EirGrid Ulster U20 Football Championship semi-final
Tyrone v Monaghan (Wednesday, 7.30pm, live on Sport TG4)
TYRONE go into Wednesday’s Eirgrid Ulster U20 Championship semi-final against Monaghan battle-hardened by tough encounters in the group stage, according to attacker Cormac Devlin.
They started and finished the round-robin series with runaway wins over Antrim and Monaghan, but in between, clashes with Down and Derry went right to the wire before they salvaged results with stoppage time scores in both games.
After coming from behind to draw with holders Down, they snatched a late winning point to deny Derry, crucial results that secured top spot in Section A and enabled them to skip the quarter-finals.
“The really intense parts of games, when you’re in the pressure cooker, that’s the most important time, that’s the time you learn,” said Devlin.
“You can’t replicate that on the training pitch, it’s brilliant to have experience of that first-hand, and it will definitely stand by us.
“So just to have those games under the belt, we know what to expect, we know how to break it down.
“We had it handy enough against Antrim in the first game, but them Down just shocked us, maybe Down caught us a bit off-guard.
“It was the best thing that ever happened to us, and then we had a really tough game against Derry.”
Top spot in the group was secured by a 27-points rout of Monaghan, but Tyrone had to work hard in the initial stages to break down a packed Farney defence.
“I know Monaghan were missing a lot of men, but the men they did have are fighting to get a place for the next games.
“Although the scoreline may not show it, I thought defensively they were well set up, they were working very hard.
“They were hard to break down at the start, especially in the conditions, it was very soft underfoot and very windy.
“It was a difficult game to win. We had to go out there and we had to stick to the stuff we were working on on the training ground, running off the ball, we had to put in a lot of work.
“Games like that can be the hardest, putting in a lot of work off the ball to try and break it down, and then try to be relentless and keep scoring.”
Now it’s straight into straight knock-out football, a shift to higher stakes and a step up in intensity.
“When you go to the next stage, you’re always expecting a step up in quality, but we’ll be prepared for it.”
Having avoided the quarter-final stage, Tyrone earned a week off, and a welcome break during which to recharge the batteries.
A spell of rest and recovery has been particularly useful for Omagh CBS stars Callum Daly and Ruairi McCullagh, who have been in relentless action since the start of the year.
“That extra week is a God-send, it’s an extra week to rest and recuperate and get the mind set for the semis, so we’ll definitely be in that mind-set of being prepared for a big game,” said Ardboe clubman Devlin.
“A lot of those boys haven’t stopped all year, but that’s just the way it is. To be fair, Callum Daly and Ruairi McCullagh, and even the Academy boys too, they have put in a lot of work outside of the football pitch to look after their bodies and recover, so it’s down to that there, and the work of our strength and conditioning boys, doing recovery stuff and really good work in the gym. That’s why them men are able to push on like that.”