Lyons sees side taking shape

Tyrone - 0-18, Dublin - 2-10: Even with ultimate defeat, this still counts as the most revealing experiment so far for new Dublin manager Tommy Lyons. So much was learnt here that the tiresome haul up to Dungannon could only have been more worthwhile had Dublin actually won.

For a start Tyrone raised the heat beyond anything that they'd felt since Lyons moved in. It was a game that forced Dublin to dig deep and fight, that had them running scared for a while and then running riot. Whole leagues have passed before where teams haven't experienced as much.

It was a game, too, that at different times brought out the best in both sides. What gave Tyrone the victory in the end was the simple fact that they played best as the clock ran out, narrowly denying Dublin even a share of points.

For a while, though, when Tyrone were up by six points after 20 minutes, it was a game that threatened to send Lyons's experimental team into the dustbin of history. For some of those fresh defenders the days (or at least the season) seemed to be numbered, and with Dublin scoreless from play it seemed time yet again to send out the search party.

Then Tyrone's advantage disappeared without even any smoke. Ciarán Whelan moved back to midfield and started Dublin's landslide, and with Ray Cosgrove's goal seven minutes into the second half, the sides were level.

From there it was a game where every passage of play demanded total attention. As the tension mounted the lead continued to share or change hands and while Dublin never lost sight of the victory, the experience of Peter Canavan and the class of Gerald Cavlan eventually carried Tyrone through.

"Well I am awful disappointed in that I hate losing but there's definitely a lot more positives than negatives to take from this," said Lyons afterwards.

" I did actually think we were going to take a point at one stage. But the main thing to take from this is that we are finding footballers, and finding men who can defend and men who can score."

"David Henry ended up performing very well and so did Barry Cahill, and there were lots of very good performances for us. I thought our lack of experience did cost us but you know Tyrone were probably as close to their championship team out there as they'll get. And we were there right with them at the end."

Dublin may indeed be still in the early stages of an experiment destined towards a summer product but already some results are worth noting. Alan Brogan seems to be maturing on a weekly basis and his 1-3 contribution couldn't have been more impressive, especially his thundering goal some three minutes from time that again took Dublin to level terms, 2-10 to 0-16.

In the final few minutes perhaps, Tyrone wanted the points more and spurred on by the lively crowd (well over the 8,000 mark) they indeed made their experience count. Canavan won himself and converted a free and after Dublin blew their last couple of chances, Cavlan sealed the win with a typically smooth point from a long ways out.

Dublin though deserve full credit for the way they revitalised their game. Trailing 0-9 to 0-4 at the break they came out in full spirits, and with Peader Andrews along with Henry and Cahill closing down the Tyrone attack, all the scores were now in their favour.

Cosgrove was mostly accurate from his frees and Darren Magee and John McNally also took their chances well. With Colin Moran making a brief appearance (before injury sent him off again) Dublin were in control at midfield, where Whelan now played a key role in both Cosgrove and Brogan's goals.

Suddenly Dublin were a point in front and Lyons could relax a little: "Well no I wasn't all that worried at half-time," he explained. "I knew we just weren't getting to grips with them. But every team will have their periods of dominance and they did have theirs and we had ours.

"When you're travelling as well, three and half hours on the bus, then it's very hard to get settled, but we did struggle in the first half purely with the pace that Tyrone played that game at. And they are incredibly physical, in the right sense.

"But the disappointing thing as well for us is that we didn't score for the last 15 minutes or so bar the goal. That comes down though to lack of experience on big days for a lot of these players."

For counterpart Art McRory, joint manager of Tyrone, there were also some useful lessons - as well as of course the league points: "Sure I'm happy with the result and happy with the game. It shows our boys just how far they'll have to go to win. And we are capable of getting those kind of high scores if we get the quality ball into the forward line."

Sure enough McRory has been around long enough to know a game is never over at half-time: "Well I actually felt Dublin were coming back into it during the last 10 minutes of the first half. We might have run ourselves into the ground a little bit and there was once stage there towards the end when the whole team seemed to be leg-less.

"But they did get a second wind, and it was at crucial stage at the end when Cormac McAnallen won some key balls for us at midfield. That helped settle us but you know it was a very valuable game for us as well."

TYRONE: P Ward; C Gormley, C Lawn, B Robinson; R McMenamin (0-1), C Gourley, C Holmes; C McAnallan (0-3), J Quinn (0-1); B Dooher, S O'Neill (0-1), G Cavlan (0-5); P Canavan (0-5, two frees), K Hughes (0-1), B McGuckin. Subs: P Jordan for Holmes (52 mins), B McGuigan (0-1) for McGuckin (58 mins), S Cavanagh for Quinn (65 mins).

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; D Henry, P Andrews, C Goggins; P Casey, D Darcy, B Cahill (0-1); D Homan, D Magee (0-1); C Whelan, S Ryan, E Bennis; A Brogan (1-3), J McNally (0-2), R Cosgrove (1-3, two frees). Subs: C Moran for Homan (41 mins), J Gavin for Moran (46 mins), P Curran for Darcy (55 mins).

Referee: S Prior (Leitrim).