Tyrone keep Kingdom key

HATS off to Tyrone.

They won a classic. They have now won three All-Ireland titles in five years.

They have legitimised the quality of these victories by beating Kerry on each occasion. They have developed and improved under the excellent stewardship of Mickey Harte. Harte has instilled a team ethic and a group bond unique in sport. He is maximising his resources and he keeps asking new questions. While he would shy away from the cult of the manager he is the best in the business.

In a previous existence, Tyrone had to rely almost totally on Peter Canavan for scores. Pre-Mickey Harte in the 1995 All-Ireland final Canavan was almost a one man scoring machine against Dublin. Yesterday they had nine different players that scored, eight contributing from play. Seán Cavanagh was outstanding. He led the way and made countless decisive interventions. He was Tyrone’s scorer-in-chief scoring five from play including two massive points at crucial stages in the second half and kicked the Ulster men into a lead they were not going to relinquish in the 63rd minute.

But it wasn’t just his scoring prowess which was crucial. As Kerry surged at Tyrone late on, he also won a huge breaking ball. Surrounded by Kerrymen, he displayed great basketball hands to retain possession and find one of his teammates. He was the difference between the teams and is now certainly Player of the Year.

A goal was going to be particularly important between two very even teams. The two sides broke even at midfield, on breaking ball, on the wide count and on the turnover tally.

Tommy McGuigan scored a fortuitous goal for Tyrone after Diarmuid Murphy saved well from Kevin Hughes while at the other end, Kerry failed to get anything out of either of their big chances. The unfortunate circumstances that dictated that Pascal McConnell was in goals worked very much in Tyrone’s favour. In the first half when Kerry were in the ascendancy, he made himself big and the target small as Tommy Walsh raced in on goal and he swatted away the Strand Road man’s effort.

McConnell was then involved in the game-deciding incident in the 67th minute. With Kerry a point down Declan O’Sullivan (Kerry’s best player) burst through the middle and went for the jugular. A goal at this stage would have buried Harte’s side. O’Sullivan has scored these huge goals time and again to push Kerry over the line. Remember the semi-final against Cork and last year against Dublin and Monaghan? Yesterday however, McConnell got down to his low drive and pushed it around the post. The resultant 45 was missed. It lifted Tyrone and they finished better.

The Tyrone full back line also deserve huge credit. In the lead up to the game they were regarded by many as this team’s weakest link. Harte balanced the height differential by putting wing forward Joseph MacMahon on Tommy Walsh, Joe MacMahon on Kieran Donaghy and Conor Gormley on Gooch. While the Kerry full forward line scored four from play, and Gooch looked very dangerous, ultimately the MacMahons won the war. The quality of the ball going into the Kerry inside line was decent but the tall Tyrone men did very well as they broke everything away. Auxiliary defenders such as Brian Dooher and Enda MacGinley did the rest as they gobbled up the breaks.

But the defenders were helped as Kerry didn’t vary the ball into the inside line adequately. On the few occasions that Kerry did vary the delivery with low quick ball, Tommy Walsh and Gooch had their men on the run. Alas it did not happen enough.

This defeat is a very tough pill for Kerry to swallow. This highly competitive group will hate the Tyrone asterisk that is inevitably going to accompany this decade’s achievements. The age profile of the squad is good with only four of the starting 15 thirty or older. They will hurt but they will be back. Many of them will realise that until the Tyrone ghost is exorcised they will not be able to rest easily. This group needs a break, having been on the road constantly for five successive seasons. They will refocus in January and head off for the summit once more. This defeat could provide the angle and that edge that has been conspicuous by its absence for much of this year.

Tyrone have shown that they are a great team. To be considered the best team of the era they will have to avoid their usual trend of disappearing for a year and will have to be consistent and competitive next year. They have won three to Kerry’s four. They now need to achieve back-to-back titles. A hurt Kerry might have something to say about that.