Sport

The reason why Tyrone are last Ulster men standing

The Tyrone panel at Croke Park on Saturday<br />Picture: Philip Walsh&nbsp;
The Tyrone panel at Croke Park on Saturday
Picture: Philip Walsh 
The Tyrone panel at Croke Park on Saturday
Picture: Philip Walsh 

TYRONE were the first team knocked out of the Ulster Championship yet they remain the last team from the province left in the race for Sam. 

That says a lot about the character, resilience and ability of Mickey Harte and his improving team. It also says a lot about the schooling of the old master and the benefit of having played a game previously in Croke Park. 

Whether you admire it or not, Tyrone have come with a defensive approach that reminds me of Donegal in 2011 and 2012. Everyone knows what they are going to do but figuring out the most effective way of counter-acting it is easier said than done. 

Monaghan had the gameplan to take Donegal but they didn’t seem to be able to adapt their game and tactics to meet a challenge they didn’t know as much about. 

This was a contest that the Red Hands controlled pretty much from start to finish bar the odd ‘hairy’ moment – well just one to be precise. 

Tiernan McCann’s mullet is a beautiful piece of carefully sculpted art that would be the envy of manys a man including myself. At the time it looked like the Tyrone man had been cut down within a hairs breadth of his life. But thankfully, the MRI report confirmed that there were no hair-line fractures and he is expected to make a full recovery for the Kerry game. Right that’s enough of that. As we look back on a really entertaining contest here are my top five talking points:

There is no denying that towards the end of the game a few players on the Monaghan team began to lose their cool. But Tiernan McCann’s reaction to being brushed on the head was unmanly and something extremely unsportsmanlike that should have no part in our game. The Tyrone player should have been instantly yellow carded and left red faced as a result. But how can a team of officials get this so wrong? I just don’t have enough column inches to articulate how agitated I get every time I watch Marty Duffy (below) referee a match. 

Any inter-county referee who punishes the team who has been fouled against, by not allowing them to hit the quick free, so he can tick/book someone, should not be refereeing at inter-county level. Plain and simple. 

As I have said in my column on numerous occasions, I rate David Coldrick as a super referee but Duffy just gets so many aspects of his performance wrong every time I see him. The Conor Myler black card was perhaps a tough call but the fact Kieran Hughes went out of his way to impede the run left a situation where one was really as bad as the other.

Last week I spoke about the significance of the kick-out in this game and how Tyrone might want to consider pushing up to put pressure on Rory Beggan’s kicks. Of course this would have meant compromising their shape and relinquishing their double sweeper system for kick-outs. Tyrone chose not to contest most times and, in fairness, it proved very effective. 

Monaghan only managed a single point in the first half – from a free – which came directly from a quick restart. 

Most of the rest of these attacks resulted in turnovers by a hungry, disciplined and extremely well organised Tyrone defence who put on an exhibition of quality tackling and fast counter attacking. 

As it developed it was actually Monaghan who were getting severely punished by not contesting the Tyrone kick-out. Tyrone scored five points in the first half that came directly from short kick-outs. Peter Harte and Darren McCurry were on the end of two while Mattie Donnelly, Sean Cavanagh and Connor McAliskey were fouled for another three which resulted in converted frees. 

I felt that when half-time came, Monaghan should have made the decision to go man-to-man on Niall Morgan’s kicks but they left it until the last 15 minutes to do this when it was a little too late.

It doesn’t matter whether you come to the conclusion that Monaghan were dreadful defensively or Tyrone were razor sharp going forward. The fact remains that in scoring 0-18, Tyrone opened Monaghan up with consummate ease.

In surrendering first-time possession from kick-outs, you would have expected Monaghan to present a very difficult defensive barrier to break down. But there were so many examples of Malachy O’Rourke’s team having four and five extra men back but critically, too often, caught in no man’s land. When you have extra men in defence, they need to either doubling up on the player in possession or meeting the runner coming with the ball.

If you take Darren McCurry’s very first score. The defender was left one v one while Fintan Kelly and Kieran Duffy covered an area I would describe as ‘no man’s land’. Bizarrely, the way Monaghan defended had no resemblance to the way they pressurised the ball in the Ulster final. Conditioned to beat Donegal in Clones, but perhaps executing a plan in Croke Park against opposition you know less about, was a more difficult proposition. 

In writing off Tyrone’s prospects, many have questioned the credentials of some of their forwards, particularly inside men Connor McAliskey and Darren McCurry. With 11 points between them, both men proved that they have the resolve and ability to step it up against quality opposition. Granted a lot of these scores were frees, but both players were a constant thorn in the side and looked dangerous every time they got the ball. 

Bar the antics, I was very impressed by Tiernan McCann. The catalyst for so many Tyrone counter-attacks, he gave the perfect performance of a top class modern day wing-forward. Colm Cavanagh is growing in stature with every game and the work he goes through in doubling up between his anchor midfield role and sweeper job is incredible. The perfect partner for the classy Mattie Donnelly who was easily the best player on he field. 

He kicked 0-3 from play, won five or six kick-outs, and turned the ball over on about four occasions. An all-round top class performance from the Trillick man.

In the tactical battle, Mickey Harte got all the big calls right. He carefully selected which Monaghan players could be let go and which needed man-marked. Ronan McNabb did a superb man-marking job on Darren Hughes to the point where the Monaghan man stopped making those trademark bursts as he couldn’t figure out how to get on the ball. McNabb scored one himself while the Monaghan man failed to register. 

At half-time, Malachy O’Rourke rung the changes but there was nothing different looking about their attacking approach nor the way they dealt with the Tyrone kick-out. In fairness, their subs contributed 0-3 but most of the Monaghan scores throughout the game were exceptional long range efforts. They just couldn’t figure out how to break Tyrone down. In a risky enough move, Mickey Harte (above) showed he wasn’t afraid to mix things up. At half-time, to stay one move ahead of the opposition, he moved Sean Cavanagh to full-forward.  His hunger and ball-winning presence resulted in at least 0-3 coming off him and something else for Monaghan to be worried about.