The way it isanthony moyles

So the 2015 All Ireland football championship began in earnest this last weekend with five games being played over Saturday and Sunday.

A few results surprised me with Longford producing an almighty comeback against an Offaly team that I fancied.

One result that did not surprise me was Donegal v Tyrone.

I fancied Donegal to maintain the recent hoodoo over their Ulster rivals and they did not disappoint. This Donegal team are a formidable outfit and have the personnel within their squad to play anyway you like.

If you want to play it fast and loose well then we all know what happens (see Dublin in 2014 for this result). If like Tyrone you want to play with 13/14 men behind the ball and be massively physical, well they can do that too.

They are a team that have a very difficult route through Ulster this year , but no matter what happens there, I would expect them to have a major say in the overall championship. 

Another thing that did not surprise me last Sunday was the level of physicality.

I expected Tyrone to up the ante in this regard and they did not disappoint.

I was in Ballyboffey two years ago on a dismal day for football. Tyrone tried in vain to move the defensive juggernaut of Donegal from left to right, but due to their inferior size they had very little penetration.

Like waves they crashed time and again upon the boulders of Donegal and eventually succumbed to their superior size, physicality and know how. The result was never ever in doubt.

This year it was a different story. Tyrone were beaten by three points, but were within the width of a crossbar in drawing the game and bringing Donegal to Omagh were the temperature would have been turned up at least another two notches.

Tyrone showed the country that they are still a very good team that will potentially come through the qualifiers an even better unit.

There were a few differences last Sunday to two years ago. Tyrone’s younger players such as Mattie Donnelly, Peter Harte and Conor McAliskey in particular showed massive appetite to take the game to Donegal and showed that if you run at Donegal they can be vulnerable.

However Tyrone as a group brought something to the party that traditionally when they are winning games they have always had in their armoury. This is not only an increased level of physical intensity but also of verbal intensity.

 

In next week's The way it is.....with Anthony Moyles the former Meath captain will look at the new blight that is threatening to hurt the GAA - sledging.