Football

Forward reassignment was stumbled upon at training insists Tyrone's Mattie Donnelly

Mattie Donnelly celebrates after his second half goal for Tyrone during Sunday's Division One victory over Galway at Healy Park. Picture by Seamus Loughran
Mattie Donnelly celebrates after his second half goal for Tyrone during Sunday's Division One victory over Galway at Healy Park. Picture by Seamus Loughran Mattie Donnelly celebrates after his second half goal for Tyrone during Sunday's Division One victory over Galway at Healy Park. Picture by Seamus Loughran

HIS reassignment from defensive link man to irresistible attacking force may have helped propel Tyrone to a flying finish in the League, but Mattie Donnelly insists that switch was stumbled upon rather than pre-planned.

After taking just one point from their opening three games, and even that was only salvaged in the dying seconds against Roscommon, Donnelly was moved into a more advanced role by Mickey Harte.

It paid instant dividends as he made a huge impact in Tyrone’s first win of the campaign at home to Monaghan, before equally eye-catching performances in victories over Cavan, Dublin and Galway.

Against the Tribesmen on Sunday he drifted in and out of the full-forward line, scoring four points from play and coolly firing home the Red Hands’s second goal of the day from 30 metres following a mix-up involving Galway goalkeeper Rory Lavelle.

The correlation between Donnelly’s redeployment and that remarkable upturn in Tyrone’s fortunes is obvious, yet the Trillick ace says the move came about by chance.

“There was no real conversation [with Harte],” said the 28-year-old.

“I suppose we were playing a bit of football at training and that, and there was one day I was lined out in the half-forward line and just decided to stay in an advanced position close to goal and it went alright. I kind of just stumbled across it.

“Mickey trusts me well enough to judge it out on the pitch; if I need to go deeper or I need to stay inside, Mickey trusts me with that. It’s something relatively new to myself in terms of the county scene so I still have a lot to work on in that side of things.”

Questions were asked about whether the Red Hands were getting the best from the deep-lying Donnelly during last year’s run to the All-Ireland final, and it remains to be seen exactly what Harte has in mind for him once the summer months come.

However, given the impact made with those driving runs into opposition defences during the past four games, it is hard to imagine him reverting back to his former role.

Yet Donnelly admitted it wasn’t a black and white issue when it came to pinpointing where he could exert greatest influence.

“It’s a tough question because I try not to get too hung up on positions or the way the thing goes for me,” he added.

“Last week I played the first 40 minutes inside basically, but the last 20 it was a complete shift in mindset when I just had to adapt and go back and act as a deterrent in defence.

“It’s just keeping that mindset where I can adapt and I kind of take it as it comes out on the pitch and read it to what I see in front of my own eyes.”

Tyrone may have missed out on the League final, despite Sunday’s victory in Omagh, but they head towards the Championship in confident mood.

Considering they looked like candidates for the drop after that shaky start, Donnelly insists they could only be pleased with how the League was finished.

“After two games there was talk about potential relegation.

“I said then I wasn't overly concerned because I always believe that we have good quality and we have good team spirit in the dressing room. That has come to the fore in the last five games.

“We are in a good place but we have learnt over the past few years that, no matter how good it is going, to not get too high or too low. We believe there is good footballers in there.”

And where they struggled on the scoreboard at the start of the campaign, Tyrone ended on a high note by putting up a 3-15 tally against one of the most defensively well-organised sides in the country.

“We have to be pleased with that, and again in difficult conditions,” said Donnelly.

“We are creating chances and boys are converting them so we have to be happy with that, but there is still a bit to work to be done on that front.

“We’re are working on getting a bit of cohesion up front but things are going in the right direction.”