of time, but like other posters, I believe himself and the hoover will be sprung from the bench.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

A couple of articles from today's Irish News:

Harte hopes Hands have the hunger for more of the Sam
By Francis Mooney

Mickey Harte has admitted that he doesn't know if his players possess the hunger and desire to retain the All-Ireland title for the first time.

He won't discover whether the reigning champions have those magical qualities until they launch themselves into Championship action this weekend.

Twice previously, Tyrone have attempted to defend the Sam Maguire Cup, but on both occasions they came up well short. But the Errigal Ciaran man has committed himself, ever since last September's victory over Kerry, to do everything in his power to win back to back titles this year. "We would hope that would be the case, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating. We can prepare all we want, we can set our minds to do the task that we want to do," said Harte.

"You don't know the answers until you're faced with the serious questions, and the serious questions start on the 31st of May against Armagh. That's the first time we'll have to decide just how much hunger is there, how much desire is there, and how much commitment is there.

"We believe it's there, the players believe it's there. If they didn't believe that it's there, then they definitely wouldn't achieve it.

"If they believe it's there, and can follow that up with action, then we'll get to know some of those answers."

Harte is convinced the magnitude of the prize attainable by his players is the perfect incentive for a huge challenge in 2009.

"Looking at it now, as objectively as you can, I believe the players are really in a good place, ready to challenge themselves to deliver something, to set out on the road of trying to achieve something they have never done before."

Tyrone go into this weekend's clash with Armagh on the back of a disappointing League campaign. They only managed to steer clear of relegation on the final day of the Division One campaign, but Harte doesn't believe League form will have any bearing on his side's readiness for championship action. He recalls that the Red Hands experienced similar difficulties in the NFL last year, but went on to win the All-Ireland.

"No, it's not a worry. You might say it's disappointing insofar as we didn't contest the final, and to that extent it is.

"On the other hand, it was an average sort of season in terms of points picked up, no different than last year. We didn't get any more points last year, in fact, we looked to be in a lot more of a dubious position in June of last year when we lost to Down.

"So you can't really lean on past results, you can't lean on past seasons, you can only deal with the here and now.

"And if we stay injury-free, which we are relatively at the moment, Brian Dooher and Stephen O'Neill being the concerns, if we can overcome those couple of injuries and have a full hand to pick from, then we're in a very strong challenging position for honours.

"That's the place you want to be at this time of year, and I hope we can build on that."

Harte has learned from the painful experiences of 2004 and 2006, when Tyrone failed to retain the All-Ireland title, that champions are particularly vulnerable. "You never anticipate these things in advance, unfortunately. If we did, we could always correct everything. We believed we were doing the best we could in any of those years, we were dealing with the circumstances that prevailed to the best of our ability.

"The answer was that ultimately it wasn't good enough to win an All-Ireland. Now we're dealing with the present circumstances that we find ourselves in. We hope we're coping well with that, and we hope we can actually go out and be better than we were those two years, and if we do that, then we certainly should be in the Championship longer than in either '04 or '06.

"And if we can do that, usually a team, when they get a bit of a run going, or get a few results behind them, they actually raise themselves to new levels.

"Look at any team that wins an All-Ireland, look at them in the first round of that Championship, and you say 'that team will never win anything'. But yet, when they get a few results behind them, get a bit of momentum going, get a bit of belief back in the players, things take on a new life of their own.

"If we can get over those early hurdles and build a bit of momentum, then anything's possible. But you know, you're always only one game away from being told that you're at the right end of the market or the wrong end of the market. That's the reality."

Sunday's opponents Armagh have been crowned Ulster champions seven times in the last decade. But the fact that they have managed to win just one All-Ireland in that period has added weight to the argument that provincial title-holders are placed at a disadvantage in the latter stages of the series. The Tyrone boss, however, feels Armagh have been wonderful ambassadors for Ulster in the modern era.

"They might say it has done them an awful lot of good, because the record books will always say they have won that number of Ulsters in that particular decade.

"I think they will still look back and be very content that that team, or that squad of players, achieved an awful lot over those years.

"They may feel a little bit disappointed that they didn't get another All-Ireland, which they were very close to doing on a couple of occasions. They gave a lot to football and they'll be remembered as a great team."

*************************
Ulster SFC
By Francis Mooney and Paul McConville

ALL-Ireland champions Tyrone have received a double boost with the news that Stephen O'Neill and Brian Dooher are both poised to start against Armagh in Sunday's Ulster SFC clash at Clones.

