Tyrone GT news

wasnt at it TC and didnt even bother to listen to it on the radio but it must be a tad worrying for Donegal that a relatively strong side such as the one they fielded was beaten by the new boys from Tyrone!!!!

Granted it was the first game of the season but when i heard the two teams i was half expecting a tanking for Tyrone.

Omar didn't make it. Working abroad this week so no visa for last day at home. Followed it on Twitter, donegal only managing 2 points in second half was never going to do it - not sure if wind impacted but if it did Tyrone scored 5 into it. 
Not the most encouraging result considering a fairly strong team out. Valid point re the scorers and the other point coming from McGee who will hardly trouble the umpires in September. 
That said if Morgan had not have saved the penalty Donegal could have pulled away earlier.

OMAR wrote:Omar didn't make it. Working abroad this week so no visa for last day at home. Followed it on Twitter, donegal only managing 2 points in second half was never going to do it - not sure if wind impacted but if it did Tyrone scored 5 into it. 

According to the radio and reports, Donegal actually had the wind in the 2nd half, and Tyrone had it in the first half. Both sides performed better against the breeze.

bocerty wrote: Granted it was the first game of the season but when i heard the two teams i was half expecting a tanking for Tyrone.

Stats aren't everything, but over a period of time they give a good indication of where a side is, and these figures are very encouraging from a Tyrone perspective.  

Since March 2011, Tyrone's record in all competitions against the Big 5 (Dublin, Kerry, Donegal, Cork, Mayo) is 4 wins and 9 defeats.  Against the rest of the country in that same time period it is 35 wins, 1 defeat and 1 draw.  

Now, what that says very clearly to me is that Tyrone have become extremely good at beating the teams that they are supposed to beat, but haven't yet made the jump to beating the top sides regularly (however, all 4 wins against the Big 5 did come in the last 12 months).  

Tyrone are a bit behind the best teams at present, but a couple of good new players, and a further maturing of what is generally a very young squad, could be enough to see us in the thick of things in late summer.

Optimism from TC here and it's allowed. However, Tyrone remain to convince me. If you took away Sean Cavanagh's herculean efforts last summer they would have been modest enough.
A lot will depend on key players remaining injury free and a couple of middling sized forwards making a greater impact than many did last year.
The McMahons (fully fit) would make a huge difference and Gormley will be another conundrum to worry about. On the plus side, they have had a fair run at under-age and have a few likely prospects.

All true words, Boxty. Sean Cavanagh remains crucial, yet you could also wonder what Kerry would be without Cooper (see early 2013 league form for answer). The 2 McMahons fit and going well would be a massive boost, though it has been 3-4 years since we've see Justy for in the summer. Gormley & SON are the 2 big question marks, and I hope that Mickey has the courage to make the big calls if necessary. To be fair to O'Neill, he was great last spring before getting injured, and I felt we were carrying him all summer.

The style of play is a concern, as I'd like to see us be a bit more expansive. We're still in 'avoid defeat' mode, but our young forwards deserve more support in attack.

So, no injuries to key players plus the unearthing of 2 really good new players will be enough to see is contending seriously. Aside from Dublin, the other big sides have as many question marks as we do at this stage.

Tyrone team to take on the mighty QUB:

1 Michael O’Neill
2 Hugh Gallagher
3 Kevin Campbell
4 Ronan McNamee
5 Ciaran McGinley
6 Peter Harte
7 Tiernan McCann
8 Niall McKenna
9 Conan Grugan
10 Kevin Gallagher
11 Peter Hughes
12 PJ Lavery
13 Patrick Quinn
14 Daniel McNulty
15 Connor McAliskey

16 Niall Morgan
17 Conor Clarke
18 Matthew Donnelly
19 Danny McBride
20 Aidan McCrory
21 Shea McGuigan
22 Emmett McKenna
23 Patrick McNiece
24 Ronan O’Neill
25 Darren McCurry

It's an even more inexperienced side than last weekend, but I'd like to think that it is good enough to win.  

A point of interest would be 19 year old Dan McNulty's debut at FF.  He's big, strong and mobile, and had a great Tyrone championship.  He is still a bit erratic, but physically he's exactly the sort of player Tyrone need in their inside forward line.  One to watch.

Well done to big Paddy Quinn from Dungannon, becoming only the 3rd Clarkes' player to debut for Tyrone under Mickey Harte.  I hope he goes a step further than the other 2 lads, and does enough to force his way into the panel proper for the NFL.

Also, Harry Og Conlon, midfield partner for Conan Grugan on the 2010 minor team, scored 3 points from play for QUB last weekend. Perhaps a similar return against his native county may see him inch closer to Mickey's plans.

Thomas Clarke wrote: A point of interest would be 19 year old Dan McNulty's debut at FF.  He's big, strong and mobile, and had a great Tyrone championship.  He is still a bit erratic, but physically he's exactly the sort of player Tyrone need in their inside forward line.  One to watch.

