Time To Put Disappointment Behind Us And Look Forward To Qualifiers

Sunday 01.07.2012

Club

There was huge disappointment for Tyrone on Saturday when they lost out to Donegal in the Ulster semi final. Mickey Harte and his players had put together a game plan to deal with Donegal’s approach to football and for long periods of the game they executed the game plan very well. However when they sit down to reflect on the two point defeat they will look at the number of goal opportunities that were missed, scorable free kicks that were not converted, turnovers in possession and unforced errors which ultimately cost the game. In tight championship matches small mistakes can make a huge difference and so it was on Saturday.
Tyrone came up against a very fit and well organised Donegal team where every player knows his role and how to execute it perfectly. They play it on the edge and it is clear that Jimmy Mc Guinness has his team performing exactly as he wants them. Mickey Harte’s men did their best to play Donegal at their own game but on quite a few occasions both in defence and attack Tyrone players took the wrong options and found themselves isolated. Donegal on the other hand were much better in their use of the packed defence and ball retention in the forward line and these qualities proved decisive late in the game.
The second half rain did not help Tyrone either as the slippery conditions made it more difficult when carrying the ball through the contact areas. Donegal’s tackling was at a different level than Tyrone’s at times and the greasy ball was spilled on several occasions at just the wrong moment. However Tyrone refused to give up and they put together some very exciting moves after Brian Mc Guigan was introduced that had the Donegal defence stretched as they tried to cope with Mc Guigan’s perceptive passing and switches of play.
While it is unfortunate that the seniors did not make it through to this Ulster Final there is still a lot of positives to take from the game. The qualifiers draw which takes place on Monday morning live on TV3 around 8:30am is bound to throw up a few interesting games. At this stage it would be nice to get a home draw but perhaps more importantly is getting the players back into training and getting the focus right for the next game. The past weekend’s matches have shown that from here on in every game is difficult and Tyrone will be up against it no matter what side they draw. Hopefully we will have one or two of the injured players back to boost the squad for the next round and the team can use the qualifiers to get their season back on track.