I had a bit of hands-on experience with the new rules last weekend. Having swapped intercounty fields for the analyst’s desk, I had only my second outing this season with Clontibret. I’ve played two second-halves so far and on Sunday, we beat Truagh.
It was enjoyable. Two things struck me: first, forwards now dictate the game more than backs and, secondly, the extent to which two-pointers keep teams in the contest cannot be overstated. These are noticeable when you’re watching matches but also when you’re playing.
As an inside forward, you had to get used to defenders trying to run you up the field to get you away from the front line. That’s completely gone now. A corner back used to just take off and give you a decision to make.
You’d be asking yourself the question: Do I stay here even though he could do some damage up the far end? More often than not, you had to follow him or organise somebody else to take care of him while you picked up the spare man.
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That’s gone now. I’m not saying you won’t be dropping back at all. There were times on Sunday when I was back doing my bit, but more often than not, if you’re a permanent inside forward, you’re an attacker. Your job now is to stay up, win ball and get scores, although I haven’t managed a two-pointer so far in my two half-hours.
We were six points down at half-time at the weekend. With 10 or 12 minutes to go we were seven points down and we won by 3-17 to 2-17. Six- or seven-point leads aren’t safe anymore, which is great. Two kicks of a ball and you’re back to a one-score game.
You could see the impact of this in Ballybofey on Saturday. Michael Murphy was single-handedly keeping Donegal in it against Tyrone. The pressure was incredible. If he missed opportunity, it would have had a deflating effect but – almost as expected – he delivered and kept the match going.
He came out to catch kick-outs, was organising everyone and bombing frees over from 50 or 55 metres.
Of the Donegal starting team, only four of them scored. One of them was a point from Ryan McHugh and another one was two points from Ciarán Thompson. Fifteen came between Michael Langan (0-7) and Michael Murphy (0-8).
Compare that with Tyrone. Five of their starting six forwards scored. That’s a far better spread of scorers, which shows you it was more of a team performance from Tyrone.
It was a statement win for them and one I was waiting for. I would even say I was half-expecting it, knowing Malachy O’Rourke, his management team and the quality of the work they would have been doing.
They have been building towards this since the league campaign that saw them relegated with seven points, which was unfortunate. They were okay against Cavan and although they didn’t scale any great heights in the Ulster semi-final against Armagh, they should have won after leading so late in the game.
It left four weeks to work on fine-tuning their performance. There had been a bug in the camp before the Ulster semi-final, so there was precious time for that to clear up. Mattie Donnelly was back and had a major influence.
Looking back on their game against Armagh, Tyrone would have been fairly disappointed with how they played defensively
Pádraig Hampsey got his first start in a while and even though he and Brian Kennedy had to go off injured, it was good for them to get the game time. It was also good for morale that they overcame moments of adversity in the game.
The four-week break is like a mini pre-season for players. It means going back to scratch and players having a clean slate. It feels like an opportunity – a bit like a new season.
You focus on what you have learned from the previous games and what you have done wrong, where you see gaps or where you identify potential improvements.
Looking back on their game against Armagh, Tyrone would have been fairly disappointed with how they played defensively, how open they were and how easily Armagh got through them.
I am fairly confident that this would have been a strong feature of Tyrone’s focus. You could see it in how well they defended last Saturday against Donegal.
They stripped the ball and turned over possession several times in the game, both first half and second half. They broke with pace and countered Donegal quite well.
Did the demands of the Ulster final have an impact on Donegal? If it was a week’s gap, you would say definitely, but they had a fortnight to get over it.
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That’s the physical side, though. Emotionally as much as anything else, that Ulster final was such a mentally draining game. Donegal were seven up, Armagh were seven down. Donegal go forward again, go six up again. Armagh reel them in and it goes to extra time. It looks like Armagh are going to win it, then Donegal do. It’s difficult to hit reset after that.
I don’t think Donegal need to panic. They were close enough to winning and were able to get an hour into Eoghán Bán Gallagher. They also had to play without one of their most important performers, goalkeeper Shaun Patton.
Replacement Gavin Mulreany did quite well in several respects, including on kickouts. However, I thought that for the first goal, Patton would probably have come more forcefully off his line to clear the ball.
The second goal, although not a rip-roaring finish, was impressively put together – a lot of quick hands and quick movement off the shoulder and then over the top. It was really well-worked.
It’s sobering for Jim McGuinness to lose his Ballybofey record but he has plenty of time for recovery and problem solving. The review won’t be pretty but they know they can improve.
Tyrone know that Armagh won the All-Ireland by putting together a good run of form in the All-Ireland series and Malachy O’Rourke has now positioned them for a serious challenge.
