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Irish Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Ciarán Murphy: Tyrone's ability to stand the heat as Donegal emptied the tank was as compelling as it gets
The first thing to say about Donegal versus Tyrone last Saturday, before we get to all the things the last nine minutes taught us, is that it was great entertainment. Every weekend in this year's provincial championships and now, the All-Ireland group stage, has treated us to at least one thrilling game of Gaelic football. Some of that has to do with the restoration of the old stuff we've always loved about the sport, such as distance kicking and high fielding. But Donegal against Tyrone was different. It showcased some of the new ways the rule enhancements have brought the game forward, not taken it back to some imagined previous utopia. With 61.10 on the clock last Saturday, Paddy McBrearty hit a two-pointer that gave Donegal a two-point lead. They had finally made the burst for home. But 67 seconds later, McBrearty fumbled the ball, Tyrone turned it over and in a lightning break, Ciarán Daly set up Darren McCurry for a point. Donegal goalkeeper Gavin Mulreany took almost 30 seconds with his kickout. He plumped for the safe option which, in this Donegal team, is a ball in Michael Murphy's direction. Peter Teague outfielded him. Fifteen seconds later, Teague was in prime position for a pass from Eoin McElholm, but McElholm decided to go for the safety of a fisted point... and put it wide. READ MORE It took Mulreany another 30 seconds to take the next kickout. Again, he went for Murphy, who was adjudged to have fouled Conn Kilpatrick and Tyrone regained possession. Thirty seconds after that, Darragh Canavan was fouled and he kicked the resultant free with 64.38 gone. The teams were level. Donegal just needed the ball. Mulreany targeted Murphy a third time, but Teague won the under-hit kickout and they rolled forward. With Donegal's lead gone, Tyrone could afford to be patient. But they could barely hold the ball for a minute under ferocious pressure. McCurry ran down a blind alleyway but managed to shovel a pass away. Daly had a handpass charged down, but Tyrone somehow regathered. Tyrone's Darren McCurry celebrates his late score against Donegal in Ballybofey. Photograph: John McVitty/Inpho Perhaps sensing the pressure they were under, Peter Harte got on the ball 60 metres out. As he slowly advanced, Frank Burns charged towards the middle of the D. His run took the attention of the Donegal player standing sentry at the top of the new arc, allowing Harte to advance a couple of yards before sending over a two-pointer from the space vacated by that defender. Tyrone were now two up, with 200 seconds left. Donegal needed the ball. Mulreany went short, but his kick just beyond the 45 went over Michael Langan and over the sideline. Tyrone got the ball once again and a simple couple of passes had Kilpatrick straight through. He eschewed an easy point opportunity to go back out the field - the only moment in this entire passage where the players out-thought themselves. It takes genuine skill and composure to do what Tyrone did With 67.45 on the clock, Donegal decided they had to go man-for-man. Almost immediately, Tyrone ended up back in their own half. With 80 seconds left, Kieran McGeary was stripped of possession, Ciarán Thompson pounced on it, kicked it in front of him and Donegal had a strong shout for a foul on Thompson that wasn't called. But the pressure on Tyrone was becoming intense. As we entered the final minute, Tyrone were back within 55 metres of their own goal and Donegal's desperation was clear – it was one-on-one all over the field again. At 69.25, Tyrone's Cormac Quinn burst through a stretched Donegal cover and kicked a point to put them three up. Tyrone's Cormac Quinn evades a challenge from Donegal's Odhran McFadden Ferry to score the last point of the game. Photograph: John McVitty/Inpho With 12 seconds left, Tyrone had eight players inside the Donegal half to stop the short one. Mulreany's kickout once again went in the general direction of Murphy, but it flew way over his head. It was caught by Darragh Canavan, of all people, and they ran down the clock until the hooter sounded. Tyrone had scored the game's last five points and Donegal didn't have clean possession for the last seven minutes and 43 seconds. It was brilliant by Tyrone - and for Tyrone - but is it good? Why is this any different from the dull, boring final stages of games that we've grown accustomed to over the last 10 years? The answer is simple. It takes genuine skill and composure to do what Tyrone did in the face of quality opponents determined to win back possession. [ Conor McManus: Tyrone showed how new rules give forwards license to dictate terms of football Opens in new window ] [ Seán Moran: Losing managers' parting criticisms aren't always just deflection Opens in new window ] They held possession from 67.15 until Quinn's point at 69.25, but Ciarán Thompson certainly should have won a free halfway through that passage. When Quinn got on the ball, with 40 seconds left, he took on the shot because he knew his team was under severe pressure. The second Donegal went man-to-man it got difficult in a hurry for Tyrone to keep the ball. That's what makes these endgames so enjoyable. Players who could previously run back towards the safety of their goalkeeper whenever the press got within 10 yards of them don't have that luxury anymore. To hold onto the ball, more often than not you need to take on your man and beat him. If you're Donegal, you might reckon that even disregarding those five lost kickouts, they could easily have pressed the ball earlier. They might have had a bit more luck whenever they got contact on the ball carrier. Either way, if you manage to control possession for the final minutes, your will and your skills will be tested. And that's all we want.
