Tyrone hoodoo continues with disappointing defeat

Analysis

Damien Donohoe

In truth, the game was over before a ball was kicked on Sunday. Sometimes you come up against a team that has you beaten before the whistle is sounded. Cavan Gaels, during their dominance of Cavan club football, had most teams so scarred from heavy defeats they had inflicted on them in the past, that they didn’t have to play well to get the win.

This works on the double because firstly when you go into a game like that as the favourites and the dominant team, you are almost certain to be playing with confidence. Tyrone players all entered the game 100% sure that they were going to win and so they didn’t have to force any plays; if they did the simple things well it would be enough.

On the other hand, when you’re on the side that has been dominated, you can try to convince yourself that this time will be different but memories of games from the past continue to creep into your thoughts. This in turn influences the way you play the game.

You could freeze up and find yourself caught in the headlights and unable catch your breath enough to get involved in the game. You could also be so determined to break the trend that you try to do things that are outside of or at the edge of your normal ability and when they don’t come off it compounds those negative thoughts.

For most of the Cavan team it looked like the latter on Sunday. Trying to force two-pointers against the wind in the first half instead of working the ball to a higher percentage shooting range allowed Tyrone build a seven-point lead after 17 minutes. It felt like the game was up at that stage.

Trying to force goal chances in the second half when a simple tap-over point was on was a further example of this. It’s perfectly understandable how that can happen but stopping Tyrone’s momentum proved a task too far for Cavan on Sunday.

Cavan started the game well and were matching Tyrone in the opening 10 minutes. Despite Tyrone having a physical and height advantage in the middle of the field, Cavan’s zonal press had limited Morgan’s options from the tee and were winning more than their fair share of ball.

Cormac O’Reilly was on top in his individual battle, having created a half goal chance and taken two points. However, the defensive problems were evident from early on as Cavan defenders somehow found themselves out-numbered in the scoring zone. Mattie Donnelly’s second point, for example, saw Gerard Smith faced off with McGeary carrying the ball and Donnelly unmarked in support.

A little over a minute later, the cracks in Cavan’s defending were exposed again. Ciaran Daly carried a ball towards Ciaran Brady at the centre of the Cavan 45-metre line with Cian Madden in pursuit. Brady, marking Peter Harte, left his man in what looked like a mistake in communication with Madden, and Harte raised an orange flag with ease.

In the game now, players have to mark man-for-man more - the handing off of a player to a teammate is still possible but knowing when and where to do it is a skill Cavan haven’t mastered yet. It was highlighted before half-time again after the hooter had sounded. McGeary tapped over a point which was Tyrone’s easiest score of the half because they had two extra players inside the Cavan 45 line Cavan had. There were five blue jerseys around the middle of the field already thinking about half-time.

Incidentally, that was the third half in a row where Cavan have conceded a score after the hooter had sounded.

Giving away two goals and point after the hooter in three halves in a row isn’t good enough at the top level. Cavan were slow to react to what was happening and changing during the game.

Once Tyrone figured out Cavan’s press on the kick-out, and started to find Kennedy or Kilpatrick at the furthest point of Morgan’s kick, Cavan were left open at the back and punished.

With their zonal press, Cavan left out the three defenders who were in the Cavan end of the field from the formation. That meant when Morgan went as long as he could on the kick-out, he was taking out most of the Cavan team but he was also creating an attacking platform from well inside Cavan territory.

Had Cavan brought two or even three defenders out to join the zonal press, they may have been able to deny Morgan the space to go long or even intercept the kick if he did go long.

The other option was for the front line of the Cavan press to come out to the Tyrone 45-metre line and force Morgan to go short.

This would have allowed Cavan to press the ball in open play higher up the field and in turn force Tyrone to use more energy in breaking through all 14 outfield Cavan players to get a score. It would also have given Cavan a better chance of a score if they won the turnover because it reduced the distance they would have to travel to the scoring zone if they won it higher up the field.

Cavan’s ability to get scores is seriously hampering the team’s ability to compete with the top sides. Scoring 15 times (18 points total) from 30 shots is disappointing.

Some of those came down to poor execution and some came down to poor decision-making. The fact that we created 30 chances is better than not being able to create chances but when only three of the starting 15 got on the scoresheet, it highlights a problem. On a positive note, three of Cavan’s bench split the posts when introduced.

Compare that to Tyrone who scored 27 times (31-point total) from 35 shots. In a points total to shots ratio, that’s 88% while Cavan’s was 60%. More impressively, nine starting players for Tyrone contributed to the scoreboard with two of their five subs also chipping in.

Finally, it appears to me that a lot of the Cavan GAA fans have fallen out of love with the team. From the back of the stand, looking across the field to the open seats and listening to the crowd directly in front of me, it was hard to see or hear Cavan supporters. When the Cavan team needed a lift in the first half, there were no shouts of support, no chants to try to energise the team.

Raymond Galligan couldn’t try a Jim McGuinness stunt to energise the team with a roar from the Cavan supporters because there weren’t enough of them there.

It may be for a number of different reasons but in my opinion there is a disconnect between the county team and the Cavan supporters right now. There’s no sense of a shared journey or an involvement of the whole county. We hear clubs wishing it was all over so they can get their players back instead of them being proud of their club man representing them on a county team.

The idea of keeping everything within the group isolates the panel from their clubmates and even their families at times. It also keeps out supporters from sharing the journey the panel can go on. More Cavan supporters should have been in Castlebar to witness a brilliant performance and win against a top team but only a few hundred diehards were there.

This weekend will be more of the same as Cavan head to Killarney and most certainly the blue jerseys will be greatly outnumbered by green and gold in the stands. Interest in our flagship team continues to drop and if we’re not careful, interest in GAA in the county could potentially follow.