Tyrone V Down 2014 Championship

For those new to the blog, or who haven’t been here for a while, please find a refresher on the definitions and how the numbers are compiled here

Overall

Team	Possessions	Shots	Shot Rate	Scores	Success Rate	Weighting
Tyrone	38	27	71%	13	48%	+0.174
Down	31	21	68%	11	52%	+0.649
Champ avg (’12 & ’13)	35.8	27.6	77.2%	14.1	51.0%

Both teams were poor at converting what attacking possession they had to shots whilst Down were kept at bay by Tyrone for long periods of the game. It is not often you will cede seven extra attacking possession, and six extra shots, and not lose.

Séan Cavanagh’s heroics at the end of the game ensured that this was viewed as a missed opportunity for Down however, taking the game as a whole, Tyrone will be kicking themselves at not converting such superior volumes of attacking possessions and shots to a win.

Shots from Play

Team	Shots	Scores	Success Rate	Weighting
Tyrone	18	6	33%	-1.700
Down	17	8	47%	+0.517
Champ avg (’12 & ’13)	20.3	9.2	45.4%

Apart from the relative lack of shots the main thing that jumps out is Tyrone’s poor shooting from play. 17 of those 18 shots were for points with only four of those coming from central areas. Also three shots, all unsuccessful, were very long range (on or outside the 45). A bit more patience, working the ball into more central areas, may have elicited an extra point or two.

On a more positive note McCurry’s goal came at the end of a wonderful counter attack. It started with a short free deep inside their own 20m which after seven passes (5x hand plus 2x kick) ended up 21 seconds later in the Down net.

Down’s shooting was very much weighted to the right hand side (see their shot chart below) with only two of their 17 shots from play come from the left hand sectors – in contrast nine came from the right hand sectors. I’m sure this will not escape either management teams’ attention for the replay.

Although there was a total of five goals there were only three goal shots from play – with all three converted

Shots from deadballs

Player	Shots	Scores	Success Rate	Weighting
S Cavanagh (Tyrone)	4	3	75%	+1.015
D McCurry (Tyrone)	3	2	67%	+0.106
P Harte (Tyrone)	1	1	100%	+0.593
N Morgan (Tyrone)	1	1	100%	+0.160
D O’Hare (Down)	3	2	67%	-0.460
A Carr (Down)	1	1	100%	+0.593
team avgs (’12 & ’13 Champ)	7.3	4.9	66.7%

Some excellent dead ball striking all round with only three attempts missed. Unfortunately for Down one of those was a relatively easy attempt for O’Hare from the 20m line which would have put Down three points up with only a few minutes to play.

Séan Cavanagh’s only miss was an attempt from a sideline which landed short leading to the first penalty incident whilst McCurry’s miss was from wide right with the last kick of the first half – both very difficult attempts.

Kickouts

Tyrone’s kickouts	Won	%	Turned into a possession	%	Shot	%
Tyrone	10	50%	7	70%	4	40%
Down	10	50%	8	80%	4	40%
Down’s kickouts	Won	%	Turned into a possession	%	Shot	%
Tyrone	8	38%	5	63%	5	63%
Down	13	62%	9	69%	7	54%

Down got the better of the kickout battle gaining possession on 56% (23 to Tyrone’s 18) of all kickouts. Their dominance from kickouts can be better illustrated if we remove those taken short – which generally suit the kickout team. Here they won 61% (20 to Tyrone’s 13).

How much of this dominance can be attributed to the change in goalkeeper after Niall Morgan’s black card?

When Morgan was on the pitch, excluding those short, he took six kickouts. Down won three of those six but importantly Down did not manage to get a shot from any of those won.

When O’Neill was on the pitch he took nine kickouts (excluding those that went short) and Down won an impressive seven of those nine. From those seven Down scored 1-01 and managed another two shots.

So there was definitely an effect on Tyrone’s ability to hold on to their own kickouts. In fairness to Tyrone they themselves identified this during the game with three of their last four kickouts going short however it would not be correct, or fair, to lay this down turn in kickout success squarely at the new goalkeeper’s feet.

Yes two of those nine kickouts were won cleanly by Down, and appeared from this vantage to have been misdirected, but the other seven were contested. At the same time as the goalkeeper swap Down had changed their midfield with Coulter & McKernan replacing Turley & Rogers. Down’s dominance on Tyrone’s kickouts had as much to do with that change as the change in keeper.

Turnovers

	Turned Over	Shots from Turnovers	%
Tyrone	30	14	47%
Down	26	12	46%

 

	Misplaced Pass	Tackled	Shots not going dead	Mishandled possession	Fouled ball
Tyrone	10	11	3	4	2
Down	15	6	1	4	0

The only reference we have for shots/scores off turnover ball is the league final. That day Dublin converted 33 turnovers into 24 shots (73% Shot Rate) whilst scoring 1-09 (30% Success Rate).

The volume of turnovers in this game were “in the ball park” with Dublin’s returns however neither team were anywhere near as successful at converting that turnover ball into shots. Was this an effect of evenly matched teams in the Championship Vs runaway league win? Or are Dublin that good at transitioning the ball? Time will tell.

Although they only managed 14 shots from their turnover ball Tyrone will be delighted with scoring 2-07 (Success Rate of 30%) from that. Down on the other hand only managed 1-05 (Success Rate of 23%)

Shot Charts

Tyrone’s shooting

Down’s shooting

x = missed, disc = score, yellow = deadball, black = 1st half from play, white = 2nd half from play

Players with >= 2 shots from play

A word for Cavanagh – he scored five points in total form seven shots with his only misses being a sideline attempt and a shot that hit the post. In 2013 he produced the best display of the Championship from deadballs against Meath. If Tyrone’s profligacy from play persists they will need him to step up in this department as well.

	Shots	Scores	Success Rate	Weighting
K Coney (Tyrone)	5	3	60%	+0.506
C Maginn (Down)	4	1	25%	-0.618
S Cavanagh (Tyrone)	3	2	67%	+0.865
C McGinley (Tyrone)	3	0	0%	-1.275
D McCurry (Tyrone)	2	1	50%	+0.234
D O’Hare (Down)	2	1	50%	+0.233
C Laverty (Down)	2	1	50%	+0.149
Mattie Donnelly (Tyrone)	2	0	0%	-0.737
K McKernan (Down)	2	0	0%	-0.858

Tags: 2014, championship, Down, Tyrone