Dublin Tyrone - The National League Final

This Sunday, Dublin and Tyrone meet in the final of the National Football League for the first time. Over the past decade, these teams have produced some of the classic games of the period. Who is going to take take the honours this weekend?

Jim Gavin has received much praise in the press for his work as Dublin manager so far. Ian O'Riordan, writing in The Irish Times, praised the amount of players that Gavin has used and the "consistency" of the performance of his Dublin team in the league. Fintan O'Toole, writing on thescore.ie (not that Fintan O'Toole), has praised the form of the Dublin team under Gavin claiming the team has "hit the ground running" under the new boss.

Gavin has brought in new players, such as 2010 under-21 captain Johnny Cooper, and Paddy Andrews, who was largely ignored under the previous boss. Cooper received his first start against Down, and his form has been very impressive, especially against Donegal on the last day of the regular league campaign. His absense against Tyrone earlier in the league was viewed by Ger Brennan as an important factor in the defeat that day, and more specifically the team's failure to contain Stephen O'Neill. Andrews has taken advantage of the chance afforded to him by Gavin, looking dangerous throughout the O'Byrne Cup and NFL. He has scored thirty points in his twelve games so far this season.

However, what is clear is that despite new personnel, Gavin has not changed the tactics employed by his predecessor to any great extent. It's still the tactic of Dublin to break quickly with pacey wing backs, allow the opposition free reign of possession within their own third of the pitch, and to retreat quickly with numbers. The spine of the team is still essentially the same.

Mickey Harte has once again managed to produce a Tyrone team that is capable of competing at the top table of Gaelic Football. Victory in the McKenna Cup has been followed up by second place in the NFL table. They beat Mayo without ever coming out of third gear. Harte has thus been described as "arguably the most tactically astute Gaelic football manager of the modern era" by the Irish Independent.

Stephen O'Neill has played an important role in the return to form of the Red Hand county. He was the difference when the two sides met in the regular part of the League, scoring four points and creating chances for others. His performance in the semi-final victory over Mayo was similarly effective, and it included two audaciously accurate kicks for points late on when the game was still in the balance. Seán Cavanagh's form in the League has been another welcome point for Harte heading into the Championship.

The aforementioned game earlier in the League was won by the Ulstermen by one point. Ger Brennan was given the job of marking O'Neill that day, in the absense of Rory O'Carroll and Cooper, and he couldn't cope with the forward. Dublin were also missing Bernard Brogan, who has been hugely impressive this year.  The respective form of O'Neill and Brogan will have an important bearing on the result on Sunday. Martin Carney has written that Tyrone will win if they can stifle Brogan.

Tyrone employed much more of a blanket defence in that game than they have in other League outings this year, and it will be interesting to see if Dublin can do a better job of penetrating it this time around. The last ten minutes saw Tyrone return to something of a more cynical nature, as they pulled down Dublin players once they got into the Tyrone half. Harte's men had six players booked that day, three of which were in the last five minutes.

The return of Brogan for Dublin should allow them to penetrate the Tyrone defence more freely than they did  in March. This, as well as the return of a dedicated full-back since the last time the teams met, should be the difference between the two sides on Sunday. Dublin to win by two.