Tyrone on track to match the expectation
I put it to the men and women from Ardboe that they must have been harbouring serious long-term ambitions for them to be hanging around Croke Park for the second instalment on a busy weekend of football.
Turns out these were the genuine article and holidayed in Kerry the month previously making a point of going to see the Gooch in action for Dr Crokes against South Kerry in a championship match — just to check the form.
Tyrone expect to win this evening and those pilgrims I met Sunday afternoon told me that they expect to be in Croke Park next month giving the Gooch a closer examination than he’s been getting.
Notwithstanding the good natured banter, the encounter brought into sharp focus once again the sense of entitlement and expectation that Tyrone teams have brought to GAA headquarters this last decade.
Even after two defeats in big matches against Cork in 2009 and against Dublin last year, Tyrone expects.
Despite talks of Mickey Harte being too loyal to his older players and too conservative to engage in squad development, Tyrone expects. And for all the talk of Tyrone being in decline since their last All-Ireland title in 2008, Tyrone still expects.
That expectation has never been stifling for a squad of players so assured in their own ability and so convinced of their roles within their playing system.
There is enough evidence from their last two knockout defeats to Cork and Dublin to suggest that Tyrone can come up short at crucial times but if there is one lesson that we have learned from Tyrone in their pomp, it is surely that you must play without any self-doubt in Croke Park in order to survive.
On the face of it, there is nothing in their five championship matches this season to suggest that Tyrone are anywhere near their pomp at the moment. Yet with a nice balance of guts and guile, Tyrone are back playing without fear and have to be considered serious contenders.
Last weekend against Roscommon showed that they still retain the capacity to do serious damage in short sharp scoring bursts but they still don’t appear to have recaptured the clinical ability to shut down matches they control and are not as economical in possession as they used to be.
The three changes on the team selected for this evening’s trip to Croke Park are designed to improve things on this front. Owen Mulligan and Martin Penrose are due to start together for the first time all season. The Penrose-Donnelly-Mulligan combination should give the Dublin full back-line more trouble than last week’s full-forward line (with Tommy McGuigan and Kyle Coney in the corners) might have. Mulligan always plays well against the Dubs and even when his forward colleagues were misfiring in last year’s quarter-final, Mulligan maintained his good form, hitting three points from play. Justin McMahon taking Ryan McMenamin’s place from the start having replaced him as substitute in the last two games could also have its benefits. Having slogged through earlier games against Monaghan, Donegal and Longford, McMenamin was starting to show signs of fatigue, whereas McMahon is getting his first start since that early qualifier against Longford and only his second championship start of an injury interrupted season. Provided he has overcome those injuries, McMahon will be very fresh for this stage of the season.
It is tempting to again refer to last year’s quarter-final in the context of this evening’s battle but so much happened that day that is unlikely to be repeated, rendering many comparisons invalid.
Bernard Brogan’s season is unlikely to take fire tonight and the nine points (four from play) he hit last year cannot be counted on anymore. Seán Cavanagh’s form coming into August weekend last year had been fitful and his wides tally was evidence of that. His 2-3 last week was his best return by far this year and offers him a nice confidence boost. Tyrone were uncharacteristically reluctant to go for Dublin’s jugular last year. Don’t expect a repeat.
If we are looking for a game to accurately gauge Tyrone ahead of this evening’s encounter, then their Ulster semi-final exit against Donegal is more revealing. Tyrone had 18 scoring chances in the first half that day, and only converted six, while Donegal only had five and converted four. Some of those who started against Donegal (Dooher, McMenamin and Davy Harte) didn’t have the legs when the game went down the stretch and Kevin Hughes wasn’t on the pitch having been sent off for two yellow cards. Throw in the fact Tyrone had earlier lost Joe McMahon after a late tackle from Leo McLoone and you begin to realise Tyrone were desperately unlucky to lose. The reward for winning today, however, is a chance to settle up with Donegal in an All-Ireland semi-final.
So, Tyrone to shade it then? Our philosopher friend is right: Everything is indeed complicated by the presence of the opposite team. Dublin have been at various stages this year, brilliant, insecure, reckless and cautious and sometimes all in the same game! The amount of time they’ve had to reflect on a baffling performance against Wexford has made both fans and players uneasy but the most worrying trend from the Leinster final was a sense that they’ve stopped learning.
Bernard Brogan was still taking shots under pressure, Diarmuid Connolly was still allowing the game to pass him by, some backs were still not taking responsibility for marking duties and some of the subs were still not contributing a lot having had the opportunity to read much of the game from the sideline.
Correcting some or all of these mistakes will go a long way towards getting Dublin back on track but being the first side to beat Tyrone two years in a row in championship is a bigger task. If I’m being true to the evidence, I’d say the gang from Ardboe will have another day out.
