Conor Meyler: In 2018, Tyrone got caught up in the hype

This was a much more mature group, says the All-Ireland winner

Mon, 20 Sep, 2021 - 09:45

Paul Keane

Conor Meyler reckons Tyrone bought into the hype before the 2018 All-Ireland final against Dublin and ultimately weren't ready to be champions at the time.

Three years on, the PwC GAA/GPA Player of the Month for September believes the Red Hands are a far more 'mature' group, partly explaining how they won this year's title.

Meyler, a hard working half-forward who delivered the ball in for Cathal McShane's All-Ireland final goal, admitted that the group learned valuable lessons from the 2018 final when they lost to Dublin.

He himself lined out at midfield that day having recovered from a broken tibia in a matter of weeks.

Asked to compare the experiences of 2018 and 2021, Meyler said: "Completely different. Personally and as a team. I think we're a lot more mature now.

"At the time we probably got caught up in the hype and definitely weren't ready for it. The lessons we learned back then were invaluable as most of that team are still playing.

"For me personally, I obviously couldn't enjoy the buildup (in 2018). I completely shut myself off from the rest of the world. I was just so focused on getting back.

"I'm quite intense or driven when it comes to things like that, I don't want to leave any stone unturned. I was sleeping in an oxygen tent to get more oxygen.

"I don't know if any of these things actually helped or worked but I did come back from a broken leg in four weeks and played midfield in an All-Ireland final.

"But you could tell that I hadn't trained. I had one training session before the final. It was probably my own ball skills and that which let me down, whereas having had time to prepare and enjoy it this time was a big thing. I said to myself, 'I'm going to enjoy this experience'."

Meyler revealed that, with the mistakes of 2018 in mind, he ordered the Tyrone players to stay away from social media in the lead-up to this year's final against Mayo.

"I put in a message to the group early in the week to say, 'No social media. Leave the media down to management and focus on the football'. Because inevitably the mind will take you elsewhere, away from the game, and I just wanted to treat it like any other game.

"Don't call it an All-Ireland final, it's just another game. We nearly got caught up in the occasion, rather than the match, in 2018. The experience of being in a final and losing one stood to us though, as we learned from our mistakes and, in the end, we cracked 2021."

Tyrone burnt out after a bright start to the 2018 final against Dublin and went on to lose by six points.

"We can hype it up too much and read into it, I think in 2018 we definitely read into the hype," said Meyler. "When I look back, we definitely weren't ready to win the final in terms of our progression as a team. Look at how mature we are now, I think we're in a lot better place."