Mayo V Tyrone: All-Ireland Semi-Final 25/08/2013.

emmetryan wrote:Mayo's bench has been one of the most under rated aspects of their game, by me included for a long time.

I guess what I'm saying Emmet is that you are looking only at Mayo's positives, and are unable to see any way that Tyrone can win this.  I think that there are many reasons why Tyrone should be respected:

1.  4 starters have 3 senior AI medals, Joe McMahon has 2, and Colm Cavanagh has 1, all won on the field of play.  On top of that, there are plenty of lads who have played interprovincial and/or have minor AI
medals.  Mickey Harte has managed sides to 6 AI victories.  In terms of success, Tyrone have the proven winners here.

2.  Tyrone have been beating top sides all year, finishing 2nd in the league. We then won 5 qualifier games in 6 weeks, none of them at home.  It is easy to say that we weren't impressive in those games, but the qualifiers are not about impressing.  They are about 2 things only:  Winning your next match, and developing your side.

3.  Mayo haven't yet had to play a 2nd half.  All 4 games were over in 25 minutes.  Undoubtedly some of this was because they have been very good themselves, but some of it is due to the spiritless performances of the opposition.  In short, Mayo have looked very good, but have so far beaten nothing.

4.  Tyrone are not a side arriving at a semi-final to make up the numbers.  We aren't Wexford (08), Meath (09), Kildare (10), Mayo (11) who are mainly happy to be there.  Tyrone are coming as a top division 1 team who are expecting to win an AI.  This year, we have victories over Mayo, Dublin, Donegal, Down, Meath, Monaghan and Kildare (x3).  5 of those wins were away from home, 1 was in Omagh and 3 were in neutral venues.

5.  Before the league final, you predicted that Dublin would win easily.  In the end, it was a real struggle, despite Tyrone losing SON just before throw in.  Tyrone matched Dublin over 140 minutes of the league, and Dublin are as fast as Mayo.  Mayo's speed doesn't unduly scare me.

6.  Tyrone have some very talented lads, who could step up.  Mattie Donnelly (23), Peter Harte (23), Conor Clarke (20), Ronan McNabb (23), Kyle Coney (23), Ronan O'Neill (21), Conor McAliskey (22), Darren McCurry (21).  These lads are approaching the age where they can be stars, and some of them will be soon.  Players improve quickly at that age, and the qualifiers will have brought all of them on a lot.  

7.  Mayo have no natural candidate for marking Sean Cavanagh.  In general, they lack pace at midfield, with both O'Sheas and Barry Moran being heavy-legged.  If they do assign someone to do a marking job, it will disrupt their balance.

8.  As Bronco said earlier in the thread, Mayo leave space at the back.  If Tyrone can turn over ball, they will find more space to play in than they did against the likes of Monaghan or Donegal.

9.  When at their best, the real star turns here are on the Tyrone side.  Mayo have no individual as talented as Sean Cavanagh, and no forward as mercurial as Stevie O'Neill.  SON has been injured most of the summer, but if he can recapture his form from the spring, Mayo will have their hands full.

10.  Mayo players will have been told for the last 3 weeks that this is a formality, part of the procession to their AI victory.  Try as you may, it is hard to play that down in a dressing room, and even harder when you haven't had a tough game yet.  


So, there are a few reasons why Tyrone can be optimistic, and why they certainly shouldn't be dismissed as being 'out of their depth'.  Of course, I could give you a list of reasons why Mayo should feel confident, but you've already done that in your article.  This is just to add a bit of balance

P.S.  Here are 10 more:  http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/tyrone-remain-a-force-to-be-reckoned-with-240675.html

Below are the 15 Tyrone players selected to fulfil the fixture with Mayo:

1 Pascal McConnell
2 Ryan McKenna
3 Conor Clarke
4 Cathal McCarron
5 Ciaran McGinley
6 Peter Harte
7 Conor Gormley
8 Colm Cavanagh
9 Sean Cavanagh
10 Matthew Donnelly
11 Mark Donnelly
12 Joe McMahon
13 Darren McCurry
14 Stephen O’Neill
15 Connor McAliskey

My initial reaction is one of slight surprise.

Dermot Carlin is again the bridesmaid on the big day.  I've no doubt he will appear at some point but, assuming it isn't injury related, Ryan McKenna's selection ahead of him seems to be about pace.

