NFL: Tyrone vs Dublin- Five Talking Points

Squad depth

MALACHY O’Rourke could afford to spring Darren McCurry, Seanie O’Donnell, Cormac Quinn and Shea O’Hare from the bench in Sunday’s win over Donegal, five lads who would have serious designs on nailing down a starting berth. If there’s one thing All-Ireland winners in recent years have in common, it’s a strong panel and arguably – given the return of Rory Brennan and Mark Bradley and co – this is Tyrone’s most competitive squad since the All-Ireland win of four years ago.

That answers that question

SO, the 3v3 rule was amended so teams could no longer manufacture a 12 v 11 situation by bringing their goalie forward. The question was whether that would curtail the likes of Niall Morgan, at least on the attacking front – not a bit of it. Niall was in fantastic form throughout against Donegal and deservedly won the Man of the Match award. He weighed in with a point from play, delivered some excellent kick-passes, scored two brilliant frees from distance. His performance had it all.

We’d be unlucky

IF Tyrone fulfill their side of the bargain and beat Dublin this Sunday, they could still easily find themselves relegated to Division Two because of what happens elsewhere. Six points is usually the magic number, so if Tyrone end up with seven points to their name and are still relegated, we can allow ourselves a wee moment of self-pity. Relegation wouldn’t be the end of the world – Armagh won last year’s All-Ireland from Division Two – but wouldn’t it be great if things work out in our favour on Sunday.

Scrapping the league finals

SUNDAY will be a seriously dramatic day in the National Football League. All matches are scheduled for 3.45pm and there’s a massive amount at stake right across the Divisions, not least the battle for survival in the top flight. And then, the comedown a week later. The league finals will be played in front of a sparsely populated Croke Park, and Donegal in particular would rather be anywhere else. Should they scrap the league finals altogether? There’s been dafter initiatives.

As integral as ever

MATTIE Donnelly was in the reckoning for the man of the match award following a brilliant personal display against Donegal, scoring three points from play and weighing in for a number of others. He’s been some servant to Tyrone football and brings so much to the table in terms of leadership, power, score-taking ability and everything else. He’s made it back after a number of serious long-term injuries and is rightly lauded as one of our county’s greats.