Philly McMahon: The wheels are wobbling worryingly on Tyrone
Pictured at the launch of Darkness Into Light 2022, supported by Electric Ireland is former Dublin GAA player Philly McMahon.
Former Dublin star Philly McMahon believes Tyrone's slow start to 2022 and the number of players who have quit the panel is 'concerning' and 'worrying' for the All-Ireland title holders.
Tyrone will host Dublin in an unlikely Allianz League relegation battle on Sunday with a loss for the visitors potentially relegating them to Division 2, depending on results elsewhere.
Tyrone have their own problems with just one win and a draw from four outings so far and news this week that talented attacker Lee Brennan has left the Red Hands, the sixth player to do so since their 2021 All-Ireland win, hasn't helped.
Speaking at the launch of Darkness into Light, the annual fundraising event organised by Pieta and supported by Electric Ireland, McMahon compared Tyrone's present situation to Dublin's struggles in 2012 when they failed to retain the All-Ireland after a landmark win in 2011.
Asked if the drain of talent from Tyrone's group is an issue, McMahon said: "Yeah, it would be concerning. Any time a young person doesn't want to play inter-county football there should be always questions around it, from a sporting perspective, from Tyrone's perspective, from the management, from the group.
"When we won our first All-Ireland, there was that bit of a hangover - I'm talking about 2011 to 2012 - we realised then in 2012 that we weren't really at the levels we should have been at.
"I'm seeing a bit of that around Tyrone at the minute. There are signs that they're starting to grow into the season. But they have started slow. The wheels wobbling a little bit with players dropping off would be worrying in my eyes. Why they're leaving, I don't know.
"Do these young players have commitments, is it down to that? Is it down to what's going on in terms of selection? Is it down to maybe the pressure being a little bit more now because of them being All-Ireland champions? You just don't know. But yeah, it's always worrying. I don't remember us ever losing a lot of players the following year after winning an All-Ireland."
If Tyrone win on Sunday, and Kildare beat Armagh on Saturday evening, then Dublin would be consigned to a bottom two finish and relegation to Division 2 with two games still to go.
"It's the narrative of do Tyrone stick the knife in a little bit deeper and potentially push Dublin further into the relegation battle or do the Dublin team say, 'This is the time to turn it around, what better time to do it than to do it up in Omagh against last year's All-Ireland champions?'" said McMahon, who retired last December as an eight-time All-Ireland winner.
"So it's got a really good energy around it. Who is going to win? Who is going to perform? The week break would have done both teams really good as well."
McMahon doesn't have an answer for why Dublin haven't clicked so far, suggesting it could be down to various cogs in their machine not working correctly.
"When Dublin are on their pomp, you would definitely think that they're taking their chances, they're transitioning fast, and defensively they're solid so it comes together all in one," he said.
"I remember playing Tyrone a couple of years ago, I think it was the All-Ireland semi-final (2017) and I remember distinctly Sean Cavanagh coming out afterwards saying, 'It's the fittest Dublin team I've ever played'.
"That day we clicked, we had the tactical, we had the technical, we had the physical, we had the whole package. It wasn't that we had a few fellas shooting the lights out. The whole thing came together. When one of those things is missing, it has an impact. When a couple of those things are missing, then it's very difficult to get your efficiency rate up."
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