Tyrone GAA Discussion Thread

Bus cancelled so one of my mates a donegal lad in Sligo is going to drive.

Anyway, I've had a rethink....

If everything goes as expected this weekend and Tyrone, Donegal, Kerry, Dublin all win then the route to the final is clear for all teams.

QF - Mayo Vs Donegal
QF - Monaghan Vs Tyrone

SF - Kerry Vs Tyrone/Monghan
SF - Dublin Vs Mayo/Donegal

Final - Winner of the two semis.

Donegal beating Galway gives Tyrone a very good outside chance of getting to the final. I think we'd have a much better chance against Monaghan and Kerry than we would the other route with Mayo and Dublin in the way.

Monaghan and Kerry are both teams we could get at. Monaghan beat us well in the first game in the league 0-7 to 1-13 but they only beat us by a point last year in the Ulster championship and we beat them two years ago in the AI 1/4 finals by two points. Very evenly matched teams and we've been improving all the way though the championship.

Kerry at Croker would be next in the semi's and that would be a mouthwatering game. We drew in the league this year in a very good game up in Omagh. They beat us by ten points in 2012 and you'd have thought they won 3 AI's at once the way they celebrated. Before that it was 2008 when we last met in the Championship and we beat them in the final. In the 6 years before that we beat them 3-4 times in Croker.

I'd go into the next few games with some confidence that we can put in a really good performance and hope that we can get wins. This is the first time in a few years I've felt like this late in the year.

I still can't see us getting past a Dublin or Mayo in the final but if Donegal scraped though I think we'd beat them.

mallards wrote: »

I'm genuinely surprised and delighted with our current position. I don't think we will progress that much further this year. But with this football team and our recent success with our hurling team I can finally see us back on an upward curve within the county.

We have every chance of beating Monaghan if we get there. I'd say that's a 50/50 game. If we can go that far then it's a semi-final with a relatively young team with a load of excellent U21's coming after them. I'm more optimistic about the future than I've been for years.

We'd all have taken a semi-final at the start of the year I reckon.

sliabh beagh wrote: »

so if tyrone reach the q final or even semi final would this mean harte will be safe in his job for next year? or will the county board move against him regardless?

Hard to know. I think someone said his contract is up this year so maybe he was sacrificing the league to try to give the championship one more big push before going himself?

JB81 wrote: »

Sacrifice the league??????!!!
So what he sent players out to lose.

No, I mean they would have been timing the training more towards this time in the year rather than bursting for the league. Also trying out players and combinations to use now.

JB81 wrote: »

Sure all teams try out new players in the league, and aim to peak later in the year, so does that mean they all sacrifice the league.
Cause if that's the case Dublin are crap at it, imagine the disappointment when they won it!!

I think you're missing the point. I'm by no means trying to say that we've intentionally gone out to lose games or to do badly, but it's quite plausible that in past years when we've given the league and Ulster a really good push we've seen players burnt out and injured come August. It's pure conjecture, but we've been told for years that Kerry don't get going until August and that's pretty easy for them given they've usually only ever got one game of note in Munster to prepare for. My point is that we've perhaps trained a little easier than previous seasons at the very start of the year so the lads are as fresh as possible at the business end.

Possibly. Like I've said, it's pure conjecture.

Teams trying to time their peak is a very real thing and historically it's been detrimental to Ulster teams because getting though Ulster was so difficult they had to be at peak sooner so when they got to the semi's it's been too tough. It's no coincidence that since the back door came in Ulster has fared much better in terms of AI's won and appearances in finals.

You seem to be dismissing the fact players can get burnt out through too much training and too many games. Injuries care also more prevalent in this instance too.

Anyway, I'm not going to go round in circles about it as it's nothing more than me speculating on very little evidence apart from our terrible league campaign and our gradual improvement along the qualifiers.

I don't think we have anything to fear facing Monaghan or Kerry if we progress that far. Neither team are too far ahead of us when you look at the last few meetings between the league and the championship. Mayo and Dublin are the only two sides I would really be worried about meeting now.

JB81 wrote: »

I agree that we shouldn't fear them, i just feel on their day they would be favourites as I think they have more to them and are better teams/panels.

Anyway we are all shouting for Donegal on Saturday then i take it

110%.

Are you going to the game? Got my ticket yesterday for the lower Cusack. Apparently up at the end but I'm sure I'll be able to grab a seat closer to the halfway line.

Yeah and I was happy enough that we created a few goal chances.

Sligo were poor do we still don't know where Tyrone are but Monaghan is a great test.

keane2097 wrote: »

Every county thinks that.

They do but I really mean it. He's always woefully anti-Tyrone. I live in Sligo so I get the pleasure of seeing him in lots of club games and even the Sligo heads I talk to say the same thing about him and Tyrone.


Fingers crossed he'll be excellent on Saturday as he was a week or two ago in a game I watched (can't remember which one but I remember commenting on it).