Football

Madden on Monday: Donegal edged as Tyrone lift Ulster SFC

Tyrone’s Ronan O’Neill shows a clean pair of heels to Donegal’s Rory Kavanagh during yesterday’s Ulster SFC final at Clones. Tyrone won 0-13 to 0-11. Picture by Philip Walsh 
Tyrone’s Ronan O’Neill shows a clean pair of heels to Donegal’s Rory Kavanagh during yesterday’s Ulster SFC final at Clones. Tyrone won 0-13 to 0-11. Picture by Philip Walsh  Tyrone’s Ronan O’Neill shows a clean pair of heels to Donegal’s Rory Kavanagh during yesterday’s Ulster SFC final at Clones. Tyrone won 0-13 to 0-11. Picture by Philip Walsh 

IN the build-up to this game, I was convinced that Tyrone were certs to break the stranglehold that Donegal have had over them for the last five years.

Like many, I was convinced they had added so much to their game going forward that it was only a matter of time before they broke Rory Gallagher’s men down.

But as the game entered its climax it looked like Tyrone had thrown in their lot and it just wasn’t going to be good enough. That was until two individual moments of brilliance from Sean Cavanagh and Peter Harte tipped the scales.

The swing of momentum was as follows:

1) Leaders step up in times of need... and Tyrone’s master Cavanagh has few peers 

WITH 67 minutes on the clock, Michael Murphy strikes a free from fully 60 yards over the bar to put Donegal one up. For the fourth time in six years, few would argue that Donegal had done just about enough to win and deja vu the order of the day. An immediate response from Tyrone was going to be essential as they trailed by one point.

I watched it back at least half-a-dozen times, but the equaliser from Sean Cavanagh was up there with one of the best points I have ever seen kicked on a Gaelic football field.

Donegal had absolutely every single player back inside their defensive 50. Not only was space at a premium, but Cavanagh managed to escape the aggressive tacking of three Donegal defenders before being pushed back outside the 50 to start again. Leaders step up in times of need, and this particular one has few peers. Off he went again and burst past the next screen of Donegal defenders to kick the score that brought his team back from the brink.

Inspirational doesn’t even come close and, without this moment of individual brilliance, Tyrone were gone. Was Frank McGlynn fouled initially as Donegal were on the attack? I wasn’t totally convinced, but at that stage referee David Coldrick was blowing nothing and you could tell he just wasn’t going to award any frees inside the attacking 50s. When both Tyrone and Donegal analyse where the shift in momentum came from, Sean Cavanagh will be the name on most people’s lips.

Tyrone win Ulster final against Donegal #ulsterfinal pic.twitter.com/tN9GkCjqCE — The Irish News (@irish_news) July 17, 2016

2) Harte solves the McHugh problem

RYAN McHugh had an incredible first half. Three points from play, Tyrone’s approach of ‘dropping off’ and relying on their men across the 50 to pick him up and press when he came into scoring territory completely backfired. In fairness, he has rarely ever showed us before that he can score like that from distance.

One up on the tactical stakes for Rory Gallagher, McHugh spent less time on the left side of the Donegal attack and more time finding pockets of space in more central areas where he could score from.

At half-time Mickey Harte had an easy decision to make. That was to man-mark Ryan McHugh. Rory Brennan came on for the black-carded Mattie Donnelly and, not only did he nullify him, but he also gave Tyrone renewed vigour going forward.

3) Credit to McMahon for job on Murphy

SOME of the anticipated match-ups didn’t live up to the billing 0. The Michael Murphy and Justy McMahon head-to-head barely raised an eyebrow, so perhaps credit should go to the Tyrone man for how he nullified the Donegal captain. But the game wasn’t without controversy as it appeared Tyrone received two very harsh black cards in the first half.

I was surprised to see Mattie Donnelly go. Had he not lifted his arm at the very last minute he might have been okay. Cathal McShane made the faintest of contacts on an ankle, but verbal abuse to a linesman was cited as his crime.

4) Unbelievable score from Tyrone skipper was the turning point

AS the game entered injury-time with Donegal a point up, Christy Toye played a clever diagonal ball into Colm McFadden. At the first attempt he uncharacteristically fumbled and, instead of mopping up the break, he tried to use his body to shield the ball for an inrushing Martin Reilly.

Tyrone mopped up the break before going upfield to equalise with Cavanagh’s unbelievable score. You can look back on any game and pick numerous turning points, but the game turned on that moment. Michael Murphy had another longrange free on 74 minutes to put Donegal back in the lead, but it wasn’t to be and the subsequent Tyrone short kick-out was key in setting the scene for their victory.

5) Petey points the way as forward lines are nullified

ON a day when talented forward lines were pretty much nullified, Peter Harte kicked the most outrageous of points to put Tyrone in front. The covering Donegal defenders pressed with urgency at about 55 yards, but the Tyrone man let loose with the outside of the boot, hitting an incredible score.

At that stage it was critical for Donegal to win the next kick-out otherwise it was game over. Tyrone won it and substitute Kieran McGeary killed the game with an excellent point.