The Clann na nGael pair came through a weekend training camp at Carton House, and have proved their fitness to manager Mickey Harte. O'Neill had suffered a setback in his recovery from a knee injury picked up in the opening NFL game against Dublin back in February, while Dooher has undergone groin surgery and had not played for Tyrone since last September's All-Ireland final.

"Stephen came through everything at our weekend training camp, and he's fine," said Tyrone assistant manager Tony Donnelly.

"He's in contention for a starting place."

Ryan Mellon is also progressing well in his recovery from an ankle injury, and is in line for a start against the Ulster champions. Meanwhile, injury scares over Enda McGinley and Davy Harte have proven to be unfounded. McGinley has been declared fully fit, despite dislocating a finger in a recent club game. And in a further boost, defender Damien McCaul is close to a return following a lengthy spell out with a ruptured cruciate ligament.

However, Aidan Cassidy is definitely out of Sunday's game, having damaged an ankle in a club game.

For Armagh, Charlie Vernon is still three or four weeks away from a return following a broken jaw, while manager Peter McDonnell has concerns over some of his players following a stomach bug in the camp last week.

Thirteen players were struck down with the illness and McDonnell admitted that many are still struggling to regain strength and weight. However, the Orchard boss was full of praise for the county's medical team and their handling of the situation and said he was surprised to hear a theory that food-poisoning had been the cause of the outbreak, given the attention to detail paid to nutrition.

"I was surprised and shocked to hear that there was another cause implied that did not come from our own medical team," said McDonnell.

"I have to say, our medical team handled this incredibly well, there were no risks taken whatsoever.

"It was just one of those things that went through the camp rapidly, but we managed it exceptionally well and if it wasn't for that, there would have been players contracting it."

[illdecide]

Hill...and i'll be staying away from the Buckie boys

Are the Clans tickets being given out tonight, illdecide?

As far as i know Donagh...

[Fuzzman]

Will be in Belfast at the weekend so if I wanted to avoid long queues on Sunday would it be better to stay clear of the Armagh-Monaghan road?

Would I be better going Wewtonhamiltonr & Ballybay or is that other way not that bad on match day?

[omagh_gael]

Will be in Belfast at the weekend so if I wanted to avoid long queues on Sunday would it be better to stay clear of the Armagh-Monaghan road?

Would I be better going Wewtonhamiltonr & Ballybay or is that other way not that bad on match day?

You'd prob be safer going to end of motorway and taking a left out to aughnacloy through emyvale and Monaghan town to clones much better road

[Doohicky]

Will be in Belfast at the weekend so if I wanted to avoid long queues on Sunday would it be better to stay clear of the Armagh-Monaghan road?

Would I be better going Wewtonhamiltonr & Ballybay or is that other way not that bad on match day?

I was told a few pages back to avoid the Armagh-Monaghan road.

I'll be leaving Belfast about 10 and taking the turn off at the end of the M1.

[Rois]

I know it looks like a roundabout way, but I am tempted to go on down to Lisnaskea and through Newtownbutler.  I've rarely had to sit in traffic on the way out on that road.  Google Maps gives it as 10mins longer. 

[Fuzzman]

Jeepers Rois that seems a way out of your way altogether.

I'd expect the Monaghan to Clones road to be busy then eh?
I'm bound for Dublin afterwards so wanna park on either the Ballybay or Coothill road for quick getaway.

Do any of the Armagh lads know how busy that Newtonhamilton to Ballybay road gets on match days?

[balladmaker]

Do any of the Armagh lads know how busy that Newtonhamilton to Ballybay road gets on match days?

It's busy, but keeps moving.

[omagh_gael]

I see mickey is saying in todays mirror that brian mc guigan tweaked the hamstring and Colly mc Cullagh hasn't trained in three weeks, prob not enough to rule them out for Sunday. On a plus note the weather looking good for weekend wall to wall sun an low 20's perfect paragon weather!

[illdecide]

Out of curosity what will be the main route taken by the Tyronies (no smart answers Ziggy)

[pearseog]

Out of curosity what will be the main route taken by the Tyronies (no smart answers Ziggy)

the back door route

[ziggysego]

Out of curosity what will be the main route taken by the Tyronies (no smart answers Ziggy)

The traditional route.

[nrico2006]

It seems like a lifetime since Tyrone went into a Championship game with SON and Dooher both starting.  Not much been said of Mulligan recently, I hope this is a good sign and he can have a decent year this year without injuries taking him out.