MICKEY Harte believes Tyrone have the strength-in-depth they need to win promotion back to Division One of the National Football League.
Two games into the 2016 campaign, and the Red Hands have maximum points. Both of their results have been heavily influenced by the impact of players coming off the bench. And most of those highly effective subs have been young players in the early stages of their senior careers.
Last Sunday at Salthill, three members of last year’s All-Ireland U21 winning team – Mark Bradley, Lee Brennan and Cathal McShane – joined the action and made a real difference, along with another rookie, defender Hugh Pat McGeary.
“We knew we had a very strong bench,” said Harte.
“Hugh Pat had a great McKenna Cup and could probably say he is unlucky not to be starting more regularly anyway.
“But I told him at training on Thursday night that if we needed a corner-back I would have no hesitation in putting him in. I was very confident that he would do a good job, and that was certainly fulfilled.
“Mark Bradley always changes games and I think everyone who was introduced had a good impact, even Cathal McShane towards the end got on some good ball as well. So it’s good to have people who can come into the game and make a difference. That’s what you want.”
Harte allayed concerns over another exciting youngster, Conor Meyler, who appeared to leave the field injured in the second half.
The reason for his early exit was pure exhaustion, the consequence of yet another all-action contribution.
“Conor Meyler puts in a big shift every time he goes out there,” said Harte.
“You see how many times he’s on the ball and how often he carries the ball, how many hits he takes along the way. So it was just to give fresh legs more than anything.”
The importance of Colm Cavanagh’s role as sweeper became clear only when he was forced out of the game by a black card late on.
Tyrone suffered from the loss of that protection offered by Cavanagh and they were over-run by a resurgent Galway, who just failed to overturn an eight-point deficit.
“Certainly we do miss Colm when he is not on the field, he is a really good controller of the game and a good defensive midfielder who averts many dangers. You don’t realise that until he is not there,” said Harte.
Peter Harte will be back for the trip to Laois at the end of the month, having missed the clash with the Tribesmen due to an ankle injury.
“You miss Petey Harte in any game like that as he is an experienced player and he brings a bit of composure to the game. He can also hurt teams going forward,” added Harte.
Tyrone were in total command at Pearse Stadium, leading by eight points against 14-man Galway with just a few minutes to play.
But the manner in which they lost their way and allowed the home side to hit 1-3 in the closing stages disappointed the manager.
“We would be very disappointed at the way we let go our control of the game on a few occasions, but then you would have to give credit to Galway. They were going to have their purple patch at some stage. When they did get it they made it pay on both occasions,” he said.
“It could have been more uncomfortable too. At stages in the game we were totally in control, in control of the scoreboard anyway. At a period in the first half we were leading 1-6 to two points and let them back into the game.
“That made it more difficult for us considering we were playing into a strong breeze in the second half.
“For a while the breeze died down and wasn’t that significant but actually at a time at the end of the game when we let them get that goal, they poured on the pressure after that and we had our backs to the wall.
“There was a few vital interceptions by Hugh Pat McGeary which really saved the day for us.
“We were under serious pressure at the time and we didn’t seem to take control of the situation.
“We allowed their momentum to build and they got that one goal. That gave them a real boost of energy and they built on with some scores.
“Before that they were taking shots and missing them, They would never have got back to hurt us with points only so that was why the goals was a big score for them and put a pep in their step.
"We were the orchestrators of our own downfall at that stage because we weren’t managing our own kick-outs as well as we ought too given we had the extra man and it took a very good save to maintain our lead.”
