Harte a good sport over his helping hand
TYRONE might just have become too generous for their own good.
When they were in their All-Ireland winning heyday, they were defined by their absolute ruthlessness, where they would not give an opponent an inch, never mind a mile.
These days, though, it appears that they don’t give a second thought to handing over their keys to help a friend in need.
Rory Beggan’s performance between the posts was utterly beguiling yesterday, as he his kickouts provided the launch pad for Monaghan to hit Tyrone where it hurt most, particularly in the second half.
On top of that, he gave an exhibition of place-kicking that had even Tyrone supporters in the 15,029 attendance gasping for breath, converting four of his five long-range frees.
But practice makes for perfect and Tyrone also made sure that his practice reached literally a pitch perfect level.
In the run-up to yesterday’s big game, Beggan was granted access by the St Enda’s club, who own Healy Park, to go practice his kicking and this was how he chose to repay the favour.
Mickey Harte, though, was a good sport about it all afterwards. ‘I think that’s fair enough,’ dismissing a suggestion that Tyrone had been too accommodating.
‘It doesn’t matter what day he does it and what day he practises it. It’s the day of the game that matters.
‘He is doing this for a good while now, he is doing it in various grounds around the country and I have no issue with that at all and it is a credit to the capacity he has that he can hit those long frees consistently.
‘It’s a serious weapon to have in their team because there’s four points that you might normally expect to get one of them if you are lucky, especially the distance you are kicking them from.
‘I don’t think anybody else has a player that they would be sure enough to get four of those kicks.’
In a two-point game, it could be argued that Beggan was the difference between the teams at the end but the reality is that Monaghan’s superiority went deeper.
Monaghan’s second-half display was as complete a performance as the Farney men have produced in Malachy O’Rourke’s six years in charge, and one which will now make them favourites to win a third Ulster title under his watch.
‘We know the work we’re doing, we know we’re trying to improve all time, we feel we have a lot of quality and strong panel,’ said O’Rourke, who faces his native Fermanagh in the Ulster semifinal in a fortnight’s time.
‘The attitude of the boys is great and there’s a really great spirit there. But all it was enough to get us through today. It’s won’t be good enough the next day if we don’t bring it again.
‘The last couple of years, we’ve got to semi-finals and been put out. We’ll enjoy today but all it does is get us into the next round.’
But behind the caution, the truth was that Monaghan had travelled to Omagh expecting to win.
They had already beaten Tyrone when coming within a whisker of reaching the League final this spring, and O’Rourke knows that he now has that blend of youth and experience which will make his team hard to stop from here.
It was the older brigade who led the way yesterday, with Dessie Mone, Drew Wylie and Vinny Corey — the latter scoring the match-defining goal — all among their 10 scorers.
‘Dessie and Vinny have been training really hard and you can’t buy that experience. Just looking in the changing room beforehand and you feel that they have been through this so many times and they can keep their heads and pick up the right positions.
‘It helps keep other fellas calm as well. They are very valuable to us and hopefully we can keep them injury-free for another while anyway,’ added O’Rourke.
Harte is in a very different place, having lost Mark Bradley to an ankle injury and Lee Brennan to a recurrence to a hamstring injury, while he will also see his team head into the first round of the qualifiers without his nephew Peter, sent off in injury-time. Harte protested about that decision to referee David Coldrick afterwards.
‘I was just asking him because I thought Petey gave a body tackle that you very often get away with for a yellow card. ‘I did not think it was a red-card offence,’ said Harte. Despite taking that stance, Harte confirmed that Tyrone will not be appealing the suspension.
‘Our challenge now is to get into the last eight and that is a harder and more unpredictable journey because you don’t know who you are going to meet and where you are going to meet them,’ admitted the Tyrone boss.