Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter-final: Tyrone v Monaghan (O’Neill’s Healy Park, Sunday, 4pm, live on BBC NI and RTE2)
ONLY Monaghan men will know what was said behind closed doors a month ago.
Tyrone had just hammered their hosts in their Clones backyard and the home side had two sent off and scored just once from play. Relegation looked almost certain then.
No post-match interviews were given as the players and management swapped home truths but they say the darkest hour is just before the dawn and, to their immense credit, the Farneymen bounced back with a win in Castlebar which saved their Division One skins once again.
There is an unbreakable spirit in Monaghan football which means you can never write them off and Tyrone know it. As the Red Hands packed up their gear and prepared to board their bus home from Clones, Kieran McGeary stressed that no marker had been laid down for the Championship clash that would follow.
“Honestly, it won’t matter,” he said, “They’ll know that and we know that.”
Monaghan, he said, would be “a different animal” when it came to the Championship.
We’re at Championship now and Tyrone go into this quarter-final at a level of form and confidence they never got near last year.
The dark clouds of 2022 still seemed to be hovering over the Red Hands until the second half of the League when they finally found some form. Wins against Kerry, Monaghan and Armagh have sent them into this Ulster opener in a positive frame of mind and we’ll know whether they have left last season’s rut behind them once and for all if they produce the football they are capable of in this game.
Meanwhile, Monaghan got off the hook with that win in Castlebar and, without detracting from their ballsy performance, you have to remember that Mayo were already guaranteed a place in the Division One final and were not at full strength.
Did it paper over the cracks, or are Monaghan – as Division One status should guarantee - genuine Ulster contenders? There is a deep well of experience in this Monaghan side and manager Vinny Corey replaced retired stalwarts like Drew Wylie and Colm Walshe with fresh legs throughout the League and Thomas McPhillips, Karl Gallagher and Ryan O’Toole made their debuts in this age-old grudge match.
Conor McManus remains a threat up front and is deadly from frees while his heir-apparent Micheal Bannigan is emerging as a quality forward who could really make a name for himself in this Championship.
The organiser of a hardy defensive unit remains sweet-striking goalkeeper Rory Beggan who kicks dead balls over the bar for fun and will come off his line to provide the extra man outfield at every opportunity.
As for Tyrone, after their 2021 All-Ireland (which included a one-point win over Monaghan in an Ulster final that could have gone either way at Croke Park) the Red Hands actually did become a bad team overnight. Last season was a write-off and they were well beaten by Derry in Ulster and then by Armagh in the Qualifiers.
However, the form has returned this year. Full-back Padraig Hampsey is in a good groove, Michael McKernan has been electric and Ronan McNamee returned to the fray against Armagh and looks primed for the Championship battle.
The midfield has been boosted by the introduction of the energetic Joe Oguz who allows Brian Kennedy and Conn Kilpatrick to take turns going to full-forward from where they offer the Red Hands a route one option which adds a different dimension to their attacking game.
Darren McCurry and Mattie Donnelly will be the front two and pulling the strings behind them is the artful dodger Darragh Canavan who is both creator and scorer and has that God-given ability to make things happen with a moment of magic.
In the ‘supporting’ cast, Frank Burns is an unsung hero who covers acres of ground and is very efficient and confident with the ball in his hands.
All-in-all this Tyrone outfit has undoubted potential to go beyond Ulster and, since they’ve already qualified for the new Super 16 Championship format, we will see how that goes for both teams regardless of the result at Healy Park.
The Anglo-Celt Cup will always be a sought-after title and nothing succeeds like success so expect both sides to go at it full-tilt in Omagh. Possession will be king though and their form over the second half of the League suggests that Tyrone are capable of doing more with it than Monaghan.
The Farneymen will have their moments but everything has to go for them and the day will belong to the improving Red Hands who should get over the line with five points to spare.
Tactical Take
Monaghan
EXPECT Monaghan to keep the ball and then keep it some more.
What will they do with it? The Farneymen scored just one point – their first of the game – from play in the League game against Tyrone but some aspects of their gameplan did come off so expect men behind the ball and a methodical build-up from them at Healy Park.
Monaghan had a lot of possession a month ago at Clones and they used the mark cleverly against the Tyrone defence. In addition, they earned a succession of frees which were converted by Micheal Bannigan and then Conor McManus when he came on.
Giving away two softish goals and having two men sent off (one needlessly, the other harshly and rescinded on appeal) meant they finished a distant second that day. This is as tough an opener as they come but Monaghan will believe that if they keep their discipline and improve on their defending they’ll not be too far away - if McManus, Bannigan and Jack McCarron can provide a cutting edge up front.
Tyrone
THE patient hand-passing build-up that Tyrone used for so long has been augmented with a long ball option that stretches opposition set-ups, leaving room for attacking runners to exploit.
Midfielders Brian Kennedy and Conn Kilpatrick have proved very handy options as a targetmen and Darren McCurry and Darragh Canavan seem to enjoy playing off a big full-forward.
Ronan McNamee returned to action in the final game of the League and retains his place alongside Padraig Hampsey in a defence that conceded just once from play against Monaghan in the League but will expect to be more thoroughly tested in this Championship opener.
Frank Burns provides the defensive cover for Tyrone in a hard-working middle-third engineroom that will include fellow All-Ireland winners in Conor Meyler, Kieran McGeary and Michael O’Neill and new face Cormac Quinn who was a goal-scorer against Monaghan in the League.
Key battle
Ryan Wylie (Monaghan) v Darren McCurry (Tyrone)
HE’S dangerous anywhere, but McCurry does seem to have an extra spring in his step on home soil and he loves to break into space for a pass and then split the posts off either boot. In the three games in the League, the Edendork sharpshooter racked up 17 points at Healy Park – seven against Donegal and Armagh and three against Kerry. Tyrone won all three games which is a definite confidence-booster for the 2021 All-Ireland champions.
Up against him is Wylie who is tried-and-tested as Monaghan’s go-to man-marker. The Ballybay clubman is quick and determined and capable of bombing forward up the wing given half-a-chance. McCurry finished games very strongly during the League so this battle should go the distance.
Another factor Monaghan will have worked hard on is shutting down Niall Morgan’s kickouts. The Tyrone goalkeeper was accurate and rapid with his restarts in the League meeting and if Monaghan push up, Morgan has the range to bypass their press and send them on the attack in a flash.
