Dermot Carlin Column: Good start but Armagh will be a step up

That was a good win for Tyrone on Sunday against Cavan in the Ulster Championship opener. One of the things which stood out for me, especially during the first half, was the workrate of the whole team and that was the key to the dominance which eventually paid the dividend of an impressive victory.

People maybe thought that the new rules would lead to forwards maybe being lazy. But for Tyrone, Ruairi Canavan and Darren McCurry were really putting the Cavan backs under pressure. They and others were working back and turning the ball over.

We were playing with the wind, and the workrate was vital in starting attacking chances. Another big improvement from the league was the way in which Rory Brennan tightened things up in the defence. He directed traffic, doubled up and his presence alone in doing that was crucial. That then provided a great launchpad for our attacking movement.

Niall Morgan again proved his worth. His positioning on the left hand side of the field forced Cavan onto the other wing with their kickouts and Tyrone dominated that sector as a result. Tyrone were hungry for the break-ball and the amount of possession won by the likes of Brian Kennedy was excellent. That provided the platform for where we enjoyed a 10 point half-time lead.

It was all down to breaking ball and then driving forward. Aodhan Donaghy and Ciaran Daly did really well in that respect, Darren McCurry tackled back, and we seemed to be able to snap up the breaking ball. I thought the lead, then, of 10 points was really important for the start of the second half.

Cavan came back fairly strongly at the start of the second half, and the 10 point lead that we enjoyed was crucial in stopping them from making an even bigger impact. They hit a couple of two pointers, had a couple of goal chances and they seemed to win more possession around midfield.

Niall Morgan caught a ball under the crossbar and then that led directly to Conn Kilpatrick’s goal. Morgan was brilliant again.

Cavan reduced the deficit to just six points at one stage with about 10 minutes left. But I don’t think there was ever any danger of them causing real difficulties for Tyrone in the closing stages.

Rory Brennan blocked twice in the lead-up to a Darren McCurry point, Brian Kennedy was great, Darren McCurry was super too and Michael McKernan learned from an earlier miss to set up a score the next time. Cathal McShane’s movement was great and Ruairi Canavan excelled as well. Kieran McGeary was back to his best too.

It was all positive for Tyrone here. But Armagh are going to ask a lot more questions. Their pace and power represent a different proposition. They will be at a different level to what Cavan were and Tyrone would need to have that first half performance again to have a fighting chance.