Owen MULLIGAN

ALL credit to Kerry for a fully deserved victory in Killarney, but the Tyrone management have to take a long hard look at themselves after this defeat. How on earth they left poor young Barry Tierney on James O’Donoghue for the whole game was not only a mystery, but a shocking decision. The second half was an embarrassment but a number of decisions on the line meant Tyrone had no-one to blame but themselves. The writing was on the wall after 10 minutes. Kerry could have been six points up only for Niall Morgan’s saves. The warning signs were there when O’Donoghue went past Tierney three times early on, yet no action was taken on the line. I feel sorry for Tierney. He was completely hung out to dry and a more experienced defender should have been on O’Donoghue from the start, or at least moved on to him when it was clear Tierney was in trouble. O’Donoghue took his goals very well but he had the lad beaten all ends up for pace and was out in front of him every time. To score 3-3 any day is some shooting and I especially loved O’Donoghue’s third goal. It was a nice wee sidefooter low to the ground, the kind of goal only a player oozing in confidence would score. That was a heavy pitch yesterday yet he looked so stylish. Gooch may be gone for the year but this man is a class act and I cannot wait to see what he can do in Croke Park. Himself, the returning Bryan Sheehan (right) and David Moran were Kerry’s best players, closely followed by Marc Ó Sé. Fair play to Kerry, at least they played as if there was a rivalry going on. Tyrone seemed to have a memory lapse, like they didn’t know they were playing one of their biggest rivals. I was very impressed with Kerry’s tenacious tackling and to restrict Tyrone to four points from play was very impressive. The turning point of the game was probably Paddy McNeice’s goal chance, which would have levelled the game. Kerry never looked back after that. Shortly after that, Collie Cavanagh was hit with one of the nicest shoulders I’ve seen in years. He had the ball and was floored by Peter Crowley which sent the Kerry crowd completely mad. Worrying for Tyrone, they were cleaned out in midfield and that was with both Cavanaghs starting. Darren McCurry got two great points but he was starved of possession throughout. I don’t think Ronie O’Neill is the answer at centre half-forward. He was great there for UUJ this year but this is a different level. The supply is terrible for the Tyrone inside forwards — and it hasn’t been right for years. Despite all of Tyrone’s problems, the game was still there for them at half-time if switches had been made. The players need to shoulder some of the blame too because I’ve never seen a Tyrone team give up in the last 10 minutes like that before. After getting out of jail last week against Kildare, they should have had the stomach for the fight but Kerry were hungrier for every breaking ball. A wee bald man by the name of Peter Canavan used to say to me ‘nasty wee men win games’. Well, Tyrone don’t have any of them right now. The hard work starts now.