TYRONE need to rediscover their appetite for the Ulster Championship, says Sean Cavanagh.
The Moy clubman says the Red Hands, who face Derry at the quarter-final stage on May 22, need to “start valuing the Ulster title again” and end their Anglo-Celt drought this year.
Tyrone, who face Cavan in the Division Two final at Croke Park on Sunday, haven’t won a provincial crown since 2010 when they beat Monaghan by 10 points. However, since then the Farney men have been Ulster champions twice while Donegal have won the other three. Cavanagh, part of 2003, ’07, ’09 and ’10 Ulster-winning sides says it’s time his county forced their way back into the mix.
“I personally do think that we have to do something in Ulster,” he said.
“I think it’s been too long, it’s 2010, you’re doing the maths, you’re in 2016, you’re thinking six years is too long for a so-called top team like Tyrone not to be winning Ulster.
“You have to give credit to the Donegals and Monaghans who have taken the titles the last few years, but at the same time we have to really start valuing the Ulster title again.
“We won it back in 2009 and 2010 and then we lost in the All-Ireland quarter-finals. I remember asking myself: ‘Was it a successful year?’ I was thinking ‘no it wasn’t’ because we didn’t value the Ulster title as much as we do now because we haven’t won it for so long.
“It’s like anything in life, you take it for granted if it comes year after year. At this stage most of the guys on the panel haven’t won an Ulster title, so we would definitely welcome another big day in Clones and another cup. I think that would do an awful lot to embed a bit of confidence into this team and hopefully let us take that next step.”
Cavanagh stopped just short of saying Tyrone are capable of winning an All-Ireland, but he does rate the ability in the current squad: “I feel like there is a serious group of players there at the moment talent-wise,” he said.
“I’m an optimistic person anyway, I’ve felt like that probably the last couple of years but particularly coming from last year with the raft of guys who have come on from the U21 All-Ireland-winning team.
“They have all come in and really fired things up in our team last summer and those guys have really started to claim their places in the team and are forming the backbone of a serious team there at the moment. I suppose it’s trying to keep everyone injury-free and on top of their form, but I think if we do that there is no reason to believe that we couldn’t challenge.”
If they are to win Ulster, Tyrone will have to get past neighbours Derry first. The counties are familiar foes at this stage - the May 22 meeting will be their fourth of the year and the Red Hands have won all three so far.
Cavanagh says the conditions are perfect for a Derry “ambush” at Celtic Park: “It’s something that we have to be cautious of, the fact that we have actually won those game.
“We probably didn’t deserve to win the McKenna Cup final, we got a couple of points towards the end to grab a draw out of that and force it into extra-time. But it’s a dangerous position for us because you don't want to be going into any game with any sort of preconception that you could possibly win the game and it’s perfectly set up for Derry to come in and ambush us in Celtic Park to a certain extent.
“Over the next few weeks, we have to get it into our heads that we have to be going into the game thinking that we have to prove ourselves all over again. And to a certain extent it will be. It will be a different sort of game to all the other games.
“The McKenna Cup game, both teams were trialling players, the O Fiach Cup game, both teams were trialling players, the league game there was still a number of players being trialled, but the real deal is going to come in Celtic Park and we have to be ready for it.”
