Tyrone needed to show all their experience to overcome a rapidly improving Kildare, writes JOHN O'KEEFFE

THIS WAS exactly what the doctor ordered for Tyrone, a first really tough test in the championship this year. Mickey Harte will be very thankful, not just because they won but more because of the manner in which they did so. They had to work hard and dig deep and play with intensity to overcome a Kildare team who are very much on an upward curve. It was precisely the kind of tough match Tyrone needed after an easy passage through Ulster.

In fairness to Kildare, they asked a lot of tough questions; especially in the first half when they played with great belief. Their campaign in Leinster, and especially the provincial final with Dublin, stood to them.

In that opening half Kildare played with a pace and intensity and composure that was better than Tyrone who, at that stage, struggled to get up to the pace of the game. Their main men – Seán Cavanagh, Conor Gormley, Stephen O’Neill and Owen Mulligan – were all well-marshalled.

Kildare won the midfield battle in the first half and that proved to be a great platform with wing forwards James Kavanagh and Ronan Sweeney getting lots of ball and John Doyle having an outstanding game.

But going in at half-time, I wondered if Kildare could go out and play with that intensity and sustain it for the entire 70 minutes? If Tyrone were to continue in the same vein for the second half, they knew they were out of the championship.

There is no better man in the dressingroom than Harte and he obviously used all of his experience and motivation skills.

Tyrone were a different team in the second half and Cavanagh, Gormley, O’Neill and Mulligan, and Brian McGuigan when he came on, showed fantastic leadership qualities. Tyrone started to win more possession around midfield and the direct ball into O’Neill and Mulligan gave them the upper hand and swung the contest their way.

The main difference was Tyrone’s experience and composure, and also in their decision-making. All of these were of a higher quality than Kildare’s. After that start to the second half when Tyrone had six unanswered points, a dreadful 15 minutes for Kildare, it was a sign of the steel in the side that Kildare stayed in the game right to the death. You have to marvel at the two older stalwarts, Dermot Earley and John Doyle, who led by example and hopefully they will be around again next year because this is a team on an upward learning curve and definitely headed in the right direction.

Kildare are a serious team now and will learn from this championship campaign and from this defeat. What I know of Kieran McGeeney is that he is highly motivated, determined and a winner. Winning means everything to him, and it was pretty evident that he has instilled that character into Kildare because they were not prepared to lie down.

It was always going to be difficult for them to sustain the same pace they set in the first half right through the game, as that pace sets enormous demands on fitness levels.

What happens when you tire is that you start kicking looser passes and your decision-making is not as good.

I was surprised there was only one minute added on at the end. If you were to be really serious and stopped the clocks you could have five or six minutes. It is all at the discretion of the referee but, even so, Kildare had a number of chances and didn’t take them. Tyrone’s introduction of Brian McGuigan was very astute, he does the simple things very well.

Unfortunately for Cork, they won’t have learned much from this win over Donegal. It was a mismatch, no contest . . . . I thought Donegal capitulated so early and too easily. It takes a really fit team to recover weekend to weekend and maybe their efforts against Derry and Galway caught up on them. They looked flat with no freshness or sharpness.

Having said that, I believe Cork are an outstanding team and from the outset of the championship I’ve rated them very highly.

There’s a hunger in this Cork team, they mean business this year and have so much quality coming in off the bench in matches. There was such a difference in class in this match, and after their heroics of the past few weeks it was a pity Donegal had to exit in such a poor fashion.

Donegal were very naive in their handling of the Cork half-back line, which established the platform for the win. You have got to put strong running athletes in the half-forward line. You can’t allow the likes of John Miskella, Graham Canty and Noel O’Leary to get forward with so much freedom. You simply can’t give them that amount of time and space or they will hurt you every time. I felt some Donegal players abdicated responsibility in not chasing back.

I was still very impressed by the Donegal forward Michael Murphy, who has all the ingredients to be a great player. For such a young player, he was outstanding, even in defeat yesterday.

But the two results yesterday have set things up for a potentially great semi-final. However, Tyrone will have learned more about themselves than Cork.