Time to take control - What excitement the hunt for 'Sam' and 'Liam' has blessed us with in these last couple of weeks. Passionate, exhilarating, skillful and plenty of surprises thrown in as well. Cork v Kilkenny, Waterford v Tipperary, Kerry v Galway, Wexford v Armagh, Tyrone v Mayo, Tyrone v Dublin, Kerry v Cork. All great games - and more to come! The surprises thrown up would be the emergence of Wexford, Waterford and Tyrone. (Certainly no surprise to see Tyrone in the semi-final but the manner in which they got there was something of a surprise). Early form and the early exits would not have suggested a semi-final spot was in the offing. Reading a recent newspaper article I noticed the journalist referred to Armagh as having "taken control" of the middle third of the pitch against Wexford in the first half of their quarter-final encounter. We often hear in changing rooms the cries of coaches or managers for players to "take control of this game" or "I want you to control midfield" or "we can't let them control that area any longer". Basically it is all about control. Taking control means much more than just having a good game. It's about dominance. For example, whoever takes control of the middle third of the pitch will usually run out winners. In most close encounters where you have two evenly matched teams you will seldom see any side take total control of any area and thus we have close exciting games. In such games taking control is extremely difficult and requires several factors before any team can claim success. The main factors are experience, determination, ability and confidence. You'll generally find these qualities present when you hear reference to someone or some team taking control. A good example of this is when the Waterford half-back line took control of their area of the pitch in their game against Tipperary. Notice the qualities in those defenders especially Ken McGrath and Tony Browne. A significant factor in their historic victory. In the Tyrone Dublin football match the Tyrone team smothered the midfield area, choked the experienced Ciaran Whelan and Shane Ryan and eventually took control of the middle third of the pitch. Who was there for Tyrone? Collie Holmes, Conor Gormley, Enda McGinley, Philip Jordan, Brian McGuigan and Brian Dooher. They tick all the right boxes. Individuals taking control is often not sufficient - note Diarmuid O'Sullivan at full-back for Cork v Kilkenny. In that same match several Kilkenny players could claim to have taken control of their counter parts, notably Noel Hickey, Cha Fitzpatrick, Tommy Walsh and Henry Shefflin. While my journalist friend may have been right in his assessment of Armagh's first half dominance against Wexford it was not enough for them win them the game as they lost that control in the second half. Another fine example of having control and not taking advantage is the Kerry v Cork match where the former seemed to have total dominance and got careless at the end. In both of these games the men who have all the qualities for winning control, namely Paul McGrane and Darragh O Se, could not impose their presence. McGrane seemed to run out of steam while O'Shea was red-carded. In the other games where we have had exciting finishes we can see now how no team had taken control of any area for any significant period of time. Kerry v Galway and Tyrone v Mayo for example. So, there you have it. Just a few thoughts prompted by the use of the word 'control'. As we now know that taking control of any section of the pitch is exceptionally difficult, especially now at this stage of the competition, perhaps we won't hear our supporters say "if we take control of ... then we will surely win!" As I've mentioned earlier it was a little surprising to see Tyrone move into the semi-final spot in such a convincing manner - their 3-13 all from play an unexpected pleasure. The most alarming feature of this encounter was Dublin's seemingly willing capitulation at the hands of such a fierce rival. Of course I would have expected them to be confident going into the game but it appears as if the did not expect such a battle. Ironically, in his pre-match analysis, Colm O'Rourke suggested that maybe now Dublin were capable of beating a leading contender such as Tyrone especially now since they had traveled to Omagh and won a battle there. And many pundits would have had the same opinion based on recent form. It now seems evident that Dublin expected a rousing start to the game and notch up a few early match-winning scores, prime the support on the Hill and steamroll their way to the finish. Once this start didn't materialize all forms of panic and doubt began to take hold. The loss of the unfortunate Alan Brogan was a big blow to them and contributed greatly to their lack of leadership. The big question marks that hung over their defence all drew negative responses and even the ever-cool Stephen Cluxton could be seen to get irate with