Opinion: More questions than answers ahead of Tyrone test

Opinion

Cavan are not coming into this match in a great place but they have defied that sort of build-up before, writes MARK McGOWAN.

Eight months ago, on a blustery Halloween afternoon, Cavan headed for enemy territory fresh off a disappointing league campaign that ended in relegation. By contrast, their Farney rivals had consolidated their first division status, beating Tyrone and Mayo and earning a share of the spoils against the Dubs in Croke Park. The bookies made Monaghan four-point favourites, but many – this writer included – felt they’d cover the handicap easily.

Though more than happy to dine on humble pie, the fact that the home side had inexplicably snatched defeat from the jaws of victory suggested that a first Anglo-Celt Cup in 23 years was still a pipe dream for the long-suffering Breffni faithful.

Well, you know the rest.

Eight months on, Mickey Graham is preparing his men for another away trip to heavily-favoured Division 1 opposition, with a squad reeling from a disappointing league challenge that delivered relegation once again.

But that’s where the similarities end.

“The Drumlin Classico,” as it was dubbed in this paper last year, has always been a fraught affair with seldom more than a single kick separating the sides. In fact, despite their higher league billing, Monaghan were unceremoniously dumped from the previous year’s Ulster Championship by their closest neighbours in what would prove to be Malachy O’Rourke’s final provincial game in charge.

The Red Hand rivalry makes for less than pleasant reading, however. Not since 1983 have Cavan beaten Tyrone in the Senior Championship and they’ve been on the receiving end of several heavy defeats in the meantime.

Throughout the noughties, Tyrone, along with Armagh, raised the bar for Ulster football and though they’ve fallen short of replicating that success in the past decade, only Donegal and Monaghan have gotten the best of the O’Neill County within the province.

Of course, after 18 seasons in the hot-seat, Mickey Harte is no longer at the helm, and this means that there is an enigmatic aspect to Tyrone that we haven’t encountered in the best part of two decades. Harte was a firm believer in developing a system to suit the players at your disposal, but the rapid pressuring which revolutionised modern football in his early years was gradually replaced by a heavy blanket defence and a counter-attacking game plan that made weaker sides into effective canon-fodder.

The Harte departure has ushered in a new era for Tyrone football, and Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher have set about revolutionising Tyrone’s playing style to make them a more adventurous and effective attacking unit with mixed results.

A tally of 2-15 against an up-and-coming Armagh side was an impressive return at one end of the field, whilst restricting both Donegal and Monaghan to white flags also suggested that the defensive nous nurtured under Harte could still be called upon. That was before Niall Morgan was beaten six times in Killarney as Kerry put the new-look Red Hand to the sword in a ruthless display of attacking power.

That was Tyrone’s last competitive outing, but one that will have Logan and Dooher taking a hard look at themselves and their squad and asking if they have the players to adopt an attacking philosophy or whether Harte’s defensive mindset was well founded.

Much as Declan Bonner will be loathe to admit it – and in all-likelihood tried in vain to eradicate prior to last year’s Ulster final – Donegal arrived at the Athletic Grounds in Armagh with one eye on Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final. The very nature of Cavan’s performance on the day means that Tyrone will certainly not be taking them lightly.

In fact, the opposite is true. Being provincial champions places a large target on Cavan backs as the hunters become the hunted. We saw it with Fermanagh and Derry in the Allianz League, both of whom were desperate to defeat the Ulster winners, as evidenced by their wild celebrations at the final whistle.

Hunger, the recent memory of a crushing Ulster final defeat, and the momentum generated by great escapes versus Monaghan and Down meant Cavan took to the field against Donegal like a pack of ravenous wolves, but such feats are extremely hard to replicate, and it may be fair to say that that hunger has been conspicuous by its absence in recent weeks, especially in the relegation play-off defeat to Wicklow.

That’s not to say that it can’t be generated, however. For better or worse, Graham has a reputation as a championship manager and we all know that victory over Tyrone and ending an almost 40-year losing streak will see the league form quickly forgotten.

But on the flip side, defeat, however gallantly fought, means a disastrous campaign the likes of which even the most weathered of Breffni supporters will struggle to remember.

Throughout the Allianz league, Graham experimented liberally, especially in the forward line where Patrick Lynch and Caoimhan McGovern earned first appearances and maintained their starting places throughout.

However, McGovern was withdrawn after just 20 minutes against Wicklow and Lynch struggled to have a major impact in subsequent games after such a bright start on his debut against Fermanagh.

Championship football is really a different beast and while youth and energy is important, there is a balance to be struck and the white-heat of battle is no place for wide-eyed youngsters. It’s likely that Graham will drop at least one to the bench and opt for a more experienced right-footed free-taker.

Killian Brady’s absence from the starting line-up for the Wicklow game was unusual given the relative lack of experience at the back and that steel he provides was sorely missed as Cavan struggled to force turnovers and win so-called dirty ball around the middle.

I’d expect the Mullahoran man to return to the starting 15 and play in the half-back line, with the All-Star trio of Thomas Galligan, Ray Galligan and Padraig Faulkner all needing to rediscover last year’s form as the side’s spine.

History suggests a comfortable Tyrone win and some soul-searching among the Cavan ranks, but all streaks must come to an end. The question is always “when?”

What have Tyrone learned from their thrashing in Killarney? Will they revert to type or throw caution to the wind? Has Graham been playing rope-a-dope like Muhammad Ali? Or was 2020 a flash in the pan with normal service now resumed?

We’ll have the answers on Saturday.