In attack, Tyrone have replaced Penrose with McAliskey.  That is a considerable drop off in tackling and workrate, but an increase in scoring power.  Tyrone have experimented with 3 inside forwards twice this year, and both times it was a disaster (League v Cork, and 1st half v Kerry).  My guess is that O'Neill and McAliskey will take turns alternating out the field, although neither playing as deep as Penrose normally would.  

This plan will be to stop Mayo coming onto them, by keeping them more honest at the back.  It is also about trying to free up Stevie O'Neill.

Tyrone have plenty of reasons to be optimistic.

I'd probably favour a Tyrone win but that's mainly because I naturally lean to the underdog and Tyrone / Mickey Harte have a bit of a "story" with them.

I would also like to clarify some of Thomas Clarke's points, Stephen O'Neill only won one All-Ireland as a starter, 2005 - the same year Pascal McConnell wasn't a starter. So Gormely and Cavanagh the only two with 3 All-Irelands on the field of play.

A Quarter-Final is not a qualifier. Tyrone have won 4 qualifiers, not 5.

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:
I would also like to clarify some of Thomas Clarke's points, Stephen O'Neill only won one All-Ireland as a starter, 2005 - the same year Pascal McConnell wasn't a starter. So Gormely and Cavanagh the only two with 3 All-Irelands on the field of play.

A Quarter-Final is not a qualifier. Tyrone have won 4 qualifiers, not 5.

If you are going to be pedantic, you might want to be 100% accurate.  

1) Stevie O'Neill did indeed win his 3 medals on the field of play, as I had stated. For completeness, he also won his AI minor and 2 x U21 AI medals on the field.

2) You are correct that Pascal was a sub one year, but are incorrect about the year (it was 2003).

Call a spade a spade. The only way Tyrone can win is to stop Mayo playing football. It has worked for them in most games this year and has been woeful to behold tbh. Hopefully Mayo will prevail despite what Tyrone 'throw' at them. Tyrone are in a semi having played little or no footbsll. I hope and am very confident that Mayo will blow them away. For the sake of the game and our kids watching and learning,

Thomas Clarke wrote:

emmetryan wrote:Hi guys
Tactical preview of Mayo vs Tyrone now up
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Emmet

Pretty grim reading for Tyrone fans.  It'll be a credit to Mickey and the lads if they even bother to turn up and fulfil the fixture.

I know i have been writing off Tyrone as well but i think they deserve more respect than that preview. I hope we get a good close semi final on Sunday, both semi finals were superb last summer and i have watched enough Mayo mis/boring matches for one year.

KerryKatriona wrote:Call a spade a spade.  The only way Tyrone can win is to stop Mayo playing football.  It has worked for them in most games this year and has been woeful to behold tbh. Hopefully Mayo will prevail despite what Tyrone 'throw' at them. Tyrone are in a semi having played little or no footbsll. I hope  and am very confident that Mayo will blow them away. For the sake of the game and our kids watching and learning,

your sounding like Brolly there KK - for the sake of our kids watching and learning - such tripe, as if every child mimics everything Tyrone do.

Gaa_lover wrote:

Thomas Clarke wrote:

emmetryan wrote:Hi guys
Tactical preview of Mayo vs Tyrone now up
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Emmet

Pretty grim reading for Tyrone fans.  It'll be a credit to Mickey and the lads if they even bother to turn up and fulfil the fixture.

I know i have been writing off Tyrone as well but i think they deserve more respect than that preview. I hope we get a good close semi final on Sunday, both semi finals were superb last summer and i have watched enough Mayo mis/boring matches for one year.

i think they do deserve more respect than Emmet has afforded them, its not like they have appeared out of nowhere.

Mayo are under severe pressure here in this fixture, its now or never for these guys if they dont win it this year they can forget about it. They certainly wont repeat the performance of the previous round and Tyrone wont be one bit afraid of them so it will make for an interesting 70 minutes.

Boxtyeater wrote:

bocerty wrote: Our defence is slow we are playing with 1 midfielder - no harm to Colm Cavanagh but he is a passenger most of the time - and the only man scoring is our other midfielder.  By my reckoning we have scored 2 goals in the championship Mayo have hit the net 13 times and a sh!t load of points - they have speed all over the field and i dont see where we can stop them - it will be a war of attrition and ugly football for Tyrone to win.

Outstanding example of "cute-hoorism" from Bocerty here. Jaysus man, it can't be that grim surely.
Aren't yis' in the damn thing FFS and 28 others aren't.

