Improve Tyrone found a game to worry Dubs

We spent a long winter in Tyrone trying to figure out how to last the all-Ireland semifinal of the year arrived.

You see, in the last 15 to 20 years, we have changed state of mind. When I started playing, we went to Croke Park in the hope of playing. Now, we are waiting for it. Win some All-Irelands has a way to change your horizons like this.

So when we left headquarters with our tails between our legs last August, it required a major overhaul. The introspection was long and painful. Tomorrow night in Omagh, we'll learn everything we've learned.

This year, she will be different on several points. For one, it will not be the cultural clash of the semifinal last year that has been charged. I have never seen this game as the unwavering object against irresistible force as some commentators have said.

Generally, the best teams play all the same kind of football. Ten minutes after the Dublin match against Donegal, Declan Bonner's men were on the attack and Dublin had the 15 players in their own half, waiting to jump on any mistake

and we have seen their pragmatism in the end too. ball to see the game. They were in control and were happy to go down the clock. Like everyone else, they are not in the entertainment business. Doing what they have to do to win is their only mission.

Now, this is not a criticism, it's just an observation. They have the right to do what they think help to win the game. Dublin is badyzed differently in terms of style of play because they can move the ball so fast and hurt you in different ways that their configuration is not always as obvious as that of the other parties. And also because they have won everything around them.

Principles

However, the basic principles are the same in all respects.

Tomorrow's match will also be different because Tyrone will line up a team very different from the one that ran on Croke Park in 2017. I think there will be seven changes from last year. Some will be injured and retired, but the turnover remains extraordinary in less than 12 months. Dublin, on the other hand, will probably have two.

Tyrone also added a new dimension to his attack. Last year, it was left to Mark Bradley to bring the box to the front. This year, they are looking to kick one over and the inclusion of Richie Donnelly has helped that.

Richie is a great mobile guy who is able to compete in the air. Tyrone tried his brother Mattie on the edge of the square last season and they put Seán Cavanagh there too for a while. There was an acceptance that Bradley needed more help up there.

And after being injured for much of last year, Richie gave his first start against Meath and he played better at the game.

Improved and offered a type of threat different from the simple racing game they depended on last year. Their conversion rate against Roscommon was 82pc while against Cork it was 70pc and 75pc against Cavan. The general rule is that more than 60 pc in championship football is a decent comeback.

However, these numbers are tempered by the fact that most of these scores came out of their counterattack game while many of them arrived late when the outcome may have been decided.

Dublin will not let that happen as easily as the teams that Tyrone has played recently. Jim Gavin's men are busier than anyone. And if you manage to steal them, they have the athletic spirit to recover and the evil spells sneak in at the right moment and stop your momentum.

Tyrone will have to find other ways to hurt Dublin.

The ball caused some trouble in Dublin at the start of the Leinster final when they found that Donie Kingston was a handful. Donegal had some fun last weekend and Richie Donnelly's presence means that Tyrone can ask similar questions. For this reason, I'm waiting to see Philly McMahon back in the Dublin team. Eoin Murchan did a good job following Ryan McHugh last weekend, but McMahon will add a little more power to this defense and I think Gavin will go with him to Omagh.

And although Donegal had some fun, they have enough hands on the ball to do real damage and that's because Dublin is better at handling kick-outs at both ends of the field than any other player. other team.

I watched Donegal in the Ulster Championship against Down. That day, Down could not get their hands on their own kick-outs. Even when Donegal was reduced to 14 men, they were so good at putting pressure and not giving options that they starved them of possession and missed comfortable winners.

When he came to the Dublin game, they could not apply the same pressure. Again, Stephen Cluxton has been brilliant in this regard. He helped Dublin win 23 of 25 punts, a remarkable comeback for a team that seemed so good at lobbing.

Dublin has also put pressure on the other end. Shaun Patton was rightly one of the first congratulations for his ability to find men from Donegal so far this season, but Dublin has shot ten of his shots on goal. This is a key aspect of the game and Tyrone will have to find a way to compete at both ends of the field. If they could find parity in that respect, they would be doing very well.

Still, it's a big question for Tyrone as Gavin purred in Dublin all the while. They have lost some leaders and great players in recent seasons, but against Donegal, two of his lesser known players were in the foreground at Niall Scully and Brian Howard.

Scully won his place in 2017 as Howard entered the scene this year. In the early stages of their career, you would not have had it as a star being made, for example, Con O 'Callaghan. However, Gavin worked on them and they are key men now.

There are many who do not like how Gavin goes about his business but you can not deny his excellence in player development.

Croke Park who is a help. And the crowd will be heard in Healy Park but Omagh is not the Tyrone Fortress that Mickey Harte would like it to be. Their record there proves it. And after taking a little flak to have two home games in the "Super 8", they will be there to prove a point that does not matter where they play.

Things will be different at Healy Park tomorrow night than they were 12 months ago. I do not expect to see the implosion that we saw at Croke Park

and I think Tyrone will ask questions about Dublin that they have not done the same. ;last year. They fill the gap on the best team in the country and are on the right track. I am not sure that they are ready to overtake them.

Irish Independent