70 minutes of all-action.
70 minutes of Mattie Donnelly that should have the champions sitting up and taking notice.
Tyrone are more than just a system and far more than just athleticism. They have some of the finest, most effortless footballers in the country and despite everyone labelling them a defensive team, they’ve racked up 6-77 over four games in the championship so far, winning them by a combined total of 46 points.
On Sunday against Armagh – their most comprehensive victory to date – you could’ve picked out any of them for special attention. You could’ve looked at Colm Cavanagh and how immovable he continues to be at the edge of their square. You could talk all day about Peter Harte and how graceful he is or Tiernan McCann and his machine-like qualities.
You could look at Mattie Donnelly too.
Donnelly v Armagh
Passes: 51
Assists: 0-3
Scored: 0-1
Kickouts won: 3
Tackles: 4
Interceptions: 1
Blocks: 1
Take-ons: 5
The Tyrone man lost the ball one time and he misplaced one pass.
It was anther display of pure and utter dominance as he strode around Croke Park and picked up possession all over it – the Orchard county couldn’t get a hand on him.
Where Donnelly picked up possession
In total, Donnelly fed the ball to 19 different team mates. 19.
Because he got himself free so often, he was used as the link man as Tyrone transitioned from defence to attack. He was their out ball in the middle third and he kept the team ticking and ticking.
Look at how important he is for Tyrone’s weapons who attack from deep.
Of those 51 passes, 14 of them were kicked.
Donnelly carried the ball directly past orange jerseys five different times:
- Stephen Sheridan x 2
- Ben Crealy x 2
- Joe McElroy x 1
On a day when Tyrone could’ve relaxed and coasted through to the All-Ireland semi-finals, men like Donnelly wouldn’t allow them to.
You could see him and Colm Cavanagh berating each other on different occasions – always driven, always striving for more and always ready to step on the throats of their opponents.
The narrative is going that Tyrone are yet to be tested but that’s only because they’re swatting teams aside because they’re a top 3 team. None of the top 3 teams have been tested yet – they’re too good.
Tyrone are one of those that are too good and if Dublin want to try and stop them, they’ll have to figure out a way to stop Harte, McCann and Sludden – and to do that, they have to stop the man who is unleashing them time after time: Mattie Donnelly.
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