This forum is lucky Leitrim aren't there, for I would have the heads bulled off ye' by now, between
pen-pictures of the team down to the water carriers, how many acres the lads have, histories of the clubs they come from and other important trivia.

Shocking negativity....Are things OK at home?

i hear what your saying Boxty and maybe its an end product of our success over 10 years that a semi final appearance doesnt excite me the way it perhaps once did.

I think its pre match nerves and the worry Mayo dish out a beating like they did Donegal. I certainly hope Tyrone win and there will be no one shouting louder than myself (at the TV albeit with a sore ar5e after 160 miles on a bike).

Hello everyone. Good to see you are all behaving. Just briefly on Sunday's match, I believe Tyrone are going to give Mayo a hell of a battle. All this bull from Brolly etc will only lift the Tyrone boys and if it is tight in the final 10 minutes I would go with Tyrone. If Mayo get a very good start then yes it would bet their day. Anyway I hope Sean Cavanagh has another blinder and ironically is brought down for a penalty which he scores.  Looking forward to sizing up our final opponents. 

Wahey!!! Good to see you back RKF and hope you're in peppering form. Being the archetypal Kerryman you clearly conserve your energies with a view to peaking in Aug/Sept.

Hopefully, for the sake of Connacht football, Mayo will make a game of it and not calve altogether in the face of the cyclonic Nordie hordes.

Mayo have been impressive in their four games thus far although let's be fair - they've had their fair share of good fortune along the way.

It'd be wishful thinking to expect another demolition.

I'd be a lot more experienced than most in calling a match like this. I think it'll be a lot closer than the average of public opinion. The naïve supporter can't see past Mayo's demolition of Donegal and Tyrone's alleged reliance on tactical fouling.

As the great exodus of Rhubarbs begins, en-route for Croke Park to face the infernal Northern hordes, it's best they remember that despite various British Commissions, lack-lustre and failed Irish Governmental rhetoric, Ballaghadereen is in Roscommon electorially and always will be.

For those of you who think that Mayo stops at Belmullet, the home of Willie Joe, it doesn't....see here:



Bloodied, bowed but un-broken...all in the song...."Will Galway bate Mayo, not if they have Willie Joe"



And it doesn't even stop at that. Here's Flynnstone playing the "poor mouth" card.

Another punter writing Tyrone off, TBH i can't recall so many one sided previews for All Ireland semi final before?

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I also think this piece is a load of nonsense.

The suggestion that they have something to prove because of a perceived lack of a so-called “test” to date is wide of the mark. Every game is a test. If you, as an observer, are unable to assess a team’s credentials because they haven’t been in a close game that’s your own look out, but Mayo have been tested in every game they’ve played this year.

@gaa_lover

Just for you, here's my 1st. day at school, lifelong buddy, Yonkers resident, all round sound guy nailing his flag to the mast....

It's notable how few Tyrone players from the All-Ireland minor winning teams of 2008 and 2010 have graduated onto the senior side. Peter Harte and Mattie Donnelly from 2008 and Conor Clarke from 2010 are the only three named to start tomorrow. Others like Ronan McNabb, Kyle Coney, Paddy McNiece (2008) and Ronan O'Neill (2010) are in the subs I think.

Normally a good underage team can form a future senior team especially in Tyrone's case who lost a lot of All-Ireland winners very close to one another (K. Hughes, B. Dooher, E. McGinley, P. Jordan, R. McMenamin, O. Mulligan, B. McGuigan all retired in the last 2 years) - surely it was an opportune time for these young lads to come on and replace the older guard. Not sure what went wrong. Maybe after winning the minors these players got complacent.

The Mayo team is made up of several of the 2006 u21 winning team: Keith Higgins, Tom Cunniffe, Chris Barrett, Seamie O'Shea, Colm Boyle and Ger Cafferky started the final in 2006 and also start tomorrow. Barry Moran and Mickey Conroy are in the subs and Ken O'Malley would be the goalie only for injury.

The rest of the team is made up of u21s from 2009: Lee Keegan, Donal Vaughan, Aidan O'Shea, Kevin McLoughlin and Rob Hennelly - Jason Gibbons, Kevin Keane, Cathal Carolan and Jason Doherty in the subs.

So by my reckoning the first eleven on the timesheet were involved with Mayo u21s in 2006 or 2009 and the remained 12-15 weren't.

Note - Alan Freeman was possibly injured in 2009 which caused him to miss that campaign?

