STEPPING OUT OF SEAN’S SHADOW
Dublin know he is critical to how Tyrone operate
IT’S A testament to the influence of Colm Cavanagh that when the Dublin brains trust compiled a tactical dossier on how to dismantle Tyrone in last year’s All Ireland semi-final, it might as well have had the Moy man’s name on the front cover.
He was central to how the champions approached the game and reduced the Tyrone sweeper from defensive linchpin to the role of innocent bystander for long periods. Apart from one foray forward to plunder Tyrone’s fourth point of the game in the 18th minute, Dublin’s entire attacking game plan was built around taking Cavanagh out of the equation.
It looks obvious now but it certainly didn’t then, Dublin’s tactical set-up carrying a level of shock and awe to it. The extended passages of keep-ball. The teasing and tormenting around the fringes, players hugging the relevant tramlines before making a swift incision with all the surgical precision of a chief of medicine.
The game was a full 28 and a half minutes old when Cavanagh made one of his trademark fulllength blocks, this time on Con O’Callaghan. When the foul came after turning the ball over, he turned and fist-pumped to the crowd, trying to rally his troops.
But the pattern of the game had been set. Five minutes later his frustration boiled over, lucky not to be red carded for diving in twofooted on Brian Fenton as the Dublin midfielder shot.
The Super 8s encounter at Healy Park in Omagh just last month showed that, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Frank Burns has made a name for himself this summer, riding shotgun with Cavanagh in a two-man tag team at the heart of the Tyrone defensive web. Just like at Croke Park in 2017, it was as if Cavanagh and the nearest Dublin player were operating like magnets with identical poles, one repelling the other.
Again, Cavanagh’s influence on proceedings was below what Tyrone needed it to be.
And so the dance continues a third time at Croke Park on Sunday.
So much depends on Tyrone’s defensive set-up, whether Cavanagh is deployed in such a deep holding role, or whether Mickey Harte decides that pressure needs to come further out the field. In the opening stages of the semi-final against Monaghan, the tactical shift saw Cavanagh and Burns set off on early attacking raids, Cavanagh scoring in the opening seconds and his partner-in-chief getting his name on the scoresheet inside four minutes.
One thing he can say is that he’s no longer just ‘Seán’s brother’. Even going into last year’s semifinal, one of the main subplots revolved around Seán’s bid to take on Stephen Cluxton in the all-time appearance stakes, whether the former captain would become the only Tyrone player to win four All-Irelands.
Colm, though, has long-since stepped out of the shadow of his elder sibling to be his own man on the field. From a player who enjoyed a brief cameo in the 2008 final, the last substitute on as Tyrone last lifted the Sam Maguire Cup, he has grown into a warrior-type figure at the heart of the team’s set-up. He doesn’t have the shimmy of Seán, or the natural grace in possession, but he has strength and power in the tackle and an intuitive reading of the game that has made him a central part in Harte’s vision.
When Tyrone put Ulster titles back-to-back in 2016 and 2017, he was arguably the best player in both campaigns. The level of development was acknowledged with his first All Star last year at the age of 30, though his placing at midfield was a loose one given his sweeping duties.
Back in January, he admitted that he was revelling in the role handed to him:
‘I’m really enjoying it. I seem to have a role now that suits me. I suppose Mickey has persevered with me over the years and tried me in many different positions and this one has taken a wee bit [of getting used to].
‘I’m fully aware that can change on any given day. You have to be able adapt on the field in football. I’m delighted with what I’ve done to date, but who knows what role I’ll be doing going forward.’
He made no bones about how much last year’s 12-point semifinal rout hurt, particularly the manner in which O’Callaghan danced his way down the central channel to score a crucial early goal. ‘Dublin were great that day. They played out of their skins and only kicked about two wides. They were impeccable that day. But we didn’t cover ourselves in glory at all. We made a lot of mistakes. Even for the goal, I think someone kicked the ball away and I wasn’t in a position I should have been.
‘There were just so many things that went wrong on that day. And when they cascade that’s what happens. We had our ducks in a row and were prepared well. It just didn’t go our way, but that doesn’t make it any easier.’
Can Tyrone afford to play him so deep when the kick-out battle is going to be such an important element? If Dublin push up and Niall Morgan has to go long, is there a need for Cavanagh to compete against Dublin’s trio of classy high fielders, namely Brian Fenton, James McCarthy and Brian Howard?
Clearly, Harte has some big decisions to make from a tactical viewpoint.
He knows that Dublin have identified Cavanagh as critical to how Tyrone operate, the spinning wheel that generates such forward momentum and electricity on the counter.
Once more, the extent of his influence will tell a lot about the pattern of this latest championship duel. The stakes have never been higher.