his rear-guard at times. The months of hard physical preparation never stood by them as they wilted under the intense Tyrone pressure and their own ever-decreasing self belief. Their recently buried indiscipline resurfaced again. While it is no surprise to see the loss of discipline (most teams receiving an unexpected beating will experience the same) it was surprising to see that self-confidence dwindle so fast. It is amazing how a team of very fit, physically well prepared players can seem so unfit when their mental state takes a tumble. Supporters commented on how much fitter the Tyrone players looked, and while I have no doubt Tyrone were indeed physically fit, I am fairly sure that it was their mental stamina that surpassed that of their counterparts. However, the enigma that is Dublin football still remains. Thankfully, no fingers of recrimination have been pointed at Paul Caffery. The work 'The Pillar' has done with Dublin will surely contribute to future successes while four Leinster titles in a row is a serious achievement in itself. While one experienced manager takes leave of his hot seat there are two novices experiencing the adulation of their hordes of followers as they edge ever closer to that golden chalice. Davy Fitzgerald and Jason Ryan have had healthy successes in their rookie seasons already and would no doubt hope to bestow further honours on their eager charges. Ironically, both men have experienced crushing defeats at different stages of their campaigns. It is quite possible that these defeats have had a strengthening effect on both teams. While it is a great achievement for Wexford to have bounced backed from their Leinster final drubbing at the hands of Dublin, I think what Waterford have achieved to date is much more remarkable given the added pressure they were under. A player boycott of the experienced manager Justin McCarthy who had quite a successful run with Waterford, including three Munster titles and a National League title, seemed quite premature and difficult to understand for those of us looking in from the outside. There was obviously some reason for the players' discontent and as it transpires perhaps it was just a unanimous feeling that the road Justin was taking was not the road the players felt happy with and that he had taken them as far as he could. Having experienced success at provincial and national levels in recent years it was obvious to assume that the players felt they should be staking a serious claim for the Liam McCarthy and with aging players of the caliber of Tony Browne, Ken McGrath, Paul Flynn and Dan Shanahan on the panel there was no time to delay. At what stage Davy Fitz came into the pie I am not sure, but he was obviously the motivational character the players were looking for and they were prepared to take a chance on his limited managerial experience in favour of his ardour. To date, this gamble has paid off and not only have Waterford earned their place on the hallowed sod on All-Ireland final day, Davy Fitz has now garnered a pretty impressive manager's CV. With relation to Davy Fitzgerald's managerial skills I was recently directed to a computer site that shows a secretly recorded clip of Davy giving a half-time team talk to LIT students in what I believe is a Fitzgibbon match of a year or two ago. It is quite a 'passionate' team talk to say the least but typical of many changing rooms throughout Ireland over the years. The disturbing aspect of the whole situation is the fact that this was done without any of those present, especially Davy, being aware what was happening. Certainly, Davy would not have given his consent for any filming to take place. The 'culprit', for want of a better word, obviously used the camera on his mobile. Most managers and players believe that what goes on in the changing room should stay in the changing room. It's sacrosanct. There are several reasons for this. One of them being that no offence will be caused to anyone, neither those present within the changing room nor anyone referred to during the talk. Other reasons of course are to keep team tactics and training techniques secret lest any advantage could be gained by astute opponents. Passions can run extremely high in changing rooms around match time and especially at half-time and it is a pity that someone should see fit to abuse the privilege of being in the presence of such a sporting idol to gain a cheap laugh or two. I can't finish without expressing my congratulations to Mickey Harte and the boys on a wonderful performance against Dublin. While Mickey certainly has the lads in good physical shape perhaps he could now introduce a bit of grooming to the training sessions. However, if they continue with the results he won't mind that most of his players look like they are auditioning for a part in the next production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Tweet

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