Ulster Final Could Have Been Three In A Row.

Tuesday 19.07.2011

Club

Donegal comfortably beat Derry in Clones on Sunday and were deserving winners on the day. Indeed they could have won by more and were vastly superior to a Derry side that lacked leadership and scoring threat. While Donegal’s celebrations at their first provincial title since nineteen ninety two were understandable and they now qualify for the All Ireland quarter finals I could not help but wonder about the nature of their win.

From a Tyrone point of view I left Clones on Sunday thinking we had certainly thrown away the best chance we have ever had of three titles in a row and it might take a number of years before we get as close to this again. Derry offered very little threat against a well organised and well drilled Donegal side. Apart from centre back Charlie Kielt there was little scoring threat anywhere in the Derry side. Without the Bradley brothers the Oakleaf side were a poor shadow of the team that defeated Tyrone in the Mc Kenna Cup final earlier in the year. Granted they showed a bit more spirit and grit at times in the second half but there was quite a gulf between the teams particularly in terms of scoring potential.

I honestly feel that had Tyrone enjoyed any luck at all against Donegal in our semi final game  we would now be celebrating the achievement of three Ulster senior titles in a row and would be looking forward to an All Ireland quarter final. Mind you that is wishful thinking and we have to now turn our minds to the upcoming qualifier game against Armagh.

Form goes out the window when Tyrone and Armagh meet and it is no surprise that it has been declared an all ticket game. Numbers will be limited to seventeen thousand spectators and expect these tickets to be snapped up pretty quickly. It is not all that long ago that these two teams met in a Mc Kenna Cup semi final in Casement Park Belfast in the month of January and a crowd of more than nineteen thousand turned up to see it. The history that these two sides share means there will be huge interest in the game in Ulster and although it is not being covered on the box you can keep up to date with all that is happening by following it here on www.teamtalkmag.com

A word of congratulations to Cavan who lifted their first Ulster Minor title in over thirty years. They showed great skill and composure to come from behind to win a very tight contest with Armagh which was excellently refereed by Tyrone official Cathal O’Hagan. Cavan have succeeded in winning a unique underage double by adding the minor title to their under 21 championship that they lifted after beating Tyrone in the Ulster Final.