Tactical take…
Tyrone
TYRONE struggled when Monaghan pushed up on their kick-outs. And with Collie Cavanagh short of match practice, and not appearing for the second half, the Red Hands were always going to struggle in the middle of the field.
Their cause wasn’t helped by the injury to Mark Bradley and the withdrawals of Tiernan McCann and Cavanagh but Tyrone were still reluctant to kick the ball into their inside line. Mattie Donnelly and Connor McAliskey showed leadership in Cavanagh’s absence but they needed more from other sources to turn this game in their favour in the second half.
Tactical take…
Monaghan
MONAGHAN’s match-ups were excellent. Dessie Mone kept Niall Sludden to just two points. Fintan Kelly did an excellent job on Peter Harte, Kieran Duffy kept Lee Brennan scoreless from play and Karl O’Connell managed to put Cathal McShane on the back foot.
They pushed up on Tyrone’s kick-outs and dominated midfield. Their composure in possession was the glowing feature of their play, epitomised by Rory Beggan, and they weren’t afraid to go deep into Tyrone territory, speeding up their attack, to get the all-important goal with some slick hand passing.