Well done to big Paddy Quinn from Dungannon, becoming only the 3rd Clarkes' player to debut for Tyrone under Mickey Harte.  I hope he goes a step further than the other 2 lads, and does enough to force his way into the panel proper for the NFL.

Also, Harry Og Conlon, midfield partner for Conan Grugan on the 2010 minor team, scored 3 points from play for QUB last weekend.  Perhaps a similar return against his native county may see him inch closer to Mickey's plans.

Interesting comments TC. Reading the post again, from a Tyrone perspective, the addition of 2 more physical inside forwards could be the making of this fledgling Tyrone outfit. In 2013 McCurry and McAliskey lacked the frames for contesting with strong, conditioned defenders. Should the debutants show promise I'd feel that Mickey should persevere with them until he's able to mould them into genuine campaigners.
SON may/may not be past it, but in any event is unable to draw the water AND boil the kettle by himself.

An interesting selection therefore.

Boxtyeater wrote:
Interesting comments TC. Reading the post again, from a Tyrone perspective, the addition of 2 more physical inside forwards could be the making of this fledgling Tyrone outfit. In 2013 McCurry and McAliskey lacked the frames for contesting with strong, conditioned defenders. Should the debutants show promise I'd feel that Mickey should persevere with them until he's able to mould them into genuine campaigners.
SON may/may not be past it, but in any event is unable to draw the water AND boil the kettle by himself.

An interesting selection therefore.

Oh I agree Boxty, it was so frustrating last year to see the ball go into an isolated FF line, and come straight back out again. Mickey played Mattie Donnelly at FF last weekend and, while the experiment didn't really work, it at least shows that he realises the need for more power closer to goal.

To be fair to McAliskey, I think that he will be bigger this year - I think he has the frame on which to put a bit of weight, and last year was his first on the panel. McCurry and Ronan O'Neill are both short, although 3 lads are 21 or 22, and should at least get a bit stronger (O'Neill talked about getting fitter last week: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ).

6'5" Paddy Quinn is not likely to be the answer this year, but young McNulty is very interesting. Power and pace, and the teenager was a real handful for everyone as his club won the Tyrone senior championship last year. Kyle Coney (23) is another who has the size to cause trouble, if he ever got fully fit.

Young players can emerge from nowhere as inside forwards. I've always maintained that Armagh's 2002 triumph (as opposed to their narrow failures in 1999-2001) owed more to the physical and mental development of Stevie McDonnell (then aged 22) and the stunning debut season of man-child Ronan Clarke (19) than it did to the arrival of Joe Kernan.

These young forwards are a big part of the reason for my optimism this year, not because any of them have yet looked like superstars, but rather because their natural talent plus the law of averages suggests that one or two of them should really push on in 2014.

Boxtyeater wrote:

Thomas Clarke wrote:Surely a 'must have' on every Christmas list - I'd say Boxty has a copy for each of the grandchildren…

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Not yet exactly TC, but I'm sure I'll be reading it over the Christmas, courtesy of the eldest son who, despite Boxty's move to the Kindle system, continues in the time honoured fashion of buying sporting biographies for all occasions that involve me.
Being somewhat canny like his mentor, many of these come under the "Buy 2 get 3rd. free" banner, hence I have 3 copies of Dessie Farrell's tome Rhapsody in Blue or whatever it's called.

I always liked Mulligan and hope it goes well for him in the years ahead. That said, he mightn't be my ideal son-in-law.....

Not sure if any of you have read any of this book but, courtesy of it arriving in the family home, I managed to scan through large chunks of it over the festive season.  

I'm not normally one for autobiographies, but this one certainly is a bit different to most of the others, given the wildness of the main subject.  One is left longing to hear the stories that were inevitably left out, or even the 'real' versions of some of the watered down adventures that are recounted.  A few of the more interesting football and non-football related topics were:

- Mugsy would not have played under Art McRory and Eugene McKenna had they stayed on as Tyrone managers in 2003.  He was furious due to being replaced only 5 minutes after coming on as a substitute in 2002 our qualifier loss to Sligo, not least because he had stayed off the drink while best man at his brother's wedding the day before, believing that he would be starting for Tyrone.

- He played one of the games of his life in an in-house challenge match the week before the 2008 AI final, despite being still drunk from a week-long bender with Raymie Mulgrew.

- Mugsy treated the 2006 International Rules trip to Australia in the manner that it was supposed to be treated - a drinking binge.  He announced his 'International Retirement' on the bus following the first test mauling by the Aussies, and was barely fit to train for most of the second week.  While trying to detox he couldn't sleep, and his AI captain roommate, Brian Dooher, had to read him bedtime stories to get him to sleep at night.  He also had a falling out with Sean Marty Lockhart over how serious they should be treating the junket.

