Tyrone vs Mayo SFC: Five Talking Points

A feeling of relief

A PALATABLE sense of relief washed over the county following Tyrone’s successful dash to the finish line against Donegal. The team’s most impressive victory since landing the victory in 2021, Saturday’s win at Ballybofey seemed like confirmation of what we either hoped or suspected – that Tyrone were very much heading in the right direction. However is it vital that they now follow up with another statement victory this weekend

The importance of finishing top

LET’S park what was an utterly brilliant win over Donegal for a second. Tyrone are favourites to get the better of Mayo this weekend on the back of their contrasting fortunes in round one, but that guarantees nothing and it’s another massive game in the grander scale of things. Finishing top is so important under this soon-to-be-done-away-with format, and there’s only one way to make sure of that, and that’s overcoming Mayo and Cavan in our remaining games.

Composure on the home straight

When Tyrone went two points down in the closing stages against Donegal, it was hard to avoid that familiar Ballybofey feeling – that a defeat was on the way. It would’ve been gutting had that transpired, but Tyrone had other ideas. Darren McCurry, Darragh Canavan, Peter Harte and Cormac Quinn stepped up to the mark with late points as Tyrone wrestled back control of the contest, and one of their really impressive facets of their strong finish was the way they coolly held on to possession..

The conveyor belt keeps rolling

THE Tyrone minors clinched provincial honours on Sunday evening with a fine victory over Cavan, marking a 26th ever Ulster title for the county at that level. The U20s were in action in last night’s All-Ireland final, and whatever way you look at it, Tyrone have been by far the dominant force in Ulster at underage level over the course of the last 25 years. Only Derry really compare, and there are others who are miles behind, like five-time All-Ireland kingpins Down.

Will Healy draw a crowd?

TYRONE were again out-numbered last weekend in the spectator stakes.Officially there were three Donegal supporters for every one Tyrone fan, which isn’t too bad given it was an away tie, but really, we need to be making our presence felt on Saturday against Mayo. Home advantage in these Group stages is traditionally vital and therefore backing in the stands plays a role.  Whatever the circumstances – whether the team is going well or not, basically – they deserve our support for the effort they put in.