“We need to go with a bit more of an attacking half-forward line.”
Tyrone appear to have addressed the problem in their half forward line as they announce the team to play Armagh this Saturday in the senior football championship.
Tyrone have had a rocky start to the season, but despite losing to Monaghan in Ulster and Galway in the opening round of the group stages, there is still hope that the Red Hand county could become good yet.
They were very impressive in that Monaghan defeat, particularly in the first half and only for a brilliant goal from Ryan O’Toole right at the death, they would have been through.
They had a five week break before playing Galway, where everyone was excited to see where they were at, but a Frank Burns red card early on, followed by a black card to Niall Morgan, meant that the game became more about damage control rather than winning it.
Former Tyrone star Kyle Coney said on the GAA Hour podcast two weeks ago, that he wanted to see more attacking forwards occupy the half forward spaces in the team.
Up until now Brian Dooher and Feargal Logan have been playing players who are traditionally defenders in those positions.
“Probably what I was more disappointed about was the half forward line that we’re persisting with,” said Coney.
My clubman Michael O’Neill doesn’t play at centre half forward, but he lines out at 11 and obviously drops back to plug holes and gaps.
“If they’re persisting with putting Michael into the team, and he is deserving of his spot, then they have got to get him into the half back line.
Here's our Starting XV for tomorrow's All-Ireland Senior Football Championship group stage game against @Armagh_GAA ⬇️
More Info 👉🏻 https://t.co/Yo2efFSRbs
⏰ Throw-in at 7.00pm at O'Neills Healy Park.
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— Tyrone GAA (@TyroneGAALive) June 2, 2023
“We have Frank Burns who is not notorious for scoring either, then you have Joe Oguz who is relatively new on the scene, so it’s not known what he’s going to bring.
“I think we need to go with a bit more of an attacking half-forward line.”
The Tyrone management must be fans of the podcast because they listened to Coney and decided to play O’Neill in his natural position at centre half back.
They have moved Conor Meyler to wing forward, and introduced Niall Sludden into the starting fray, while Joe Oguz is starting at 11, so we may see a more attacking side than we have done in recent weeks.
Related links:
- “We trained three times a day” What it’s like being best friends with Kieran McGeeney
- Why everyone needs to stop using the word “shadowboxing” in GAA
- Enda McNulty on how Al Pacino speech was theme for Armagh’s All-Ireland win
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