Kevin Nolan warns Red Hands of early Dublin onslaught

Former Dublin defender Kevin Nolan has warned Tyrone to expect an early onslaught in Omagh as the All-Ireland holders go “right for the jugular, right from the start”.

Kevin Nolan warns Red Hands of early Dublin onslaught

By Paul Keane

Former Dublin defender Kevin Nolan has warned Tyrone to expect an early onslaught in Omagh as the All-Ireland holders go “right for the jugular, right from the start”.

Dublin will be chasing successive wins in the Super 8 to secure a semi-final spot, placing them within touching distance of four All-Irelands in a row.

Ex-All-Star Nolan, man of the match for the Dubs in the 2011 final win over Kerry, reckons Jim Gavin will demand a fast start to get Tyrone on the back foot.

That was their strategy last August at Croke Park when Con O’Callaghan’s fourth-minute goal paved the way for an eventual 12-point win over the Red Hands.

And the same player required just 83 seconds to score another goal in the final against Mayo, a gung-ho approach Nolan expects to be repeated at Healy Park.

“You talk about ‘Newbridge or nowhere’ — for (Tyrone), it’s in their home patch, they will not want to be turned over, as they were last year,” Nolan told Hill 16 Army’s Blue is the Colour podcast.

“But I just think that if they’re to stand any chance, they will have been thinking about going into the last 40 minutes (with something to play for) but if they’re still in the game at the start, it’ll be a massive motivation for them.

“You can see Dublin going right for the jugular, right from the start. If they get that, there’s no sticking with them, I deep down believe that.”

Tyrone’s counter-attacking strategy works best when they grab a lead themselves and then punish teams on the break. They were heavily criticised for having no Plan B last year when rattled by that early O’Callaghan goal.

“Tyrone would have wanted to be in the game towards the last part of the game,” two-time All-Ireland winner Nolan said. “Dublin went out, Con got a goal in the first couple of minutes and straight away Tyrone had to change their tactics. And they didn’t know what to do.

“So for teams to be able to defend into the last few minutes, they need to be in the lead but Dublin’s main thing that they try to do is get a lead at the start. Even when the ball is thrown up, it’s only six defenders against six forwards, so if Dublin win the throw up they’re all equal.

Whereby if they’re trying to work it through 14 lads, it’s obviously a bit tougher. But Dublin are getting close to cutting this defensive game out.

O’Callaghan was held scoreless by Donegal last weekend while Ciaran Kilkenny, their key man this summer, wasn’t as influential.

But less experienced players like two-goal hero Niall Scully, Brian Howard, and Eoin Murchan simply took on the responsibility themselves.

“There are so many lads that can step up,” said Nolan.

“I don’t think Kilkenny or O’Callaghan will have as bad days again at the same time. Teams will need more lads on the Dublin squad to have an off day and when you can bring in the likes of Murchan, lads that can do that job even if some lads are slightly off....you bring players off and sure Kev Mac comes on.

“The lads that are coming on, they’re not Mickey Mouse footballers.

“Sure Flynner came on, scored two points. And he got a score when Dublin were holding onto the ball for about five or six minutes.

“I think he got it just at the 45, there was nobody around him, if he had turned to go back I think the Dublin supporters would have raged at him.

“The only thing he could do was kick it over the bar, if he’d turned back he would have been slated.”

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