ALL-IRELAND SFC QUARTER-FINAL TYRONE v KILDARE: KEITH DUGGANtalks to Derry manager Damian Cassidy who says even when you know what Tyrone are going to do, it is very difficult to prevent it
ALL IS calm, weirdly calm, in camp Tyrone. As the All-Ireland champions prepare for their first appearance in Croke Park since the novelty National League fixture against Dublin at the end of January, the most striking story about Tyrone is that there is no story.
Practically all of the hype has been directed at the high-octane exuberance with which Dublin reclaimed the Leinster title and the Big Fallout – or otherwise – in Kerry. All the while, Tyrone have been advancing stealthily with no alarms and no surprises.
Winning back-to-back All-Ireland titles is their stated objective. In 2004, their likelihood – and in truth, their interest – in achieving that ambition finished with the tragic death of Cormac McAnallen. After the 2005 success, a void was created by the retirement of Peter Canavan. His absence was always going to challenge the remaining Tyrone players but the following May, following Brian McGuigan’s broken leg, they were pitched into an injury crisis that became so severe it seemed as though the Red Hand county was jinxed.
They bowed out of the All-Ireland playing in a gale-force wind against Mick O’Dwyer’s Laois and by the looks on their faces, they were not all that sorry the season was over either. They knew there was no All-Ireland title beckoning that summer. The easy memory of that match – played on a Saturday evening in Portlaoise that felt and looked like a wild December – is that Tyrone fielded a badly-depleted team.
But despite the injuries – McGuigan, the key man in their All-Ireland run was obviously missing, so too were Brian Dooher, Stephen O’Neill and Conor Gormley – Tyrone were still able to select nine of the team who started last September’s All-Ireland final. (That number would probably have been 10 but for the fact goalkeeper John Devine had to withdraw from the team on the eve of last year’s final when his father passed away).
Since then, Tyrone have been successful in grooming Justin McMahon as a prototype modern full back, they have successfully remodelled Ryan McMenamin and/or Conor Gormley as centre backs, Enda McGinley has found his rightful place on the team as a rampaging midfielder and Tommy McGuigan has matured into a cutting-edge forward.
TYRONE WERE favourites to win this year’s Ulster title and did so with the minimum of fuss. Their victories over Armagh, Derry and Antrim did not seem to exercise them unduly. But their passage to the quarter-finals has been so smooth it leaves them open to the risk of not being able to switch in to their unique brand, with a full-on defensive press switching automatically to total attacking football.
Last year, they improved incrementally through the qualifiers so that when presented with the glamour challenge of Dublin, they were primed to unleash a style of football no other team could live with. The big challenge for Tyrone this weekend is to raise their game as the occasion demands.
“If it was any other team apart from Tyrone, I would say that it left them at a disadvantage,” says Damian Cassidy, the Derry manager. “But because it is Tyrone I find it difficult to imagine them being caught out in that manner. I suppose I have made no secret of the fact that I think they have been the best team in Ireland over the past five or six years.
“Obviously Kerry have claims in that regard as well but the bottom line is that when the teams have met in big games, Tyrone have been able to dismantle them.
“They have made it clear that they want to make their mark by winning consecutive All-Irelands. And if you look at their approach, they don’t really bother with challenge games but they play in-house games and with the panel they have at their disposal, they can play full-on, intense, quality games.
“The strength in depth of their squad means that even the best players have to stay sharp and maintain their form to hold their place on the team. And this year, they have very few injury troubles. So when you put those things together, it is hard to see them being caught out. Maybe for the first 20 minutes against Kildare, they will have to adapt to the pace of the game but that will be it.”
ALTHOUGH TYRONE ultimately beat Derry convincingly in the Ulster semi-final, it remains the key game of their summer to date. They held the Oak Leaf county to just seven points – a week later Derry went out and posted 3-16 against Monaghan.
The match was an eye-opener for Cassidy in his first year in charge, confirming what he already suspected to be the case: that in order to have a chance against Tyrone, you have to come into the match with all cylinders firing. Derry sabotaged their own chances, with Fergal Doherty missing with suspension and the impressive James Kielt absent after he was struck during a club match. Immediately, the percentage chance of a victory diminished.
But even when Cassidy ruminates on the way the game unfolded, he can see a few chinks in Tyrone’s armour that his team were unable to exploit.
“There was a 15-minute spell after half-time when we dominated. We were down by 0-8 to 0-3 and we have six wides, four of which were definitely scoring chances. If we had taken those, I am not saying we would have won but we would have made it more difficult for Tyrone. Then Brian Dooher came on the field and immediately kicked a terrific point and that is when the opportunity was gone.
“The score was 0-10 to 0-6 with 12 minutes remaining and then Kevin McGuckin was sent off in ridiculous circumstances. And Tyrone pulled away from us.
“Of course, all of that is just me looking back at it with rose-tinted Derry glasses. The reality is that while other teams know what Tyrone are going to do, it is very difficult to prevent it and even more difficult to replicate it.”
TYRONE ONLY have to look back as far as 2007, when they came into the All-Ireland series as quarter-finalists only to be beaten by Meath, to draw parallels with their current position, a comparison that Joe McMahon made during the week. Tyrone may have been caught cold on that occasion but Kildare have given plenty of advance warning of their potential and the presence of Kieran McGeeney in front of the Lilywhite dugout is bound to add a little spice to the pot.
Tyrone manager Mickey Harte has stated he cannot wait to get his team back into Croke Park – pointing out he had called for their first-round tie against Armagh to be played there. But more significant is the fact Tyrone have been playing well. The chief reason for their trouble-free season is they have not allowed any team to cause them trouble.
Only the training-ground injury that would appear to have ruled goalkeeper Devine out of the remainder of the championship has blighted their preparation for the All-Ireland series. Even without the services of the unlucky Devine, Harte has been able to call on the vastly experienced Pascal McConnel.
The expectation that Kildare will try to neutralise Tyrone using much the same tactics as the Armagh of McGeeney’s era did may or may not hold true. The big problem, as Cassidy sees it, is that no matter how you set your stall out against Tyrone, they have ways to sidestep those traps.
As Kildare selector John Grimley put it, “One door shuts and another door opens”.
“The success of any team is built on its half-back line and the strength of its midfield,” says Cassidy. “Tyrone have, in Davy Harte and Philip Jordan, two attacking half backs who can take scores and midfielders who can score, as well as six free-scoring forwards. No other team can match that – they might have one scoring half back but not two.
“Against Antrim, Ryan McMenamin ended up following his man up the pitch and got a score himself and set up a few more. They have so many players now that are comfortable contributing to the attack that it makes it very difficult to stop them.”
THE SUCCESS of the underage system in Tyrone would suggest they are set to dominate the landscape for several years to come, which is bad news for other Division One sides locked within the Ulster championship framework, let alone those counties with All-Ireland ambitions. They have replaced Kerry as the clear favourites for this year’s title and so far, they have dealt with that expectation smoothly.
It could be that right now, at their best, Tyrone are all but unbeatable. The one chink of hope for other contenders is that sooner or later, the supreme vintage that came through in the 1997/’98 minor teams will reach the natural end of their time as peak intercounty footballers. Sooner or later, Tyrone will have to think about replacing those who have been central to their All-Ireland successes.
“It is only then we will see how it spins,” says Cassidy. “And whether the coaching system extends the kind of form they have shown or whether it came down to a generation of great players emerging from the county at the same time.”
