In four championship games this summer, Tyrone have scored 6-77.
They’re racking up an average of 23.75 points on the scoreboard in every game.
They won all their championship games by a combined margin of 46 points.
Down have gotten the closest to them so far when they were allowed a few handy scores late enough in an eight-point hammering.
For a defensive team, Tyrone sure as hell rack up the numbers. In fact, only Dublin score more than them on average – special thanks to Westmeath for skewing those stats.
Average points per championship game in 2017 (extra time not included):
Dublin – 27.75
Tyrone – 23.75
Kerry – 22.67
Mayo – 19.43
Tyrone are mean in defence. They swamp back in serious numbers. They hit you like sledgehammers. They only play Mark Bradley as their out and out orthodox forward and he stays at full forward and, yes, you could probably describe them as a defensive team if you were going to be very loose about the phrase but, by God, they are attacking too.
Their numbers show it. But so does their system.
Against Donegal, their formation looked like this
Only some players had set positions though:
- McNamee marked McBrearty
- McCarron picked up the other full forward
- Hampsey followed Michael Murphy
- Mark Bradley is way on up the pitch there in full forward
- Colm Cavanagh was the last line as a sweeper
The rest were middle-third players. Even Colm Cavanagh is included in that.
In attack, those 10 players were free to bomb up the field and completely overrun Donegal.
They’d go in waves of three and four. They’d have back-up players coming behind them.
When the ball was lost, they all reverted back knowing exactly what positions they had to fill so they had their formation again – regardless of what the opposition were trying to do to them.
Against Armagh, their formation looked like this
- Again, Mark Bradley is up top on his own – so much on his own that he is out of position
- Again, McNamee and McCarron are picking up the inside forwards
- McCrory kept an eye on Grimley but he was largely free too to get up and down the pitch
It left 11 players available to get up and down again – only if Colm Cavanagh really felt the need to raid forward.
Tyrone play percentage football.
They file back into their formation and when they inevitably turn the ball over, they run over the top of their opposition and that’s why they’re racking up more scores than even Kerry are.
But if the stats and the system wasn’t enough to convince teams that Tyrone aren’t just this dogged outfit that’s said to be cut from the same cloth as the lazy narrative about northern teams, their bloody players should do that for you.
- Peter Harte is one of the best in Ireland. He is a pure gem. A delight.
- Mattie Donnelly’s stats the last day show the impact he has on football games.
- Sludden is an attacking footballer.
- Sean Cavanagh has been one of the fiercest attackers for the last 15 years.
- The McCann brothers are effortless and tireless.
- Niall Morgan will pick any of them out anywhere on the pitch.
- The subs they’re throwing on to finish off teams just shows the natural ability of that squad.
Tyrone are playing a lung-bursting style of play but they’re doing it with some of the finest footballers in the country. That’s what Mickey Harte has created here.
That’s why they’re so much more than just a defensive team.
