Tyrone 'need more muscle'

ANOTHER year of disappointment for Peter Canavan and Tyrone leaves their supporters and everyone else wondering when, if ever, they will deliver on their promise.

Former Armagh joint manager Brian Canavan, who had more than his share of heartbreaks before entering retirement, has no doubt Tyrone's lack of physique cost them dearly this year, both in Ulster and in Sunday's All-Ireland qualifier against Sligo.

"The big difference when you come to Croke Park is you need physical strength and Tyrone just don't happen to have that,'' he says. "They have plenty of good young players who are fit to run and all the rest. But they haven't enough physical strength in the key areas around the middle of the field, half-back line, half-forward line.

"Once Sligo got their full-back line sorted out it was a super move bringing in Neil Carew it made all the difference. And, putting Brendan Phillips on Canavan helped them block off the threat there as best they could. Once they took over in the middle of the field, they put Tyrone under more pressure than they were subjected to for a long time. They just crumbled. People have been saying how good their defensive play has been all along. Sligo certainly proved that a lie.

"Croke Park is a big pitch and people talk about the wide open spaces. Physical strength is a big thing here as well as speed and Sligo had it in abundance. And for once a Sligo team

managed to score. But they also missed four goals. Normally you don't associate Sligo with scoring a lot, but 1-14 was a very good score.''

But Canavan notes this showing is no flash in the pan. Sligo impressed him in the Connacht final in Castlebar, in the way they came back so strongly. "Certainly Galway were hanging on towards the end. In the first half on Sunday I thought Tyrone were going to run them ragged but they didn't. You have to give Sligo credit, they improved a lot in the second half.''

Canavan offered an interesting perspective on the closing stages of the competition: "Every team in the championship has great players, but every one of them has weaknesses. That is the difference this year. There is no dominant team at this stage.''

Meanwhile, Donegal manager Mick Moran, whose charges defeated Meath on Sunday, has responded to criticism of their defence following their Ulster final defeat.

"People in the media have an opinion and I do not begrudge them that. All I can say is that the management team, the physios and the players are the only ones who have the full facts about players about their form, about injuries, about a system we are going to play and who sits it out.

"At the end of the day we had a calm belief in ourselves going into Sunday's game. We showed leadership on the management side and we picked the team we believed was capable of performing on the day. We are not world-beaters. We have a lot to do but please give us a wee bit of credit for this one.''

Sean Boylan, though generally in favour of the new system, believes it is not ideally suited to Leinster teams because of the number of matches they have to play coming through the provincial championship.

"Overall, I think it's a great idea. I wish we won all our matches, but you have to think of what it will do for Sligo and Donegal to win. That's what football is all about.

"You could say that we weren't firing on all cylinders this year. It's difficult to do it all the time, particularly when you have been fortunate enough to have been there or thereabouts near the top as our lads have been for a long time. Everybody sort of knows everything about them and that makes it very difficult.

"I haven't a notion of what will happen next year but there is no reason why they can't come back.''