Share
19th June 2023
11:23am BST
His brother, Ruairi, made his full debut and scored three points, but the absence of Darren McCurry was clear to see as his injury meant that the Red Hands were completely reliant on the Errigal Ciaran siblings.
When you look at Tyrone's scoring stats this season so far, starting back to the National League, the first two names, McCurry and Canavan, have racked up impressive numbers.
However, the fact that their third top scorer is Peter Harte, a player who plays predominately in the half back line, is a concern.
Mattie Donnelly is next on the list, and although he usually starts out at full forward, he spends most of the game running up and down the pitch.
Really, the 2021 All-Ireland champions would have been hoping for more output from their half forward line and the bench.
Cathal McShane has been riddled with injuries, only managing three points this season, a telling story when you consider he was the championship's overall top scorer in 2019, despite not even making the final.
Conn Kilpatrick has pitched in from midfield, with an impressive eight points, but Cormac Quinn is next on the list and he has been playing in the full-back, and half-back line.
Unless the management can manoeuvre things around, maybe play Ruairi Canavan at half forward, keep his brother, McCurry and Donnelly in the full forward line, then they might have more success.
https://twitter.com/TyroneGAABlog/status/1670725048770895874
Normally they play with two defensive-type players in that line, such as Michael O'Neill or Frank Burns, but another small bonus to their draw against Westmeath, was Kieran McGeary's performance from the bench.
The 2021 Player of the Year has struggled for form since that incredible season, but his impact against Westmeath was immediate, as he got a good point, and won a lot of important balls.
It's too late in the year to bring in new attacking players, but with forwards like Lee Brennan, Mark Bradley, Ronan O'Neill, and Paul Donaghy all currently enjoying good club seasons, it's hard not to feel aggrieved that they couldn't be persuaded to stay on the panel.
Darren McCurry 0-49 Darragh Canavan 1-35 Peter Harte 1-9 Mattie Donnelly 0-11 Conn Kilpatrick 0-8 Cormac Quinn 1-4 Niall Morgan 0-6 Ruairí Canavan 0-6 Kieran McGeary 1-2 Conor Meyler 0-4 Pádraig Hampsey 0-4 Brian Kennedy 0-3 Frank Burns 0-3 Cathal McShane 0-3 Joe Oguz 0-2 Cormac Monroe 0-2 Ronan McNamee 0-2 David Mulgrew 0-2 Niall Sludden 0-2 Richie Donnelly 0-2 Michael McKernan 0-1 Niall Devlin 0-1 Michael McGleenan 0-1
Check out the GAA Hour podcast, where we discuss all of the latest news and action.
Related links:Explore more on these topics:
