Doherty has hard act to follow

Under-21 football All-Ireland final / Dublin v Tyrone: The one lone Tyrone man dreading the aftermath of last Sunday's All-Ireland victory over Armagh was under-21 football manager Peter Doherty. All that mayhem, that wild, hysterical hype, to him spelt horror.

Tomorrow afternoon in Navan he'll find out exactly how much of a curse those celebrations have been. Tyrone play Dublin to try to win back the title they've claimed twice already in this decade - and within six days secure an All-Ireland double.

"This week has been very difficult," says Doherty. "There is so much hype around the county now that it has been very difficult to focus on the game, which has come so close to last Sunday.

"I mean it has been a fantastic week for the county, winning the Sam Maguire for the first time ever . . . but I suppose we won't really know if it's a good or bad thing for our own chances until we go out on Saturday."

Central to Doherty's fears about the proximity to the senior success is that three of his key players - goalkeeper John Devine, defender Dermot Carlin, and midfielder Seán Cavanagh - have also been on senior duty all summer. Devine and Cavanagh started last Sunday, while Carlin was on the bench.

"Well, it's been hard not being able to get those three players," adds Doherty. "But it's been totally understandable. We haven't been able to see those three at all for the last couple of months, but that's the way it should be.

"So all in all it's a sort of mixture of things. There is great hype and great support at the moment, which gives the players that bit of confidence, but there is a lot of expectation as well, and the distraction of last Sunday. Hopefully it will have more of a positive knock-on effect for us on Saturday."

Doherty is in his debut year of football management in the county, succeeding Mickey Harte, who delivered two under-21 titles to Tyrone before transferring to the seniors and bringing the county their first All-Ireland senior title. Having a sound underage structure in place, and the success that has gone with it, has helped ease Doherty into the job.

"We're delighted to be in the final now, and we're going to give it our best shot, but I'd feel as well that this team might still be a year off its maturity. I know we have very few players who will be overage next year. And Dublin do seem to have that bit of experience. I don't know how many seniors they have, but I've seen them once already this season, and they have a very dangerous forward line."

Doherty has made one change from the team that beat Mayo in last month's semi-final, giving Martin Penrose a start in the attack in place of Ronan Ward. Team captain Peter Donnelly will partner Cavanagh at midfield, with the highly rated Kelvin Hughes starting at centre forward.

Dublin won't need any introduction to the majority of these Tyrone players. Some of them were part of the team that Dublin beat in last year's semi-final, and the All-Ireland minor final of 2001 - which Tyrone won after a replay - also featured a spread of players from both counties.

Devine, Carlin and Cavanagh all featured in that successful minor side, as did Penrose and defender Kieran McCrory. Dublin have an even greater spread of survivors from that day, including Paul Copeland, Paul Griffin, Bryan Cullen, Declan O'Mahony, Padraig Brennan, Grahan Cullen, John Noonan and David O'Callaghan.

Dublin have gone with the same starting line-up that beat Waterford in their semi-final last Sunday week.

Dual player David O'Callaghan had been in contention for a starting place following his recent comeback from injury, but manager Tommy Lyons has, for now, has kept his services in reserve.

Derek Murray of Round Towers was also in contention for a starting place having replaced centre back Brian Cullen, albeit through injury, in the Waterford game, but again Lyons has kept the Clondalkin player as part of the substitutes.

Considering the ease of Dublin's 3-10 to 1-7 win over Waterford, such an unaltered line-up had been expected. It means Dublin will start with a backbone of players already with senior championship experience, including Griffin, Cullen, Conal Keaney, and Alan Brogan, who will lead the team out as captain.

DUBLIN: P Copeland; N Kane, M Fitzpatrick, P Griffin; N Cooper, B Cullen, C Prenderville; D O'Mahony, P Brennan; C Keaney, L Óg Ó hEineachain, D Lally; A Brogan; G Cullen, J Noonan.

TYRONE: J Devine; S Sweeney, K McCrory, D Carlin; O Devine, M Garry, P O'Farrell; P Donnelly, S Cavanagh; L Meenan, J McMahon, K Hughes, M Penrose, A McCarron, R McCann.