WITH a deep intake of breath, Tiernan McCann steadies for the question he’s been bracing himself for.
It’s taken almost seven minutes in a media scrum for anyone to bring up January’s McKenna Cup final win over Derry. More specifically, the incident that saw the Tyrone defender collide with Brendan Rogers in the opening seconds of the game.
The young Derry man required 14 stitches to a split lip after the game. Once a video of the incident surfaced, McCann, not for the first time, became a Twitter target for the masses. Only this time, he wasn’t there to see it, having deleted his account last autumn.
The incident finally came back around late last Saturday night, after he had turned in a brilliant display from half-back to torment Derry in a 2-12 to 0-9 win in Healy Park.
“I knew I’d be asked this at some stage. I went in for the ball," he said.
"I read at the time someone said: ‘The only person that knows what was meant is himself'. I’ve been told my whole life to be a more aggressive player, believe it or not. I’ve always been told I needed to be more aggressive. I didn’t mean to do it. Anyone can say whatever they want. I’ve been concentrating on football. I apologised to Brendan that night, so there’s nothing much else to say about it.”
The incident in Croke Park with Darren Hughes doesn’t need revisited again. McCann has been hauled over the coals enough for it. But does the public reaction to the two incidents annoy him?
“No. I learnt from last year, you can’t control what other people say or think about you. It’s made me a stronger person. I just concentrate on my football to be honest,” he added.
McCann certainly looked like a man who was concentrating on his football last weekend. The energy and pace he injected from half-back was a source of constant joy for a Tyrone side that glided across the ground all night. They were like a summer team playing in a winter league. In winning four from four, they have looked more than three months ahead of some of their opponents.
Inevitably, having won the Ó Fiaich and McKenna cups and now sitting clear at the top of Division Two, the question comes: are Tyrone in danger of peaking too soon?
“I was listening to boys chatting on RTÉ radio last night about Donegal peaking too early. Honestly, I don’t believe in that,” said McCann.
“You go out to win every single game from the start of the year. It’s hard to beat a winning habit. Peter Donnelly has us really well conditioned and ready to play ultra-attacking football, to get behind the ball and get back up the field again. We’re well used to it.”
Tyrone dominated after the opening quarter last weekend and things didn’t get any easier for their visitors once Mickey Harte started to clear the bench. Conor Meyler, Mark Bradley, Darren McCurry and Justin McMahon were among those to add the freshness. But the odd surge from Ronan McNamee, Barry Tierney getting in for a goal chance, McCann’s own probing and Aidan McCrory popping up for an injury-time goal were all hugely important elements of Tyrone’s attacking from deep.
“Training’s tough, but we’re always well rested going into the weekend and we’re told to empty the tank completely," McCann added.
“Mickey said at half-time there would be men coming in to change the game, so just empty it. The Paul Flynn factor; give it everything for 50 or 60 minutes and there’s men to come in and finish off the job. That’s what we try to do.”
And when they do go on the rampage, gatekeeper extraordinaire Colm Cavanagh is there: “Colm Cavanagh is a gem for us. Every game he plays is an eight out of 10 or nine out of 10. Some of his challenges and the high balls he fielded at the end were spectacular.”
