MY FIRST Ulster final is something I’ll never forget.
We lost to Derry in 1998. I still somehow managed to end up getting the Man of the Match award.
The defeat was so hard to take.
Joe Brolly got that late goal everyone talks about, but that isn’t even the most sickening thing about it.
That game was my first final and Declan Bonner’s first as manager. It was a crap game overall, but we should have had it. John Duffy had a goal disallowed in the first half and I still, to this day, don’t know why.
We’d have won with that goal and gone on to play Galway in an All-Ireland semi-final.
What might have been we’ll never know.
I was able to get ball and skin men back then. Innocent times or what!
[adrotate group=”78″]All of a sudden, Armagh came along and the clamp was tightened.
We played Armagh in a couple of finals, we got pumped up each time: ‘We’ll get around them now’; ‘This is our year’; ‘We can do this boys’.
We lost them all.
Good players from Donegal came close, but the Armagh system had the ability to win out.
It’s something like Tyrone will be facing when they play Donegal this Sunday in Clones.
Armagh never blinked.
Nor does this Donegal team.
A lot of ex-players have been out this last week or so pointing to Donegal’s win in the 2011 semi-final against Tyrone and pointing out some similarities, how Donegal ‘needed’ to beat Tyrone and all of this.
I think the similarities are irrelevant really. For the simple reason of tactics, I think that argument is redundant.
[adrotate group=”79″]Donegal came up with a real tactical plan at that time. Tyrone had won a lot and appeared to be a better side than Donegal.
After about 25 minutes, Tyrone led 0-6 to 0-1, but Donegal stuck to the plan and the tactics that made them such a great team. They won the game.
Donegal are still the team with the most – and best – tactics going into Sunday’s final.
After several years of just going out and playing, Tyrone have moved over to embrace the tactical side of it now and that does make them dangerous – but they’re coming up against masters.
Donegal are the poker players who don’t blink.
If they’ve a 7-2 off suit, they’re steely eyed.
If they’ve a pair of aces, they’ve that similar steely stare.
If Donegal fall behind, they remain calm.
If they go behind, they’re the same.
The key is that nothing changes. Ever.
[adrotate group=”46″]Donegal are so confident in their system and in their methods they feel they don’t need to change.
When I say that nothing changes I mean in terms of their focus and their attitude. They do not panic. Donegal are as content to go long to Michael Murphy or Patrick McBrearty as they are to let the McHughs and Martin O’Reilly run the ball. They have utter belief in whatever they do.
They know when to hold and when to fold.
I was at a GAA talk night recently, one of those nights where you’d be surprised what you’d learn.
Ryan McMenamin was on the panel too. The talk came around to Mickey Harte and Tyrone and I couldn’t believe some of the things that ‘Ricey’ was on about.
McMenamin was one of the most feared players in the country; one of Harte’s real warriors.
He was talking about tactics and systems when he told the audience that there was never much talk of that in the Tyrone dressing rooms he sat in. Basically, he said, Mickey just told them to go out and express themselves as best they could.
[adrotate group=”37″]A bit simplistic perhaps, but there you go.
Tyrone won three All-Irelands not by just turning up and giving it a lash; they had a serious group of talented individuals in there. They almost didn’t need tactics, such was that high-intensity game they brought.
They could really get about teams and trouble them. That, with the talent, made them a real force.
That’s very much like Donegal now. By the time 2011 and 2012 came around, Doengal had players who were equally as good and a system to match, with the meticulous tactics brought in by Jim McGuinness.
Tyrone have shown now how they, too, have come up with a belief in a system. Against Derry, they were in complete control, but still played with 15 men in their own half and there was no sign of them opening up.
[adrotate group=”78″]That detail and that plan was something that someone has clearly brought to the table for Tyrone.
Donegal are like the Tyrone of old, but Donegal are still the tactical masters here and they still have the bit seriously wedged between their teeth.
Donegal are in a good place here and experience will count for so much.
These squads have watched each other and played each other so often now it’s second nature.
Donegal have won the psychological battle of late. If I was in Tyrone, I’d be using that to galvanise the team: ‘We need this. We don’t just want it. We need it.’.
[adrotate group=”79″]Tyrone will come with a mighty passion. Pre-blanket days that was massive, driving teams on so much. It’s still a factor, but not so much now up against these well-devised plans.
The Donegal system is so tight they’ limit scores, keep score chances to a minimum and when they break, they can do serious damage: Whether it’s by running it or launching it.
Tyrone really will have their hands full on Sunday.
They’ve been playing Division Two teams since last year and that will also be a factor.
This game means a lot to Tyrone. It would be like a double victory for them. Not just winning Ulster, but beating Donegal to win it. I’d say it’d be as big as winning an All-Ireland.
As yet, Tyrone are unproven against Donegal and we’ve seen enough from Donegal to tell us that they can curb Tyrone.
We’ve seen enough of Donegal without Neil McGee. His return is massive this week. It’s absolutely huge.
Talk about a man for this kind of a dogfight.
Whatever Tyrone man is going to be picked up by McGee will not sleep a wink on Saturday night.
Here is a man who is rested and he’s here with a point to prove.
[adrotate group=”70″]He is coming in here absolutely wanting to be the star. His experience, his drive, his passion, his energy, his guts are all so vital here.
Ronan O’Neill has been practising frees with men roaring at him. That’s how much detail goes into these things. O’Neill has a lot of weight to carry on Sunday and it’ll be interesting to see how he does cope.
It’s quite different with men shouting at you on a training pitch in Garvaghey than having McGee gowling down your neck with the temperatures already soaring in Clones.
He’ll stare at the posts and pretend he doesn’t hear. He’ll hear it and it’ll effect him. I’ve been there. It’s hard for a free taker that with men roaring, making snide little remarks, running across you and doing whatever they can to put you off.
It’s not the worst thing I’ve experienced in Gaelic football, but it still gets to you.
Tyrone are coming into this with so much positivity. Donegal will just look to remove the wind from their sails early on and that’s where the experience comes in.
Eamon McGee, Neil McGee and Paddy McGrath is as good a full-back line as there is anywhere and Tyrone will need something magic, or even lucky, to get beyond them.
But even the experience of Patrick McBrearty is something else. He’s only 22 and going to play in his sixth Ulster final. That’s just bonkers. It doesn’t seem right, but what experience he can call on.
[adrotate group=”40″]Tyrone are unbeaten and will be thinking: ‘Now is our time’ and they’ll look to keep the chins up for as long as possible.
This Ulster title is massive. It would mean so much for Rory Gallagher to get his name beside an Ulster win. He’s been questioned a lot, but has put so much into it, he’ll not want to leave empty handed.
Tyrone have been without an Ulster since 2010 – way too long for them.
It really is all about who blinks first.
Or, rather, who doesn’t.
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