HAVING LIFTED THREE All-Irelands with Tyrone during his pomp, Owen Mulligan is well-placed to assess where his county ranks in terms of contenders to lift Sam Maguire.
Kerry and Dublin are viewed as a step above the rest, with Mayo generally regarded as the third best team in the country. The next bracket of teams consists of Tyrone, Donegal and Monaghan. All three may win Ulster and take down a big gun in the All-Ireland series, but winning an All-Ireland appears to be just about beyond them.
For Mulligan, the only thing preventing Tyrone from breaking into that top tier is the lack of a reliable free-taker.
“The forwards get an awful lot of stick,” he said. “You are never going to replace a Stevie O’Neill or a Peter Canavan. People are comparing the glory days but this is a new team and a new era.
“They won the Ulster title last year and this year they have a great chance again to push on. But I think they need a free-taker, they are losing by one and two points at crucial times of games.
“You see the likes of Rory Brennan there and Mark Bradley, but the blanket defence is an awful thing in county football now so a free-taker is very important. If that means a man with a 100% record is carried just to do that – I say go for it.
“I don’t think Niall Morgan or (Darren) McCurry (are reliable enough) just when there’s that wee bit of pressure and you need a cool head. Luckily I got to throw the ball to Peter Canavan there in years gone by for him to tap over. So I think a free-taker is a must for Tyrone this year.”
Tyrone’s running game means the need for dead ball shooter is even more pressing. Mickey Harte’s side play a running game, where they work the ball through the hands at pace through the middle channel.
This style often draws fouls, but while Dean Rock, Paul Geaney, Cillian O’Connor, Michael Murphy and Conor McManus are all high percentage finishers from placed balls, it’s an area that Tyrone struggle in.
“I remember when we were playing we had sports psychologists in and it helped a wee bit. It helped me to be fair. As I said Tyrone could do with it, they are sticking with teams until the last five or 10 minutes in championship games but it’s that free to win it by a point.
“In that Mayo game last year they had three chances to draw the game and maybe go ahead.
“Tyrone are just all about running, they’ll pack that defence and then break and they are hard to stop so that’s why I think the free-taker is a must.”
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