JIMMY has not been winning matches for some time. Six months into his three-year contract as head coach of Charlotte Independence in the American League’s second tier, he was out, having won one just a single match in 14 games.
The team was criticised for being overwhelmingly defensive, which will come as a surprise to GAA folk…. Perhaps it was the three-hour training sessions. Perhaps he was too intense for pampered professionals. Perhaps he is too intense for anyone bar the group of anarchic misfits he brought to that incredible 2012 All-Ireland win.
Roaring into a player’s face, splenetic with rage after he has needlessly given away a scoreable free, or confiscating the squad’s mobile phones on the morning of the game might work with the Donegal men, but not with a squad whose personal hairdresser gives them a trim and blow dry at half time.
Spy footage from a recent Galway training session showed Jimmy overseeing endless hand-passing drills. He obviously hasn’t had time yet to teach them to defend. Padraig Joyce said when the news broke that it was a two-hour session. Only two hours? Is Jimmy going soft? By half time on Sunday, they were 16 points down to Mayo, having made Mayo look like the Kerry Golden Years team in their prime against Leitrim.
No Division One team should be 16 points behind at half time, even playing against a team with Stephen Cluxton in goals and six David Cliffords in the forward line.
By that stage, Galway had already had two men carted off with hamstring injuries, looked very leggy and were so far off the pace it was embarrassing. Mayo looked well balanced and full of football.
Their full back line is – for the first time – mean enough to do the job. Oisin Mullen is a hardy hoor made of the right stuff, though worryingly the Aussie Rules parasites are burrowing into him. Lee Keegan is another bad hoor who could man-mark an octopus. When Horan brought in Padraig O’Hora, a cage fighter and genuine leader of men, Mayo’s full-back was suddenly the toughest in the business.
In the past, they have leaked bad goals and points at crucial times. Unlike all of the All-Ireland winners during this Mayo team’s era, they have been unable to hold the defensive line when it mattered. Donegal in 2012, Kerry in 2014 and the Dubs. Their 2012 final was over after nine minutes when they had given up two goals and were seven behind. In 2013, they surrendered two soft goals to Dublin when they had built a solid lead. And so on and so forth.
With the full-back line right, they have proper foundations. And by positioning Aidan O’Shea at full-forward for the first time since 2015 when he demonstrated that this was is only position, James Horan has an irresistible attacking spearhead.
At midfield, he was not mobile enough or adventurous enough to be effective. In the biggest games, he resorted to drifting around in positions of no importance taking easy ball and hand-passing it off. As a full-forward, he is a wrecking ball, particularly in the modern era where fouling is punished. Mayo have plenty of good footballers and with Ruane and Loftus creating a dynamic partnership at midfield, they looked like a serious team. Mind you, the only thing that can be said for Galway is that their hand-passing wasn’t too bad.
Meanwhile, Jimmy’s old team continue to play with zest and adventure and a spirit of fun. Tyrone kept in touch with a very soft penalty and a deflected goal late on, otherwise it would have been a walloping of Galwayesque proportions.
Tyrone’s forwards have zero confidence, a by-product of a decade of undermining good forwards, instead focusing almost exclusively on defensive play.
On Sunday they started with just two recognised attackers in the forward line. Their core problem was underlined in the fact that they do not even have settled free-takers, both Darren McCurry (who never misses for Edendork) and Ronan O’Neill, when he was finally brought on for his fortnightly token cameo, missing easy frees.
It takes time for chemistry to develop amongst attackers. It requires a manager who places faith in good forwards and has a game plan that works to their advantage. While Donegal’s young forwards were kicking great team scores, scoring a brilliant goal following a superb move and generally playing with a sense of excitement and confidence, it was another dull, stale, depressing effort from Tyrone. What a contrast with their club championship, which for me was the country’s best championship this year.
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere