Dublin need to be clever and clinical

JOHN O'KEEFFE FOOTBALL ANALYSTTRAWLING THROUGH the recent history of clashes between Dublin and Tyrone simply reinforces the importance of discipline at Croke Park today. The teams will be well aware that in a contest of this nature they can ill-afford to pick up early yellow cards.

The anticipated wind and rain will place an even greater premium on timing the tackle in what will be a tension-laden occasion. Tyrone manager Mickey Harte's primary concern since winning the All-Ireland in 2005 has been to try to fill the void left in the forward line by the retirements of Peter Canavan and Stephen O'Neill.

He has turned to Seán Cavanagh, charging him with being the fulcrum of his attacking strategy. Tyrone's attacking gambits revolve around Cavanagh in his capacity as a target man. He has three functions - win possession, take on his man and score himself. He is capable of drawing fouls and also possesses the vision to set up colleagues.

There is a huge responsibility on the Dublin full back Ross McConnell to curb Cavanagh's influence and the Dubliner will have to put behind the disappointment of the Westmeath game. McConnell certainly has the physical requirements.

I'd expect Bryan Cullen to try to condense the space in front of his full back, dropping a little deeper and focusing on his defensive duties, as he has done to great effect this season.

The Dublin manager Paul Caffrey will look to his wing backs Collie Moran and Barry Cahill to push forward when the opportunity arises without neglecting their primary responsibilities. Cahill has been particularly effective.

Cavanagh will be Tyrone's primary ball-winner as Colm McCullagh and Tommy McGuigan don't have the physical strength to contest and dominate a high-ball game.

Their battles with David Henry and Paul Griffin will be athletic duels. Both Tyrone corner forwards are very accurate but they will be reliant on receiving the right type of ball to maximise their influence.

Dublin's midfield axis of Shane Ryan and Ciarán Whelan has purred along this season but they haven't really faced a serious test so far.

Enda McGinley and Ryan Mellon are unlikely to dominate an aerial battle against Whelan so I would expect Tyrone to flood this area of the pitch, breaking ball instead.

Ryan has enjoyed a great summer but I'd like to see him release ball more quickly into his forwards - something they'd appreciate - rather than go on those lung-bursting runs. He needs to conserve his energy a little because he has become an integral part of his team's success.

I have been very impressed with the fitness of the Dublin team and their ability to play at a very high intensity for the full 70 minutes.

Caffrey's willingness to introduce fresh legs earlier in matches than he used to has helped this momentum. Dublin don't drift out of games anything like as much as they used to.

Conal Keaney will probably come out to centre forward, where he can win possession, and his accuracy will be important on the day. Jason Sherlock is much more dangerous closer to goal.

The one aspect of the Dublin forwards' performance that needs to improve is their ability to link up as a unit. It's really a matter of vision, making good decisions on the ball and knowing when to offload to better-placed team-mates.

Alan Brogan is a super player but sometimes overdoes taking on his man. The Dubs need to be a little bit smarter and make better use of a give-and-go tactic because Tyrone are likely to employ a swarm defence - Westmeath demonstrated how effective that can be against the Dubs.

Harte's search for a cutting edge may be an ongoing assignment but his defence retains a core of experienced, uncompromising players in Conor Gormley, Ryan McMenamin, Philip Jordan and Ciarán Gourley, who won't be fazed by the occasion.

If the Dublin players take too much time on the ball, they'll be faced by multiple defenders or shepherded into culs-de-sac.

Tyrone would benefit from a stop-start game; the likely heavy rain predicted would help to make it a closer contest.

Dublin need to move the ball quickly and directly to counter massed defence in much the same way they sweep forward off counterattack possession. They have to keep the pace of the game up and, for their forwards, it's important that they manage a greater return from the possession they have been enjoyed in most of their matches: the strike-rate from possession to scores needs to be higher. Bernard Brogan and Mark Vaughan offer alternatives if the Dublin attack struggles.

The Dublin half-back line and midfield have been excellent this season, a huge part of the team's success.

There's no doubting the Dubs' growing maturity and footballing nous, and with that experience and the familiarity of playing together they should be good enough to prevail.

To do that they'll need to be clever and clinical in equal parts; skill will be more important than physique in negotiating this difficult hurdle.

If they get it wrong, Tyrone could make them pay dearly.