Donegal’s bid for a fourth Ulster title in six
years ended in disappointment and of the three recent final defeats, this one
hurt the most.
In a frenetic period of stoppage time, Peter Harte
sent over a sensational point to put his side ahead after Donegal had led for
almost the entire game.
The previous decider losses to Monaghan had seen
Donegal playing catch up throughout but it was roles reversed today as Rory
Gallagher’s team looked accomplished for long spells and led by four at one
stage.
After that lead was established though, Tyrone
racked up a tally of 0-9 to their opponents 0-3. They were composed and patient
in this spell and a far cry from what they were in the first half – erratic and
ill-disciplined.
Donegal on the other hand had total belief in what
they were doing early on. Chances were carefully created and taken. Ryan
McHugh’s performance was simply stunning. He terrifies defenders with his pace
so Tyrone stood off him to ensure he couldn’t run at or around them. With this
space offered to him, the Kilcar man was quite happy to take on his shots and
he made hay while they sun shone high in the Clones sky. It’s a sign of a
footballer of the highest intelligence when he can read what’s going on around
him and take decisive action in reacting.
Odhran MacNiallais had brought his shooting boots
too and he helped his team into a three point half time, which was a fair reflection
of how things had transpired.
Tyrone’s inside forwards hadn’t posed much of a
threat and generally most of their scores would be expected to come from the
counter attack. That left the Donegal full back line with the task of starting
attacks rather than shutting down Tyrone’s. Neil McGee got on a huge amount of
ball and carried with purpose into the opposition half of the field.
Donegal had kept their heads while Tyrone seemed to
be losing theirs. Mattie Donnelly and Cathal McShane went off on black cards
while player after player hacked woeful shots into the clouds. In the
claustrophobic setting, it was Donegal who were finding room to breathe.
Then came the half time whistle. After that it
seemed to be a cliché-strewn disaster for Donegal. Half time came at the wrong
time; a game of two halves; whatever was said in the Tyrone dressing room
worked – take your pick.
Michael Murphy brilliantly created a point for
Paddy McBrearty straight from the throw in but then Tyrone proceeded to wring
the life out of the men in green and gold jerseys. They waited and waited,
content to let Donegal have the ball. They waited some more and once the
slightest error came they pounced.
Donegal just could not get through their defence
and rather than take on pot-shots against the breeze they pressed and probed,
hoping an opening would come. When it didn’t they were turned over and hit by
waves of Tyrone attackers.
There will no doubt be frustration amongst Donegal
supporters at how insistent the team were in holding onto possession in the
second half. Certainly there was a case to be made for more shooting, even if
it resulted in more wides than points, but such was the reluctance to offer
Tyrone chances to counter, they felt it was simply a case of ‘when we have the
ball, they can’t score’.
It is likely though that the only way that the
retaining the ball plan would have worked would have been to keep possession
much deeper, retreating back and in doing so force Tyrone to come out. Or would
it have been better to simply give Tyrone the ball and set up the defensive
screen as they had done?
Despite being behind, Tyrone’s tactics were that of
a team defending a lead – sit back, wait for a mistake and then swarm forward.
Donegal meanwhile were ahead but played the match as high up the pitch as they
could.
Interestingly, it was the victorious minor team who
managed to hit on the right gameplan. They defended their lead deep and with
magnificent ball players and runners like Niall O’Donnell and Aidan McLaughlin
they tagged on the extra scores they needed to win.
As frustration grew, Donegal resorted to running at
the Tyrone defence in the hope of drawing frees but none were forthcoming from
David Coldrick. This reinvigorated the Red Hand men and their leaders came to
the fore with Sean Cavanagh in particular producing an immense second half. The
gloriously decorated Moy man proved again that he is one of the game’s greats;
his two points off his right boot were nothing short of spectacular.
With Tyrone pushing up on Mark Anthony McGinley’s
restarts, thus forcing him to go long, Donegal were then ironically starved of
the possession that they had almost sole control of for so long. Cavanagh
junior, Colm, lorded the midfield battle and what Donegal would have given for
Paul Durcan and Neil Gallagher to be on the field for those closing minutes.
Instead it was thousands of Tyrone fans who raced
onto St Tiernach’s Park to celebrate at the full time whistle and they can now
dream big for 2016. They have placed themselves in the hot seat as Dublin’s
main challengers and should those two sides meet further down the line, it will
make for a fascinating encounter.
For Donegal it’s the back door again and the record
of beaten provincial finalists over the past few years wouldn’t fill anyone
with too much optimism. We’ll be heading back to Croke Park in a couple of
weeks but not via the planned route.
No comments:
Post a Comment