Alan Brogan feels Tyrone will be ‘sitting ducks’ on Sunday if they follow Jim McGuinness’ advice and go ultra-defensive against Dublin.
McGuinness put forward two methods Tyrone could use to halt the Dubs in his Irish Times column last week:
1. 11 men inside the 45′, four on the 65′
“I really believe that teams need to trap Dublin: 11 players behind the ball inside their own 45 but four along the defensive 65 seeking to pressure and harry the Dublin ball-carriers from both sides.”
2. 15 men inside the 45′
“We know Dublin have steadfastly refused to attack a 15-man defensive block. What if the other team refuses to be drawn out past their 45 in the same way that Dublin refuse to go in? Then, straight away you are asking a question of Dublin; do you want to play the game or do you only want to play the game on your terms?”
The only problem, as highlighted by our very own Conan Doherty, is that both ultra-defensive game plans are centred on stopping Dublin from scoring, neither focuses on actually winning the game.
Brogan addressed McGuinness’ claims that the way to beat Dublin is to go ultra-defensive, the former All-star said Jim Gavin has spent four years training Dublin for this eventuality.
“We saw, Jim McGuinness talk about it during the week in the Irish Times about how he’d set up – go ultra-defensive against Dublin. I think Dublin have trained for that for the last four years. If Tyrone play like that, they’re going to be a sitting duck against Dublin, similar to the way they were last year.”
Speaking at the launch of the Family SportFest event next month, Brogan highlighted what he feels Tyrone need to do to beat Dublin on Sunday.
“They need to come out and try and be brave, they need to come out and go after Stephen Cluxton’s kick-outs. I think if they do that, they have a chance. There’s no doubt they have really good stylish footballers that are suited to the wide spaces of Croke Park.”
Brogan conceded that Tyrone are probably the team best suited to toppling this dominant Dublin side due to their amazing sense of self-belief, claiming their performance against Dublin the Super 8 series will have given them a major boost.
“Tyrone always believe, no matter how they’re going they always believe they can win. They’ll be going in on Sunday thinking they can beat Dublin. I think that the game up in Omagh in the Super 8s will only add to that.”
“That game will give Tyrone a great sense of belief that they can go in and compete and maybe even beat Dublin.” Brogan added.
From the outside looking in Brogan admitted it is hard to look past a Dublin win. However, Tyrone’s self-belief coupled with Mickey Harte’s genius leaves them best equipped team to end Dublin’s dominance.
“Knowing Tyrone, having played against them over the years, they have an amazing sense of self-belief that they will be able to produce a performance. With Mickey Harte in charge, he’s tried and tested in All-Ireland finals. It’s taken them a long time to get back since 2008, I’m sure privately that would have been his motivation over the last few years.”
Brogan claimed Tyrone don’t have the stars they did 10 years ago, but that could all change come 5 o’clock on Sunday.
“I suppose if you look at the Tyrone team, they don’t have the standout names that maybe they had in ’05 and ’08 but all it takes is win one All-Ireland and all of a sudden they’ve 15 household names, they’re only 70 minutes away form doing that.”
On Sunday we will find out if Mickey Harte’s men can make heroes of themselves, or whether Dublin will be toasting success for the fourth year in a row.