Irish Times
13-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Conor McManus: Rule changes make Gaelic football more exciting and managing the clock even more crucial
There was so little between Armagh and Donegal on Saturday that even as you were watching it play out, you just knew it would be decided by who controlled possession in the last two or three minutes. Sure enough, Donegal had the ultimate one-point lead and held on to it, but they had tried to do the same at the end of normal time only for a loose pass from Michael Langan to Peadar Mogan, which Armagh turned over and worked brilliantly well to Oisín Conaty for the equalising score. Such fine margins between teams as good as these – two of the best three or four in the country – mean that one missed pass makes the difference. There are obviously other mistakes and things that go wrong during the course of a match, but when everything is on the line in the dying moments, one single error can affect the outcome. Jim McGuinness's team didn't make the same mistake in extra-time. Niall O'Donnell kicked the winning score on 87:14 and the kick-out resulted in a throw-in, from which Donegal regained the ball and managed to keep possession for the just over two minutes remaining. READ MORE Extra-time with two excellent, brilliantly coached and closely matched teams: you're really drilling down into fine details to come up with a reason why one wins and the other loses. If there was a difference, maybe it came in the ambition of Donegal. They took the game to Armagh for the whole match and managed to play it more on their terms. There was seven points in it on two occasions and it was testimony to Armagh's ability to stay in the game that they clawed it back on each occasion. Donegal were also possibly that bit bolder in how they took on the contest. Take their long kicking into Michael Murphy. We hadn't seen much of that this year and in general conversation beforehand, it was said that it would be good to see Murphy stationed on the edge of the square a bit more. Armagh's Jarly Og Burns competes in the air with Donegal's Jason McGee in Clones at the weekend. Photograph: Ben Brady/ Inpho Donegal did that. Over the years he's shown that he's virtually impossible to mark in there with that type of possession and he was able to feed it out to the likes of Oisín Gallen and Patrick McBrearty to create scoring chances. So, Donegal were more direct and Armagh more deliberate, at times too deliberate. A quick injection of pace might have caused a bit more trouble. Armagh have a slight tendency to tune out of games. We saw it in the first half against Antrim and the second half against Tyrone, when they were clearly the better team. Maybe that's something they need to address. Is this nit-picking? Possibly, because they have developed such resilience in coming back against teams that they are really hard to beat. They also have a number of injuries to first-team players. There was only seven of the team that started last year's Ulster final starting this year. Players are coming back and it looks like Rian O'Neill will be on board later in the summer after his reappearance with the team. That suggests room for improvement and they've obviously strengthened their panel significantly, which will stand to them. It was a great occasion and provided further evidence that the new rules have improved football and brought back the excitement. For me, the pace of the game was fantastic. There were times when teams slowed down the attack, maybe against the wind, and tried to organise or micromanage things, but by and large the speed of the game over the 90-plus minutes was incredible. There was also space for forwards to manoeuvre and take on defenders, one v one. You could see it numerous times. Conaty for Armagh, Oisín O'Neill for Armagh, Soupy Campbell for Armagh and then Donegal's Gallen were all looking for those one v ones. Louth's Craig Lennon celebrates scoring his side's third goal against Meath at Croke Park on Sunday. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho So, you had individual battles and duels, which is something we haven't been accustomed to in recent years. The well-drilled efforts to run down the clock are something we're seeing more of this year previously. Obviously, this is because of the hooter and the clarity and definition it gives as to when the game is over. There's no arguing with it. Donegal in the last play down the sideline with Stephen McMenamin and Finbarr Roarty had Armagh hunting them down really well and it was just a very composed piece of play to keep the ball under pressure and keep it moving. The key is just ensuring support for the man on the ball and two or three men providing options. Once they got it switched across to the far side and Odhrán McFadden-Ferry kicked it clear to Daire Ó Baoill, this great roar went up because everybody knew that the danger had passed with four seconds left. It does add bit of drama and excitement at the end. We saw the same in Croke Park when Louth successfully kept the ball at the end of the Leinster final against Meath . It was high-risk strategy. Ger Brennan was saying after the game that if they were going to do that, he'd prefer they had done it down towards the Canal End rather than in front of Hill 16, where they were actually defending their own goal. It takes a fair bit of confidence in each other and a lot of composure to pull that off and in fairness they managed it. Louth's first Leinster title in 68 years is great but it also validates their progression this last number of years. It's not just a flash in the pan. They've been knocking on the door with promotions and three provincial finals, ending in their first All-Ireland quarter-final last year. That's steady, sustainable progress, vindicating the development work that has seen Louth win this year's Leinster under-20 and now senior titles. They've also beaten Dublin to reach the minor final. It's an incredible achievement for the county and they'll feel their season isn't over yet.
