The shadow boxing and caveating of every single performance and result is over. Win or bust – knockout championship football is here at last. The round robin group stages of the All Ireland produced great excitement last weekend and Tyrone very nearly bowed out of Championship 2023 at the hands of Westmeath in Cavan. Had John Heslin converted that late free, we would have suffered perhaps our most surprising championship exit since 2007.
Indeed, if I had had my way, two teams would have been knocked out of the group and we would be gone already. It remains to be seen whether the GAA change this format next year but the same jeopardy would still be there.
The Galway match in Tuam was frustrating as we played most of it with 14 men and ten minutes of it with 13. It was a gutsy performance to keep the final scoreline as close as it was. Against Armagh, we emerged victorious by a slender scoreline despite facing only 14 men for the entire second half. As with the Ulster championship game at home to Monaghan, we are not finishing teams off and that is worrying. Refereeing decisions cost us dearly against Westmeath but in truth, we blew hot and cold throughout and Westmeath were decent value for the draw. With all due respect to the Lake County, there should be more than a few kicks of the ball between Tyrone and Westmeath.
Donegal had a sobering experience in the league suffering relegation and loss of manager to compound the enormous void left by the departure of captain Michael Murphy in the winter. They are the opposition once again tomorrow evening in Ballybofey. Their personnel has changed a lot but they remain dangerous and stand between Tyrone and a first return to Croke Park since the 2021 All Ireland final.
Expectations are undoubtedly low in what has been a stop start season. Darren McCurry should return tomorrow with the consensus being that it wasn’t worth risking him last weekend if not fully fit. Ruairí Canavan had his first championship start in Cavan but it was his older brother Darragh who stole the show with ten fine points. 2023 has been his best year in the county jersey to date and his improvement at this level has been stark and noticeable to all.
A major worry is our lack of squad depth. We’ve lost at least 15 men from the panel since the All Ireland triumph, about half a dozen of whom have departed since the start of this league campaign. Options have been tried and have not worked out. Joe Oguz and Cormac Quinn have helped to freshen things up – Cormac has started every single competitive game this year. Ruairí Canavan has mostly featured off the bench while Aidan Clarke, Nathan McCarron, Niall Devlin, Michael McGleenan and Seanie O’Donnell have had to be patient for opportunities.
Change can be slow and despite our struggles, about 11 or 12 of the old guard are still certainties to start every game if fit. Frank Burns Richie Donnelly, Kieran McGeary and Niall Sludden represent our most experienced options off the bench. It has the feel of a team in transition and I think we will see in the coming days exactly where we are at.
The gameplan has been too often slow and predictable this year. I think we need to mix it up more instead of trying to constantly run the ball through the field. We have a fine midfield pairing of Brian Kennedy and Conn Kilpatrick and it would be refreshing to see us make more use of the duo.
Very little media scrutiny has been on the Logan-Dooher management and the fact that they are in year three of a three-year term in charge. Although, they guided us to an All Ireland and have preserved our Division 1 status on three occasions, they may be judged on how their reign ends rather than by their crowning achievement in 2021. A win over Donegal is exactly what we need and the whole complexity of things changes greatly if we obtain a return to Headquarters next weekend.
Unofficial Tyrone 