ULSTER SFC FINAL Tyrone 1-18 Antrim 0-15: ULSTER FINAL day in Clones. The Antrim supporters arrive in astonishing numbers. They believe in their cause. They paint the town yellow. They have their opposition outnumbered. There's revolution in the air.
Mickey Harte gets word. He tears up his game plan and reads the riot act instead. Tyrone come out and hit them with batons. Next they hit them with tear gas. Then they roll out the tanks. Antrim are crushed. Revolution over.
Is there anything else to say?
In winning their fourth Ulster football title of the decade – and 12th in all – Tyrone merely made a declaration of intent.
It was like one of those old Soviet Union military marches. Don’t mess with us. We have the power to destroy. Here’s a little taster. Boom! They assumed the position and hit three points in three minutes – a sniper shot from Ryan McMenamin, a pistol shot from Tommy McGuigan, and a rifle shot from Joe McMahon.
Then they dropped a bomb. Seán Cavanagh took a pass from Stephen O’Neill, and with his trademark strength and verve, Cavanagh tore through the Antrim defence before the ball was neatly planted into the net.
The game was 11 minutes old. Tyrone were 1-3 to 0-1 in front. Antrim could hardly get hold of the ball. A quarter of an hour later Tyrone were 1-8 to 0-2 in front.
The remainder of the game was played out in front of the 32,363-attendance with a heavy air of inevitability. Antrim, naturally, were never beaten until the end – except they were as good as. Rarely has an Ulster football title been won so easy or so slow.
Whether it was deliberate or not, Tyrone eased off the accelerator. They hadn’t even shifted out of third gear. That allowed Antrim to close on them, and on 50 minutes they were back within five points. But they wouldn’t get any closer.
With a slight press on the accelerator Tyrone eased further in front and in the end the six-point winning margin was a lot more reflective of Tyrone’s casualness than it was of Antrim’s resistance.
A quick glance at our match programmes and the little ticks we put beside the players’ names helps explain a lot: nine different Tyrone players contributed a score; only four from Antrim. The bigger problem there being 0-11 of Antrim’s scores came from corner forward Paddy Cunningham, six of which were frees.
There were maybe five decent goal chances in the game and all of them fell to Tyrone. Antrim’s only weapon was a free-taker.
There was a look of conditioning and maturity about Tyrone throughout the game that suggested they have their eye on only one prize this year; the defence of their All-Ireland title.
The celebrations at the final whistle were so muted they couldn’t be heard at all, and one of the first observations Harte made afterwards was the real journey only begins now – not like two years ago, when after winning the Ulster title, the journey ended.
“All we know is the last time we were in this position, after winning the Ulster title, we didn’t acquit ourselves very well. We need to remember this next round is very dangerous. There are no back doors or side doors anymore. It’s all or nothing. We need to be ready for that knock-out mentality now.”
Truth is Tyrone haven’t been fully tested yet this summer, and until then talk of power and resistance has to be kept in context. However, physically Tyrone look in better shape than ever – and if there are any questions they can’t answer this summer then they will only be the mental ones. The other question there is who can possibly ask that? Dublin?
Cavanagh rediscovered his footballer-of-the-year form at midfield, hitting 1-4 in total, enough to earn him man of the match. Kevin Hughes did well alongside him, hitting two nice points, while in the half-forward line Tommy McGuigan and Joe McMahon hit 0-5 between them.
Brian Dooher, in his first start of any sort since last year’s All-Ireland triumph, was typically influential, before retiring early for a little breather. Dooher, for one, can only improve.
Up front, Owen Mulligan has never looked fitter – and hit three sweet points. Clearly his marathon training over the winter months has served him well. Stephen O’Neill, atypically, saw a fair amount of possession but failed to do a lot with it, so the biggest surprise of the afternoon from a Tyrone point of view was he ended up scoreless.
Ryan McMenamin did score, mainly because Antrim were content to leave him as the loose man for the opening quarter as they brought Terry O’Neill back into their defence. It backfired. McMenamin was the source of several early Tyrone attacks and by the time Antrim put some brakes on him it was too late. It was notable too that wing backs Davy Harte and Philip Jordan also popped up for two scores.
Antrim’s tactic of playing Niall McKeever at midfield started okay, but soon disintegrated. Michael McCann went into full forward but saw precious little ball, and it took 30 minutes before they claimed their first score from play, a long-range effort from the other midfielder, Aodhan Gallagher.
Cunningham tacked on two more scores before the break, which left it 1-8 to 0-5. For Antrim they meant some hope rather than no hope, but when Tyrone opened the second half with three points without reply then it was back to no hope.
It was at that stage Tyrone eased off the accelerator yet again. Clearly it’s not something they can afford to do from here on, but it’s not the worst complaint to have coming out of a successful Ulster campaign.
Antrim, to their credit, never let their heads drop completely, but in the end it was impossible not to feel their frustration.
After all, how do you dismantle an atomic bomb?
