Cavanagh and company set new standards

Football Analyst: Tyrone yesterday demonstrated the ball skills other counties - including Kerry - must now aspire to

I HAVE no doubt in my mind that Tyrone are the deserving All-Ireland champions for 2008. There is no hiding from the fact that Kerry were unable to sustain their ferocious pace for the full 70 minutes. What we witnessed yesterday was Mickey Harte, the tactician, at his brilliant best. Harte identified the Kerry full-forward line as the main area to be curtailed if Tyrone were to deny them a famous three-in-a-row.

Bringing Joe McMahon back alongside his brother Justin and Conor Gormley was a masterstroke.

All great teams build from the back. If foundations across the full-back line are secure than anything is possible, especially with Seán Cavanagh in such devastating form.

And yet Kerry will regret the number of obvious aerial balls they sent into Kieran Donaghy and Tommy Walsh. Justin McMahon did have an outstanding game in keeping Donaghy quiet but it was also the intelligent way he played the ball out of defence that must be commended. His brother also showed well but I thought it a mistake to take Walsh off. He looked capable of more scores.

Gormley was initially in serious trouble on Colm Cooper but by starving the Gooch of good ball from farther out the Tyrone midfield helped the defender grow into the contest.

When it became apparent that Plan A (the high ball) was not going to work, Kerry should have adopted another approach. The problem was we never saw a Plan B.

Then there was the poor showing of their wing forwards, who were utterly outplayed by the phenomenal industry of the Tyrone wing backs Philip Jordan and Davy Harte.

Enda McGinley and Brian Dooher also got through a huge amount of unselfish work.

Actually, Tyrone's physical trainer Fergal McCann must be credited with the impressive conditioning of this squad.

It was the pace of the running game that killed off Kerry in the end.

We saw Tyrone at their very best in those last 10 minutes, when Cavanagh really came to the fore. Against another team he would have won the match on his own.

All five of his points were kicked while under pressure from a Kerry defender and he physically dominated Aidan O'Mahony. It is the sign of serious mental strength to take scores at such critical moments.

When the game was in the balance it was the aforementioned Tyrone players who started scooping up the breaking ball. Kerry looked out on their feet as McGinley and Kevin Hughes ran unmarked at the defence.

When Darragh Ó Sé had control of midfield during the first half, they really needed to take more scores, but, again, credit to Harte for counteracting this dominance by flooding the middle. Thereafter, Darragh struggled to get a run on the ball. The high fielding dried up as well.

Tyrone were so measured in their attitude throughout, never panicking under pressure. There was the usual high foul count but their defensive resilience cannot be overstated.

They don't ever waste ball either; there is always a support runner on hand. They proved to be a more mobile team than Kerry.

Back to Harte's excellence on the line. Even the use of substitutes struck the right note.

Hughes made an impact for Collie Holmes, Colm Cavanagh got a point, and Brian McGuigan's arrival contributed to calmness in possession.

Kerry must now reflect on their path to the final, where they struggled to put every opponent away. Maybe that came home to roost yesterday.

The supposed strength in depth of the panel was certainly exposed; only Darren O'Sullivan made an impact from the bench.

Generally, Kerry looked bereft of ideas once the full-forward line began to malfunction. The half backs were guilty of wasting important possession with gung-ho charges into the Tyrone blanket.

The goal caught them cold and it can be argued that concentration levels dropped when they were made to wait four minutes on the pitch after half-time.

This defeat highlights a deficiency in Kerry football when compared to Tyrone: skill. The Tyrone players were so comfortable on the ball, with the ability to pass off their left or right, and their forwards looked more capable of conjuring up scores.

There is a lot of work being done in Tyrone at underage and in the schools system to provide players from a very young age with the correct skills set. Kerry could take a leaf out of their book.

There is a widely held view in Kerry that the great players will just appear year upon year but this is not enough anymore. There is no academy system in Kerry to produce proper coaching, the structures being too team- and match-orientated.

It wouldn't have saved them yesterday but it could in the future.

For now though it is the Tyrone footballers who have set the highest possible standards for others to aspire to in 2009.