Jim McGuinness is right.
Dublin do set the rules of engagement. They are playing every game on their terms. They will go to extremes to keep percentages in their favour, to avoid risk and to win.
Jim McGuinness is also right when he tells you in no uncertain terms that if you fail to ask the champions any questions, you’ll fail to get anywhere near them.
But McGuinness’ two ideas of putting something different before Dublin weren’t so much designed to pose questions but to try and find any way of answering some. Yet again, we’re faced with a blueprint of how to play Dublin and, yet again, it’s one that doesn’t involve any actual plan to win the game.
McGuinness put forward two methods Tyrone could use in his Irish Times column this 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 first theory is aimed to help Tyrone’s transition game – you can’t transition if you can’t pressure the ball and turn it over so here’s a way of trying to close them in between the 65′ and 45′. The other idea is just a way of keeping defensive shape and not being pulled apart by the champions.
But, whilst both could no doubt limit the Dubs a little more than they’re used to being limited, they’re not going to contribute anything towards actually winning the game.
The first plan to beat Dublin is to limit Dublin by getting 15 men inside your own 65′.
The second plan to beat Dublin is to limit Dublin by getting 15 men inside your own 45′.
So… what’s the plan to beat Dublin?
Jim McGuinness has put forward two ways of playing against them and neither addresses how Tyrone might actually score more than Dublin.
The premise around packing inside the 45′ and not ever being drawn out of it is interesting alright. Dublin want you to come out and they need you to break shape so they can exploit it, therefore a team bluntly refusing to do just that could result in a standoff. But, then, after Dean Rock scores a free kick and Dublin take the lead, they can just kick the ball around the middle of the pitch for the rest of the game anyway and win 1-0.
There’s no tactic to get at them. No tactic to win. Laois remain the only team this year to go up against the best side in Ireland with a plan to actually hurt them. Big, talented, Kingston men; isolated with their markers; long, early ball into them. It wreaked havoc at times and John Sugrue was jumping up and down on the sidelines, screaming and pointing for his team to use the option every time. There was no way they were going to beat Dublin but they would’ve had even less of a chance if they went to Croke Park with no tactic to try and beat them. They thought of a way of getting scores and they used that until Dublin were forced to readjust and plug the leak.
And not even the great Jim McGuinness – and he is a great – is able to free of himself of the firefighting obligations that consume you when considering the prospect of this Dublin outfit in full flight. He has plenty of ways to put out fires alright but no tangible tactic to start any.
Instead, his game plan is based on ‘transition’.
Transition.
We’re talking about a team who haven’t lost a championship match in four years since they were, for the last time, beaten by transition. We’re talking about a side who have swept aside Kerry, Mayo, Tyrone, Galway, Donegal and anyone else on their way to claiming three-in-a-row. The only team who have really gotten close to them has been Mayo because they have defenders who can match the forwards and they had Jason Doherty winning ball on a high platform, Aidan O’Shea bulldozing through and Cillian O’Connor and Andy Moran winning possession inside with frantic runners coming off them. Mayo think of ways to bring Dublin to their knees, they don’t become obsessed with staying on their own two feet when they’ll be hammered on points at the end of it all anyway.
Bringing transition forward as an idea to beat Dublin in 2018 is just insulting to Jim Gavin. It might keep the score down but, then, to beat them, your tactic is relying solely on being fitter than Dublin, being faster than Dublin, being stronger than Dublin and overrunning the most athletic team the game has ever seen without any superstar target man to give you another out.
Trying to beat Dublin through transition is mind-numbingly stupid. The only thing you’re doing with that tactic is taking your game away from what you can do with a football and allowing it to be dictated by raw athleticism. You’re left with pitting your undiluted stats of speed and fitness and effort against Dublin’s numbers. And, there, it’s impossible to beat them.
It’s not a viable option of winning the game anymore so, once again, the method of beating Dublin doesn’t really shine any light on how you can actually beat them.
