5 REASONS WHY THERE IS NO WAY BACK FOR TYRONE
All-Ireland holders too far gone to recover
RECENT history informs that you write Tyrone off at your peril, but the hole they find themselves in right now is as deep as any they have ever been in.
The mauling they suffered at the hands of Derry has left them friendless in the market, which responded in the aftermath of their 1-18 to 0-10 thrashing by doubling their odds of retaining the Sam Maguire.
Of course, they have form in defying the bookmakers’ odds, not least when they overcame a National League semi-final hiding from Kerry, a Covid crisis that left them threatening to withdraw from the championship and a nation pining for Mayo to win the All-Ireland, to be the ones left standing last year.
So why should this year be any different?
Here’s five reasons why:
1 LOSING MARGIN
Given they bounced back from that six-goal mauling by Kerry in last year’s league semi-final to beat the same opposition in the All-Ireland semi-final, they should be more than capable of picking themselves back up off the ground.
Perhaps, but that 11-point loss to Derry is the heaviest defeat that defending All-Ireland champions have suffered in a provincial championship match in more than half a century, matching Kerry’s trauma at the hands of Cork (0-25 to 0-14) in the 1971 Munster final.
The difference, though, is that in those bad old knockout days, Kerry had 12 months to dust themselves down, while Tyrone have no more than five weeks to find their mojo again. To put the scale of their defeat in perspective, over the past 50 years, Tyrone’s loss charts as the fourth-heaviest defeat shipped by any defending All-Ireland champions, with Dublin (1978 v Kerry, 17 points), Donegal (2013 v Mayo, 16 points) and Kerry (2001 v Meath 15 points) suffering heavier losses in relinquishing their title.
Only time will tell if Sunday saw Tyrone’s hold on the Sam Maguire fatally loosen or whether they have just found another cause to rally around. But, right now, it does not look good.
2 THE QUALIFIERS
Sometimes size does not really matter. There may be a perception that going through the back door will not be as hazardous in what is the final year of the qualifiers, but the likelihood is that the opposite will apply.
Yes, Tyrone will have just two rounds to negotiate compared to four under an old system, in which twice in the past – 2005 and ’08 – they came charging through to win the Sam Maguire, but because there are fewer teams involved, it increases the likelihood of coming up against a fellow heavyweight.
Armagh and Mayo are already in the mix, while either Monaghan or Derry – albeit Tyrone cannot meet the latter as it would constitute a repeat fixture – will end up in the first-round draw. And you can bet that Brian Dooher and Fergal Logan will have their fingers crossed that no Division 3 or 4 team makes it into the provincial final. It may be asking far too much for Leitrim to take down Galway, but it is not beyond the bounds of possibility for Cavan to stun Donegal, Westmeath to ambush Kildare and, in what is the ultimate 50-50 game, Tipperary to find a way past Limerick. If one of those results materialises inside the next two weeks, Tyrone, as one of the beaten provincial quarter-finalists, will be involved in a preliminary-round draw that will involve just Armagh, Mayo, Clare and Louth in a game that would take place in three weeks’ time.
And, even if they make it to the All-Ireland series, the prospect of facing a Kerry, Dublin or Donegal/ Monaghan in the last eight is more than likely.
They might not have far to travel, but they have a hell of a way to go.
3 DISCIPLINE
Conor McKenna’s second yellow card (left) in the dying embers of Sunday’s defeat amounted to Tyrone’s eighth sending-off in nine games this season.
And when you are averaging close to one red card per game then you have got a very serious issue.
Okay, that figure was inflated by the fact that four of those red cards were issued at the death against Armagh – and hindsight suggests had they challenged them they would probably have got off – but nothing can mask the indisciplined streak in the Tyrone dressing room.
And it is sourced more in petulance than nastiness; Padraig Hampsey’s bumping of Cormac Costello off the Healy Park pitch was as unnecessary as it was dangerous given that the Dublin player fell on concrete, but was in keeping with both sendings-off on Sunday.
Brian Kennedy’s attempted kick on Gareth McKinless was mindless; Conor McKenna, fresh from beating a ban to play in the game, got a second yellow card symptomatic of a team in a waspish mood.
The question is, who are they angry with; the opposition or themselves? And that should not take long to figure out.
4 FORM
This might amount to a statement of the bleedin’ obvious, but Tyrone are just not playing very well.
In particular, the players who were absolutely key last season are barely recognisable, with the exception of Darren McCurry and, to a lesser degree, Conor Meyler and Peter Harte – the latter’s off-colour performance against Derry can be possibly explained by his lay-off as a result of an appendicitis operation.
But others have just fallen off a cliff; most notably Kieran McGeary, who appears to be the latest to have discovered that the footballer of the year gong tends to be more of a burden than a blessing.
As an attacking unit, the champions have completely malfunctioned.
They averaged just 12 points a game in the league where, in terms of goals, they were shut out in five of their seven games.
True, they racked up 2-17 against a Division 3 team in Fermanagh, but the 10-point return they posted against Derry was in keeping with what they have been doing all season against top teams.
Cathal McShane scored 2-8 off the bench last summer, but was benched at half-time on Sunday.
Returning to a starting role, he has managed just three points from play all season, leaving McCurry exposed as the only striking threat that has to be curbed. If others can’t shake a leg, their title defence is done.
5 HUNGER
The suspicion all season, with the exception of a stunning finalround league win over Kerry, is that Tyrone are still a bit like the gluttonous diner getting up from the table while opening the trousers belt for digestive comfort.
They have come across as a team that has had its fill.
And, while much has been made of the impact the seven players who have left the squad since last year has had in terms of creating a panel depth issue – and the bench is looking particularly barren – as well as dialling down the intensity of training, it may be symptomatic of a far bigger issue.
Earlier in the spring, McCurry accused some of the departed of walking away for selfish reasons, their ambition sated by the AllIreland medal in their pocket.
But, if that is true, how many others are feeling the same way without walking?