TYRONE corner-forward Ronan O’Neill continued his good form with another accomplished display against Laois last Sunday.
The Omagh clubman kicked two points against Galway three weeks ago and he followed that up by firing three in Portlaoise as the Red Hands cemeneted their place at the summit of Division Two.
Mickey Harte’s men are looking to make an immediate return to Division One and they are going about it the right way in terms of results. However, O’Neill was keen to stress he’d like to see better performances from his team.
He said: “I’m happy that we got the win but, in terms of performance, I wouldn’t be especially happy because, when we went 1-14 to 0-9 up, we let Laois back into it.
"It was kind of similar to the Galway game, where we took the foot off the gas and weren’t at it as much. We did a lot of things well, but we have a lot of things to work on at the training field before we take on Derry this weekend.”
While O’Neill’s side kicked 1-14 last Sunday, they racked up eight wides along the way and the forward wasn’t happy with his team’s conversion rate: “It was a tough game, but the boys took their scores well but, in saying that, we should have been more consistent in front of goal," he said.
"We had plenty of opportunities and maybe, on another day, they would’ve went over. But it’s certainly something that we need to work on when we’re back in training during the week.”
This game was essentially won in the periods directly before and after half time as Tyrone scored 1-8 to Laois’ 0-1. O’Neill was pleased Tryone could step it up when required, but stressed they need to be doing that on a more consistent basis in the long run.
He said: “I suppose the work-rate was very impressive. When we needed to step it up in the 10 minute period before half-time and the 10 minute period after half-time, we managed to do it.
“But as I said, that’s probably what got us over the line in the end. In saying that, we need to do it on a more consistent basis going forward.”
The young corner forward is enjoying a good run in the Tyrone team and he is determined to keep turning in those kinds of performances to keep him in the starting 15.
O’Neill said: “I’m happy enough I suppose, but you’re only ever as good as your last game. There’s plenty of competition for places in the squad and every day that you go out, you must stake your claim.
“So in that sense, I’m very happy just to be getting a number of games under my belt, which is good.”
Reflecting on the campaign to date, O’Neill confirmed he was reasonably happy with how things have progressed so far. Up next for his side is the challenge of Derry, a side who were also relegated from Division One last year. The sharpshooter is fully of the opinion that this will be another extremely tough test for Tyrone.
He said: “Anytime that we play Derry, we know that it is going to be a tough game. Especially after what happened in the McKenna Cup, they will probably be coming to the park with a bit of revenge on their minds.
“They were beaten by Galway in their own patch, so they will be a bit like a wounded animal coming to play us, so we really have to be ready for it.”
