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20th July 2018
07:26pm BST

"We'll make that pitch nice and close, and short," former Tyrone star Conor Gormley remarked.
Brian McGuigan, who won three Sam Maguires with the county, said:
"A tighter pitch would probably suit Tyrone, you'd imagine, because Dublin played with a lot of width last year at Croke Park."Indeed they did, with the likes of Paul Mannion and Paddy Andrews posted out close to the sidelines and taking the position of 'corner forward' quite literally. It worked to devastating effect as Dublin led 1-9 to 0-5 at the break before eventually reaching the final with a scoreline of 2-17 to 0-11. GAA Hour host Colm Parkinson recalled a story from former Galway hurler Damien Hayes about playing matches down in Portlaoise. He said;
"Damien was going on about Portlaoise and he says, 'Jaysus, that O'Moore Park is a terrible tight pitch'. "I was listening and I think, 'O'Moore Park is one of the biggest pitches it the country'. It was [former Laois hurling manager] Cheddar Plunkett - he always narrowed the pitch in when they played Galway!"Referring back to the sideline meleé in 2006's 'Battle of Omagh', McGuigan joked that a narrower pitch would at least mean that subs and backroom staff from both sides would be at a safer distance should anything kick off this weekend.
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