Sunday, August 25
GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Semi-Final
Mayo v Tyrone
Venue: Croke Park
Throw In: 3.30pm
After the furore of their All Ireland Quarter Final victory over Monaghan and in particular Sean Cavanagh's "rugby tackle" that denied the Farney men a goal scoring opportunity, Micky Harte and his men will see the challenge of taking on this bang in form Mayo team as exactly the challenge they need to concentrate the minds on the big prize once more. In the flesh, Mayo's comprehensive dismantling of All Ireland champions Donegal in another of the quarter finals was as complete a performance as seen in Croke Park in many a year. Based on form therefore Mayo should advance to another All Ireland Final appearance but if only sport was that predictable.
Back in late May when Donegal blew Tyrone away in the final quarter of the Ulster Championship, few would have predicted that Mickey Harte’s side would outlive the reigning All-Ireland champions but the Red Hands have proven to be the great survivors of the 2013 championship. These survival skills will now be given their biggest test yet. Can Player of the Year candidate Sean Kavanagh carry his team over the line once more or will Tyrone's charmed life come to an end?
After their demolition of Donegal in the All-Ireland quarter-final, James Horan’s Mayo are now the team to beat having taken over that mantle from Dublin with a string of outstanding displays. Their average winning margin in championship 2013 has been an incredible 16 points which was exactly what they beat Donegal by on August 4. They have scored 13 goals in four games, and in the only game they failed to raise a green flag, the Connacht semi-final defeat of Roscommon, they hit 0-21 and had 12 different scorers. It was also the third year in a row that the Westerners have dethroned the reigning All-Ireland champions. But that becomes an even more annoying statistic if they do not go on now and claim the biggest prize and finally end an All-Ireland drought that dates back to 1951.
The last time the sides met was in Round 3 of the Qualifiers in 2008 when Tyrone won out by 0-13 to 1-9 en route to the third All-Ireland title of the Harte era. There is in inescapable sense of destiny attached to the current Mayo team, and who would begrudge them, but if there is one team capable of putting a spanner in the works it’s Tyrone with the chief strategist Mickey Harte plotting their downfall. Tyrone haven’t been anywhere near as impressive in their run to the semi-finals as Mayo, but in Harte's 200th competitive game in charge, can the bookies really be correct in ranking them as such outsiders?
An interesting sub-plot, but vital to the outcome, of this game will be the midfield battle, where two sets of brothers will go head-to-head – the O’Sheas of Breaffy for Mayo against the Cavanaghs of Moy for the Red Hands. Aidan O'Shea gave a powerhouse performance in the defeat of Donegal but will he be tasked with tracking the marauding Seán Cavanagh or play his natural game and let the opposition worry about him? The game could well be won and lost in that battle.
Tyrone go into the game without the suspended Martin Penrose but Conor Gormley is available and his experience will be vital. Mayo manager Horan has unsurprisingly kept faith with the same team that started against Donegal the last day with Keith Higgins continuing in the half-forward line where his playmaking and footballing skills were to the fore in the first half against Donegal. Tyrone will have their systems and structures well in place to negate the Mayo attacking threat but there is something about the Mayo beast this season that exudes an assurance of their quality and they should run down the Tyrone gameplan of containment and advance to the decider of the 3rd Sunday in September.
Verdict: Mayo Odds: 2/7
No comments:
Post a Comment