Football

Harte warns Tyrone against promotion complacency

<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">Tyrone manager Mickey Harte has warned his side against complacency as they look to take another major step towards promotion against Meath this weekend <br />Picture by Margaret McLaughlin</span>&nbsp;
Tyrone manager Mickey Harte has warned his side against complacency as they look to take another major step towards promotion against Meath this weekend
Picture by Margaret McLaughlin
 
Tyrone manager Mickey Harte has warned his side against complacency as they look to take another major step towards promotion against Meath this weekend
Picture by Margaret McLaughlin
 

TYRONE boss Mickey Harte has warned his team of the dangers of complacency as they seek to put one foot back in the top flight this weekend.

A fifth straight league victory for the Red Hands would leave them almost certain of promotion. A win over Mick O’Dowd's Meath would take Tyrone onto 10 points with a strong head-to-head record against their likely rivals, having beaten Galway, Derry and Cavan already.

Meath have had a mixed start to their campaign and find themselves closer to the tail end than the top end after four games. They failed to impress against either Cavan or Fermanagh and were well beaten by both, but turned in a much more impressive display against Galway last weekend.

Wind-assisted in the first-half, they built a 1-8 to 0-2 lead. It disappeared as Kevin Walsh’s side hit 13 of the next 14 scores to lead by three heading into the dying minutes, but Meath displayed some trademark character to kick the last three scores and salvage a draw.

Tyrone will arrive at Pairc Tailteann as strong favourites to keep their run going, but Harte is warning against any slackness from his side: “You don’t rest on your laurels. Every game, there’s two points up for grabs, as long as you keep getting those two points you’re getting nearer to promotion," he said.

”If you drop points anywhere along the way, you’re giving chances for people to chase you and put you to the pin of your collar again. We want to win our games, all our games. Every team possesses different artillery and presents a different challenge.

“The Derry team that was here, it’ll be a different challenge in Navan and we have to adapt to whatever that challenge may bring and see if we can come out on top in that as well.”

Harte says he will again shake up his team for Sunday’s outing. Their strength-in-depth compared to the rest of Division Two has been apparent from their ability to secure wins, despite making widespread changes on a weekly basis.

In total, they have used 28 players in the league campaign already. From their opening win over Cavan, Harte made five changes for their visit to Galway the following week. There were five changes from that team for the win over Laois and then six changes again for the comprehensive Healy Park victory over neighbours Derry.

Harte says he will continue to make alterations as he works towards the summer: “We always look at the game we’ve played, reflect on it and see if we can create any other permutations that we’d like to experiment with at least, and see what players are ready for action. I’m sure we’ll do that again.

“I don’t know how many changes there’ll be just now but, as the week goes on, we’ll have to make that choice. Yes, there probably will be changes. If you can bring people into the game and they can get involved right away, then they do make a difference.

“It is the case in the modern game that you need people who are fresh to come in for the last 20-or-25 minutes. They know they only have 25 minutes to last the pace. Players now accept that that’s how the game’s played; no 15 men will win a game, you need 20 or 21.”

Tyrone have also had the benefit of Sean Cavanagh being back in the team in recent weeks. He played the full 70 minutes against both Laois and Derry, finding the net in the second-half against the latter, and Harte sees evidence of the Moy man getting up to speed.

“Without a doubt. He hadn’t played a lot of football up until recently and you can see now that he’s got the energy back, he’s got the appetite for it and he’s working all over the field. It was lovely to see him finishing a goal as well,” he said.