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:It's notable how few Tyrone players from the All-Ireland minor winning teams of 2008 and 2010 have graduated onto the senior side. Peter Harte and Mattie Donnelly from 2008 and Conor Clarke from 2010 are the only three named to start tomorrow. Others like Ronan McNabb, Kyle Coney, Paddy McNiece (2008) and Ronan O'Neill (2010) are in the subs I think.

Normally a good underage team can form a future senior team especially in Tyrone's case who lost a lot of All-Ireland winners very close to one another (K. Hughes, B. Dooher, E. McGinley, P. Jordan, R. McMenamin, O. Mulligan, B. McGuigan all retired in the last 2 years) - surely it was an opportune time for these young lads to come on and replace the older guard. Not sure what went wrong. Maybe after winning the minors these players got complacent.

Interesting points on the origin of the teams, Loyal.

Tyrone had a few others from e 2008 team who made the panel but, for one reason or another, didn't stay on it (Niall McKenna, Gavin Teague, Ciaran Girvin). Coney has struggled a lot with injuries over the last 3 years, and really needs a full league campaign next year.  After that, we should know if it is ever going to happen for him. Ronan McNabb has also had terrible luck with injuries, and the Monaghan game was his first of any kind for Tyrone in 14 months. He is a very good player, and could feature prominently tomorrow.

The 2010 group would still be young, though they weren't thought of as being as good a side as the 2008 crop. Ronan O'Neill was and remains the star turn, but it is only now he is starting to recapture his promise after a cruciate injury in February last year. Others from that side are on the panel, and may see more gametime next year.

Our 2004 minor winning team has only 2 players left on the panel (Colm Cavanagh and Aidan Cassidy), while the 2001 team included Dermy Carlin, Martin Penrose, Joe McMahon & Sean Cavanagh.  Only Stevie O'Neill remains from the 1998 side, and it is still our best ever minor team.

I'm slightly less confident than I was earlier in the week, mainly due to our team selection.

McAliskey and McKenna bring more pace and skill than Penrose and Carlin, but it is a downgrade in terms of defence, strength and experience. The latter could be crucial when you consider that, between them, McAliskey, McKenna, McGinley & McCurry have played a total of only 15 minutes in the Ulster championship. Our likely subs, McNabb & O'Neill barely boost that figure. We have so many raw lads who will figure tomorrow, and I wonder if they are physically or mentally ready.

I also worry about our forward line. McAliskey increases the scoring potential, and will probably alternate with SON at CHF. Still, our worst performances this year have come with 3 attackers as opposed to 2, so this will place huge pressure on the 2 Donnellys in terms of workload.

A lot of Tyrone people are doubtful whether or not SON and/or Joe McMahon will start. Neither are fully fit, and SON is rumoured to have been been getting by on rest and injections all championship.

Still, we remain optimistic and hopeful that we can match Mayo for pace and intensity, and get the goals that they fail to get. Personally, I can't wait, as AI Semi finals are great occasions, and there to be enjoyed, whatever the result. Also, I'm an optimist by nature, and I'm expecting huge games from the Cavanaghs, Clarke, Harte and the likes, and maybe tomorrow is when Ronan O'Neill shows everyone what he can do.

I agree with GAA Lover. I was reading the match thread on boards.ie and some of the predictions are hilarious. Massive amount of expectation on Mayo - supporters have really bought into the big hammerings. Even the coverage on the radio and the papers seems to be more about how much Mayo will win by not who will win.

First real test for Mayo this summer and they were their for the taking today. Tyrone will have plenty of what ifs with the soft penalty along with a load of soft frees Deegan award to Mayo and Tyrone could have got a penalty themselves for a foot block.

Lack of strong bench cost Tyrone they couldn't really replace Harte,McMahon,O'Neill. While Mayo have like for like replacements. Where next for Tyrone a decent championship it must be said while Mayo reaching All Ireland finals is nothing new can this side without O'Connor end their famine? i don't so.

Deegan had a stinker today and yet again we have referee deciding a major game in the championship.

I can understand referee errors in judegemental areas.
What i cant understand is inconsistency when the referee is presented with the same set of facts.

Donal vaughan takes down Mcginley when a goal chance could have materialised - no card
Colm cavanagh gets booked for a similar foul in a less threatening part of the pitch.

To a neutral it is clear to me that a dimmer view was to be taken of cynical fouls if commited by Tyrone.

Hi lads,

Tactical breakdown of today's game here. Genuinely interested in stuff y'all thought I missed, not least because it'll come in handy for my final previews (I do a three-parter for it)

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Emmet