Chance to Heal wounds

THIS evening’s Healy Park showdown is life or death for both Tyrone and Monaghan.

Whoever loses may well be heading down to Division 2 with Cavan.

That would be a disaster for either team, crippling their further development.

As such, this could be the most physical encounter of the year yet.

Tyrone’s confidence is low – they’ve managed to score just 1-27 in three games.

It’s so poor. They lack pace and penetration up front and with too many players of the same type, the balance is just not right.

As for Monaghan, what’s happened since their great win against Dublin?

Losing to Roscommon and then to Galway last week, were they were as poor as I’ve ever seen them.

They lost their shape up front against Galway far too easily.

They also had a few serious defensive lapses – they were all over the place at times.

Their renowned hard work was absent, and they lacked conviction going forward, only scoring 0-11

Stephen O’hanlon

(above) is back, which is great, but it’s their big players who must step up.

Monaghan have disappointed me with their lack of application. Did the Dublin win go to their heads a little?

I’ve never questioned that side of things with a Monaghan team before.

They must pick their best team from the start and go back to the basics of hard work tonight.

Do that and they should get back on track against a totally out of sorts Tyrone team.