Tom Carr needed a dictionary - and probably a psychologist too - after his team's abject failure in Healy Park, Omagh, yesterday. "Think of every derogatory word that you can, and that's how I feel about that performance," said the Dublin manager after a seven-point pounding at the hands of Tyrone.
On a grey last day of October, Carr's team had just been dismantled and stripped apart by a side who brought more summer finesse than winter stamina into the start of the new league campaign. And, at the sound of the final whistle, Dublin scurried back to the dressing-room (for a lecture) while Tyrone's players remained out on the pitch, ostensibly for a warm-down but almost as if they wanted the whole feel-good factor to go on and on.
Rarely can an opening day's league win have been so warmly embraced by the victors. If the first-half produced an uneven performance, the second, when the task should have been so much harder as Tyrone faced into a very strong wind, brought a powerful display that combined stout defending with some exemplary finishing.
Needless to say, Peter Canavan was instrumental in orchestrating Tyrone's win, but he was only one part of a half-forward line that had a significant role to play in the home side's success. Brian Dooher's work-rate put Canavan in the shade at times (and that takes some doing), while Gerard Cavlan's contribution was immense.
His 39th-minute goal - which came in the middle of a hectic three-minute spell when both teams each had two goalscoring chances - was magnificently taken, Cavlan surprising everybody, but most especially Dublin goalkeeper David Byrne, by shooting home with his right foot.
Things were going downhill so swiftly for Dublin that Jason Sherlock's dismissal in the 54th minute (at which time Tyrone led 1-10 to 0-6) for a high challenge on Tyrone goalkeeper Martin Conway, an effort that smacked of rank bad timing rather than any mischief, was simply another misdemeanour in a catalogue of woes that mainly centred around poor handling, taking dreadful options when in possession and a timidity in defence that you just don't expect from Dublin defenders.
The match was delayed for over five minutes to accommodate the late arrival of many Dublin supporters who'd got caught up shopping for booze and fireworks in the town. By the end, many of the same supporters had deserted their team and left early, with the writing well and truly on the wall as Dublin failed to find any answer to Tyrone's productivity or ingenuity.
Senan Connell had kicked Dublin into the lead with the game's first point in the fifth minute but, after Peter Canavan's free levelled matters two minutes later, they were never to lead again.
After 15 minutes they lost their young corner back Declan Conlon with a facial injury that will require dental surgery after an off-the-ball incident some 50 yards away from the play. Tyrone's Brian Meenan was booked, but the incident seemed to unsettle the Dublin defence.
However, the sides were still level at 0-4 apiece as 35 minutes were clocked up. But the three minutes of injury-time (for that Conlon injury) proved damaging for Dublin. Tyrone kick-started a late three-point haul with a fisted point from Canavan, then Shane Ryan sloppily gave away possession and Meenan kicked over a point, and finally Eoin Gormley slotted over a point from a free that had been needlessly conceded.
Tyrone, though, reserved their best football for playing against the wind. "I can't explain it," said Tyrone captain Pascal Canavan, "but sometimes teams do play better into a wind, and that's what happened us today."
Tyrone created a number of goalscoring opportunities, but Cavlan's 39th-minute effort was the only one that was taken with goalkeeper Byrne, and the woodwork, combining to deny Tyrone's attackers on the other occasions.
In last year's National League, Tyrone were on the wrong end of a hiding from Dublin. Things have come full circle since then, and Tyrone just couldn't get enough of the good times yesterday as they launched attack after attack.
At times, the crowd broke into spontaneous applause as the Tyrone defence handpassed and kickpassed their way out of trouble from the back to create attacking situations and it was perhaps appropriate that teenage centre half back Cormac McAnallen got on the end of one of the game's best moves to kick a fine point late on.
For Dublin, the only way is up after one of their poorest National League performances in recent years. They need look no further than yesterday's conquerors, however, to learn that one defeat doesn't mean the end of the road.
TYRONE: M Conway; K Howe, F Devlin, McGee; P Devlin, C McAnallen (0-1), C Gourley; Pascal Canavan (0-1), P McLaughlin; B Dooher (0-1), Peter Canavan (0-4, one free), G Cavlan (1-1); E Gormley (0-3, two frees), R Thornton, B Meenan (0-2). Subs: C Lawn for McGee (60 mins), C McBride for Thornton (68 mins), C McGinley for F Devlin (70 mins).
DUBLIN: D Byrne; D Conlon, P Christie, S Ryan; I Clarke, J McGee, P Andrews; E Sheehy, C Whelan; J Gavin (0-2, frees), C Moran, S Connell (0-1); J Sherlock (0-1), D Farrell, M O'Keeffe (0- 4, frees). Subs: E Crennan (0-1) for Connell (15 mins), P Croft for Ryan (Half-time), D Herlihy for Connell (50 mins), T Lynch for Christie (62 mins), D Stynes for Sheehy (70 mins).
Referee: B Crowe (Cavan).
