MICKEY Harte requires time and space for observation and reflection, along with lots of hands-on experience for a fresh intake of potential Tyrone stars of the future.
The O Fiaich Cup competition has conveniently ticked many of those boxes, enabling the Red Hand boss to make an early appraisal of the personnel available to him in 2016.
Comfortable victories over Derry and Louth secured the silverware, but more importantly, enabled the new recruits to find their feet.
The Dr McKenna Cup will offer more of the same next month, providing the potential for as many as seven competitive games ahead of the beginning of the National Football League.
“We see it as two bonus games in preparation for the McKenna Cup, which is a preparation for the League, and that can only be good,” said Harte following his side’s 2-15 to 0-8 defeat of Louth in yesterday’s O Fiaich Cup decider.
He has taken the opportunity to have a look at as many as eight newcomers over the past week at Oliver Plunkett Park, and he insisted that all of them remain on trial, and will be given every opportunity to prove their worth and earn a place in his squad.
“That’s why they’re here. They have the potential to be here, and now it’s their chance to say they have the potential to stay.
“It’s early days yet, there’s two games played, they have had some game time, some of them have had a game, or a game-and-a-half, some have had maybe two halves, so that’s always good, because that’s in advance of the McKenna Cup, when we can actually look at these players some more.”
“There’s a lot of new players in here, and we’re trying to mould another team if you like.
“There’s players putting their hand up to say that they’re good enough to be part of this set-up, and it’s having that mix of experience and new people coming together to play well and playing the football that we like played.”
A frustrating first half set his players the sort of test from which they can learn valuable lessons, with Louth setting up defensively and frustrating a wind-assisted Tyrone side.
“We had to be patient in that first half, and if we had been driven by the scoreboard, we wouldn’t have been in a good place after 25 minutes.
“And being patient, because it’s not always about doing what you want to do right away.
“But we weren’t driven by the scoreboard, we were driven by trying to perform the way we wanted to, and being patient enough to wait until that would happen.
“They were packing the defence, and they were doing it very well, and even though we had the breeze, we weren’t mixing it very well between controlled carrying and getting the ball in.
“It was very difficult to get the ball in, because they had a lot of men back, so we had to try and carry the ball.
“Making those decisions about when to carry and when to give, we just weren’t great at it for 20, 25 minutes. But that was down to Louth marshalling that side of their game very well.”
Louth manager Colin Kelly took many positives out of the game, particularly from the first half, when his side led with 25 minutes played.
“The two teams are operating on two different tiers, and we felt we were competitive.
“We had a lot of young guys, and we just probably lost our concentration for five minutes coming to the end of the half. With three minutes to go, I think it was 5-3,” he said.
“This time last year, we were getting broken down too easily, and today, against a real good Tyrone team, we competed, and that’s what it’s about.”
