Football

We can cope with defensive injuries: Tyrone boss Mickey Harte

Mickey Harte is likely to be without Justin McMahon and Cathal McCarron for Sunday's Ulster SFC clash with Derry Picture by Seamus Loughran
Mickey Harte is likely to be without Justin McMahon and Cathal McCarron for Sunday's Ulster SFC clash with Derry Picture by Seamus Loughran Mickey Harte is likely to be without Justin McMahon and Cathal McCarron for Sunday's Ulster SFC clash with Derry Picture by Seamus Loughran

TYRONE boss Mickey Harte is confident he has sufficient versatility in his squad to overcome the loss of some top defenders ahead of Sunday’s Ulster Championship clash with Derry at Celtic Park.

Justin McMahon is almost certain to miss the tie with a quad muscle injury, Cathal McCarron (hamstring) is rated “doubtful” and Joe McMahon announced his retirement from inter-county duty.

To compound Tyrone’s defensive woes, Johnny Munroe has left the panel due to a lack of game-time.

On the Carrickmore man’s decision to quit the Red Hands, Harte said: “It’s always disappointing when a player leaves the squad, particularly the work that he has put in over the last year-and-a-half because we felt he was a very valuable member of the squad.

“It wasn’t an impetuous or petulant decision – it was something he’d thought about it.

“He just felt it was the right thing for him to do now. I didn’t necessarily agree with him but at the same time it was his call. It’s a loss because I think he has great potential.”

While the lack of defensive cover is a concern, Harte says his panel can absorb these losses.

“That’s why we need a big panel because these things happen from time to time.

“You don’t often get so many happening at once but that’s the way it is just now.

“We’ve still a lot of good players in the squad, a lot of versatile players who can move.

“I suppose this ‘middle eight’ is a very fluid situation. Somebody who is playing wing-forward can play wing-back just as well. It’s a very similar type of game.

“It’s not as rigid, positionally, as it used to be. There is that degree of versatility.”

Harte cited the example of Philly McMahon and how the Dublin defender regularly gets on the score-sheet.

“You can see in teams now wearing the number two or number four positions can get scores too, a la Philly McMahon, who starts out with a two or a four on his back and kicks a goal and a point some days. It is that kind of game nowadays; people have got to do a bit of everything that’s required.”

Last season, both Tyrone and Derry clashed five times in pre-season competition (three times), NFL (once) and in the Ulster Championship (once), with the Red Hands winning each time.

The most impressive victory came in the latter competition at Celtic Park – but Harte has warned that nothing can be gleaned from their 2016 results between the sides.

“It’s always possible to walk into an ambush if you’re not prepared for an ambush,” he said.

“If you prepare for an ambush, you certainly shouldn’t be ambushed. We don’t expect anything else other than a stiff challenge from Derry.

“Last year we met so many times and we got the upper hand so many times. The Championship match this was the day for redemption [for Derry], but it didn’t turn out that way.

“People can look at League results and read all sorts of things into it. But I don’t really concern myself with that.

“What we know is before we played them last year in Celtic Park we had a horrible record there and the jury was suggesting that we would have great difficulty getting a result out of Celtic Park. But one result doesn’t change that an awful lot. It is a place where Tyrone hasn’t had a lot of success.”