Are we all at the stage of writing Tyrone off yet? Maybe we should heed the words of Derry manager Rory Gallagher in the wake of his side’s 11-point victory at the weekend.
quick scan of the record books shows that no All-Ireland football champion has been beaten by 11 points in defending their Championship, on home turf. However, that’s not to say that some champions haven’t taken a hiding.
When Gallagher was assistant to Jim McGuinness in Donegal, their All-Ireland crown was in the balance when they faced Mayo in the 2013 All-Ireland quarter-final. They were destroyed, 4-17 to 1-10.
“I felt they were a small bit vulnerable,” noted Gallagher.
“It’s not easy being All-Ireland champions. I know myself from the experience from being involved with Donegal. You think you’re doing things right but sometimes you need a wee kick up the backside. They’ve got that now. They’ll respond.
“From my point of view, I felt we were getting better. We wanted to play against the better teams but you have to start beating them.”
The question now is what Tyrone can do to rescue themselves. The suspicions that they were vulnerable are not hard to track, after seven players left over the winter.
When joint managers Brian Dooher and Feargal Logan scanned their bench on Sunday, there were no genuine game-changers in the mould of a Tiernan McCann or a Mark Bradley. Darragh Canavan was unlucky to miss out on a starting jersey but it felt strange to see Cathal McShane and Frank Burns heading for the stand after being taken off at the break.
Essentially though, Tyrone need players who are falling miles below their usual standard to start playing again. That’s the tricky part. There is only so much that management can be held responsible for and when they put it up to the players after the Kerry defeat in the league semi-final last year, they got the desired effect. Can this trick work again? Or is the panel just too shallow for a defence of their All-Ireland title? We will know soon enough.
But it’s blown Ulster wide open. No team left now can be discounted. With Gallagher’s work coming to fruition, anyone can win it.