THE CHAMPIONSHIP HARTE AND SOUL
Tyrone send message of intent but boss insists famous win is just a ‘stepping stone’
MICKEY HARTE has warned his Tyrone players not to get caught up in the euphoria of yesterday’s ground-breaking win over Donegal.
Tyrone torched Donegal’s eight-year unbeaten record at Ballybofey to book an All-Ireland semi-final date with Monaghan this Sunday. Their seven-point victory (2-17 to 1-13) was Tyrone’s first in Ballybofey in 45 years and was marked by a pitch invasion at the final whistle. That prompted a plea from Harte for his team to focus on Monaghan — who knocked them out of the Ulster Championship back in May — insisting that there was no prize for reaching a semi-final.
‘The big thing is we have to get our feet back on the ground because players have no control over what happened at the end of the match today,’ stressed the Tyrone manager.
‘The supporters just flowed on to that field and were so euphoric and we wouldn’t want to get caught up in that euphoria because there are no cups handed out today, no titles won, no medals. This is a huge match next week. There are only seven
IN THE space of seven brutish minutes, Donegal’s holy ground turned into a killing field.
They arrived here leaning on the kind of home comforts that only an eight-year, 21-match unbeaten record can gift, but left in a daze, their record and summer torched by noisy neighbours.
It was an ending that their supporters in the 16,242 attendance hardly saw coming when Paddy McGrath, in a sequence of play started by a goal-saving block from Ryan McHugh, fired over a sublime point to push them four points clear in the 53rd minute.
It terms of unity of purpose, it was the perfect score — the playmaking genius putting his body on the line at one end, the cornerback specialist using his magic dusted boot at the other.
It should have been one which infected Tyrone minds with doubt. Instead, it gifted them with clarity. Back this Tyrone team into a corner and they come back snarling.
In what seemed like an instant response — it actually took seven minutes — they flipped this contest on its head when Tiernan McCann surged along the endline and punched his centre for Harry Loughran to finish to the net.
It gave Tyrone a lead (1-13 to 1-11) for the first time in a game they had been chasing from the 26th minute, when Jamie Brennan gave Donegal the lead with the second of his three points.
Ignore the final scoreline — warped even further by Declan McClure’s injury-time goal — this was the tightrope contest that had been hyped and, for most of it, Tyrone looked vulnerable.
They all but staggered off at the end of an ultra-cautious first half, when Niall Morgan gift-wrapped a goal — his short restart intercepted by the excellent McHugh, who set up Michael Murphy for his first Championship goal since the 2012 All-Ireland final.
The manner of how that goal was conceded, and the fact they were still chasing the damage it caused for most of the second half, was another reason why they should have wilted at a ground where they had not won a Championship game in 45 years.
Instead, they went and won this in a canter.
The facts are they outscored Donegal in the 29 minutes — 12 minutes of injury-time were played — which followed McGrath’s point by a whopping 2-7 to 0-2.
But it is where those scores came from which was key. Tyrone’s bench has been their comfort all summer — Loughran’s matchchanging goal was not his first; also coming up with a huge threepointer in their nerve-jangling extra-time win over Meath.
They scored 2-5 from the bench here — almost half their final tally — and do not confuse this for some freak northern wind which just blew in. This is how this team rolls.
In their three Super 8s games, they mined a huge total of 4-11 from the bench.
In the meantime, Donegal, over those three games got 0-2. If you wonder why the latter are laid out on a stone cold slab, then wonder no more.
The Championship’s new format was designed to stress-test the depth of squads. Tyrone embraced that challenge, Donegal shrivelled. Indeed, the impact of Tyrone’s bench extended beyond the massive dividend in points.
Lee Brennan, who marked his arrival with two points inside a minute, ignited a Tyrone inside line that was both stagnant and
While Tyrone embraced it, Donegal shrivelled
impotent until his introduction.
That was hardly a surprise, Brennan was Tyrone’s top scorer in the League until, along with his fellow strike forward Mark Bradley, until their summer was sabotaged by injury.
But now that he is back fit, Mickey Harte has chosen to nourish his bench by keeping him on it. Tyrone don’t do subs, they do finishers.
Kieran McGeary falls into that bracket. He may have managed a single point, but his capacity to tackle, turn over ball and ratchet up the heat proved infectious.
Those scores in the final quarter did not just happen, they were sourced in a ferocious work-rate.
One of the main reasons, Donegal looked the more controlled for long stretches of this game was because of the assurance of Shaun Patton’s restart.
From nowhere in the final quarter they blitzed him, turning over three on the bounce which visibly changed the terms of engagement.
Tyrone shelved the inhibition which paralysed them in the first half where they sought to retain possession rather than use it, with the likes of Tiernan McCann and the outstanding Mattie Donnelly driving thorough tackles.
It all contributed to a final quarter storm, but Donegal were all blown out by then as well.
The loss of Odhrán MacNiallais, who kicked two excellent points early in the second half, to injury robbed the home team of the cutting edge they needed, especially with Murphy needed to stem the tide further out the field.
Their big players, Eoghan Bán Gallagher, McHugh and Murphy, faded in that final quarter and
their bench offered little to stop their bleeding.
In contrast, Tyrone, as they have been doing all year, saved their best until last.