- Sean Cavanagh's mystery illness before the 2009 AI semi-final did not go down well with the rest of the Tyrone team.  Several players were disgusted that Sean didn't feel well enough to start that day, although it now appears to be in the past.

- The return of Stevie O'Neill to the panel a fortnight before the 2008 AI final was not quite as unanimously accepted as was portrayed at the time.  

- Brian McEniff was dumbfounded by Mugsy when he had him for the Railway Cup team. McEniff told him he'd be marking former all-star Cathal Daly and wanted to know what he knew about him.  Mugsy responded by apologetically asking who Daly was and what county he played for?

- Mugsy, Gerald Cavlan and Hub Hughes found themselves naked bar loin cloths in a San Francisco sex club, only to spot a crowd of fully-clothed lads from Tyrone in it.  (The cash strapped county stars had paid $20 to enter naked, as opposed to $100 to keep their clothes on.)  While Hub and Cavo tried to hide with embarrassment, Mugsy decided that a brass neck was the only way to get through this scrape, and strode proudly over to the group wearing only his towel, greeting them with 'Ah Jesus lads, you F*****s didn't pay $100 to get into this place, did you?!'

There's plenty more about failed businesses, arrests, jail cells, conning referees, sledging, diving, the Dubs, Kerry and a host of other things.  Mugsy comes across quite well, as you'd expect in an autobiography, cocky in parts but honest and self-depracating in others.  A good effort and well worth a quick read.

havent read the book TC but i did hear comments similar to yours, also heard he has sold in excess of 30,000 copies - a nice little earner i would say

Thomas Clarke wrote:Tyrone team to take on the mighty QUB:

1 Michael O’Neill
2 Hugh Gallagher
3 Kevin Campbell
4 Ronan McNamee
5 Ciaran McGinley
6 Peter Harte
7 Tiernan McCann
8 Niall McKenna
9 Conan Grugan
10 Kevin Gallagher
11 Peter Hughes
12 PJ Lavery
13 Patrick Quinn
14 Daniel McNulty
15 Connor McAliskey

16 Niall Morgan
17 Conor Clarke
18 Matthew Donnelly
19 Danny McBride
20 Aidan McCrory
21 Shea McGuigan
22 Emmett McKenna
23 Patrick McNiece
24 Ronan O’Neill
25 Darren McCurry

It's an even more inexperienced side than last weekend, but I'd like to think that it is good enough to win.  

A point of interest would be 19 year old Dan McNulty's debut at FF.  He's big, strong and mobile, and had a great Tyrone championship.  He is still a bit erratic, but physically he's exactly the sort of player Tyrone need in their inside forward line.  One to watch.

Well done to big Paddy Quinn from Dungannon, becoming only the 3rd Clarkes' player to debut for Tyrone under Mickey Harte.  I hope he goes a step further than the other 2 lads, and does enough to force his way into the panel proper for the NFL.

Also, Harry Og Conlon, midfield partner for Conan Grugan on the 2010 minor team, scored 3 points from play for QUB last weekend.  Perhaps a similar return against his native county may see him inch closer to Mickey's plans.

another good result today for a young inexperienced team. Stats so far are played two, won two, no cards (of any colour) against and only two points conceeded in the second half of both games - not bad for a team of youngsters!

Good result indeed, although it was only the last 25 minutes when we really began to pull away.

Of course, the reality is that most of the new lads won't be good enough come championship time, at least not this year anyway.  However, if we can get 3-4 to go with what we already have (especially in the right positions - fullback line, midfield, playmaking half-forward and a big FF) then we'll be in good shape.  We also need the young lads who started playing last year to continue improving as well.

Names that have seemingly been impressive so far would be Tiernan McCann, Danny McBride, Conan Grugan, PJ Lavery, Peter Hughes and Shay McGuigan, the latter hoping to follow his father and three brothers into the Tyrone set-up.

Had a quick chat with Stephen O'Neill his morning - his injury prognosis isn't looking too hot. Still bothered with the Achilles injury, two tears which just wont heal for him. Next few months are crucial for him but if things don't improve any he is finished with any kind of football for good......

bocerty wrote:Had a quick chat with Stephen O'Neill his morning - his injury prognosis isn't looking too hot.  Still bothered with the Achilles injury, two tears which just wont heal for him.  Next few months are crucial for him but if things don't improve any he is finished with any kind of football for good......

It would be a shame for such a brilliant player to bow out that way, though injuries were always likely to get the better of Stevie in the end.  He was outstanding last spring, playing the best football I've seen from him since the mid noughties.  However, the injury he suffered before the league final left him unfit for the rest of the year, and he should not have been playing in the championship.  Really, he was a total passenger, and both he and the team deserved better - Mickey consistently bottled the big call last summer.

I hope he gets fit, but I wouldn't be pushing the matter.  I'd be saying to him to forget about playing football for 6 months, and see if he can get into some sort of shape to give us a couple of performances in August.  Sounds like that may be the best we can hope for at this point and, in the meantime, it opens the door for the younger lads to stake a serious claim.

Tonight's McKenna Cup result:

Tyrone 5-16
Armagh 0-7

Still furious at the way Armagh opportunistically took advantage of Leitrim's troubles last summer, Tyrone give the Orchardmen a deserved thumping, gaining some revenge for their good friends in the West.

Allied to the resounding thumping, I hope they managed the odd sneery comment such as "Do you'se lads have Senior championship experience or are yis all Junior footballers".....Baxtards!!!!!

Boxtyeater wrote:Allied to the resounding thumping, I hope they managed the odd sneery comment such as "Do you'se lads have Senior championship experience or are yis all Junior footballers".....Baxtards!!!!!

Never worry Boxty, no-one better than our boys to throw a few verbals, especially at a side that once thought of themselves as our rivals! It's a shame that Samin and GF no longer frequent these parts.

To be fair, I think that this win says a lot more about Armagh than it does about Tyrone. At present, perhaps only Fermanagh would rank below them in Ulster.

Healy Park Scoreboard Man Hospitalised With RSI. Stable Now.

Carlito McCabe, who works the scoreboard at Healy Park in Omagh, was described as ‘stable’ today after he was admitted late last night with Repetitive Strain Injury. McCabe, who was on duty during Tyrone’s 5-16 to 0-7 hammering of neighbours Armagh, began complaining on the way home of pains in his wrists and elbows before couping onto the pavement outside The Silver Berch with excruciating stiffness.

Healy Park gateman and close friend, Kieran McMahon, is adamant the Mickey Harte and his Tyrone side should issue a formal apology to his fellow clubman.

“I knew he was in trouble at half time. Tyrone had already racked up 2-10 by that stage and that’s some getting up and down in the cold weather for McCabe. I sent word into the Tyrone changing room at half time to tone it down a bit for McCabe but you know yourself, Mickey can be a headstrong fellow. We saw that when Tyrone scored another goal within 30 secs of the restart. It was a dagger through the heart of McCabe who had only managed to sit down after a boul of soup. I should’ve said nothing.”

McCabe maintains he will seek compensation from the Tyrone County board.

“The elbow is banjaxed. When Tyrone scored their 5th goal all I could shout was ‘Sweet Jaysus and The Holy Donkey’. Them there numbers are heavy. I’ll be expecting a couple of pounds from both county boards. “

It's a serious point you raise, Boc.  I was thinking along similar lines when I was looking at the updates coming through from TyroneGAA's twitter feed.  

Some poor fella probably saw next to none of the game, such was the amount of time he spent typing out the avalanche of Tyrone scores.  To be fair though, midway through the second half, things like 'A brilliant goal from PJ Lavery' or 'Yet another point from Ronan O'Neill off a superb Shay McGuigan pass' could simply be copied & pasted.

Bocerty shakes off winter lethargies to launch an exocet Eastwards.....

Commemorative no doubt of the late Ariel Sharon who's recently passed. Can the intrepid Killyclogher man sustain the barrage??

against my better judgement i ventured along to yesterdays game and boy was that £9 wasted (well actually £18 as the Mrs went as well, good job the kids got in free)

Two words to describe yesterday muck and dung. If thats what we have to look forward to in the league god help us all.

Referee was an absolute disaster, not sure if the black card rule was hindering him or he just didnt have a clue but he is up there with the worst performances ever seen. I think its an exaggeration to say physical contact has gone out of the game but they dont let much go - and many of the incidents weren't fouls so i dont know where he was getting his decisions from.

Tyrone got of to a whirlwind start and it was as good a goal as your likely to see on any GAA pitch - well worked with ball moved with speed and accuracy. That was 20 seconds gone and all looked hopeful for an entertaining game of football, sadly that was as good as it got.

Darren McCurry and Conor Clarke were Tyrone two best players, Fergal Doherty probably the pick of the Derry bunch. McCurry made good use of a dismal supply of ball, winning ball and turning his man inside out and scoring of left and right.

on yesterdays evidence Derry have little to offer, defence was poor especially the full back line and there wasnt a decent forward amongst the starting 6 forwards.

Tyrone have work to do as well - not least on kickouts - targeting isolated players with the kickout who was having the ball broke form him more often that not with no supporting players available to pick up the break.

All in all a bad day at the office and one hopes the league brings a better standard of football

bocerty wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

That's as good a goal from the throw in as you'll ever see.

Thomas Clarke wrote:

bocerty wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

That's as good a goal from the throw in as you'll ever see.

indeed it is TC a well worked move - there was another move which saw keeper save a shot from Grugan dont think the whole build up is shown in the video but it was of a similar nature