Football

Mickey Harte hoping for further progress

 Mickey Harte's Tyrone have now won six Dr McKenna Cups in a row
 Mickey Harte's Tyrone have now won six Dr McKenna Cups in a row  Mickey Harte's Tyrone have now won six Dr McKenna Cups in a row

MICKEY Harte admits his mind cast back to the last time Tyrone actually lost a Dr McKenna Cup final as he watched his side breeze past Derry in the first 35 minutes at Páirc Esler on Saturday night.

It may seem strange to recall a moment of despair when in such complete control – the Red Hands were 1-7 to 0-2 up at the break – but that is how Harte’s mind works. The job isn’t done until it’s done.

In 2011, Derry held exactly the same lead at half-time and, although the Oak Leafs ended up winning the McKenna Cup, they had to withstand a Tyrone comeback before eventually shaking them off.

“We were very conscious that the last time we lost the McKenna Cup final, in 2011 against Derry, and they were 1-7 to two points up at 

half-time, and the next time they scored, we were 1-8 to 1-7 up, so if that was able to be done by us back then, we had to be in our guard that they wouldn’t do the same for us,” said Harte.

“So it was critical that we would start well, and Conor Meyler’s point at the start of the second half was just exactly what we needed to not let the gap close, but widen it before it got a chance to close.

“And that’s what happened, and I think that’s what kept us ahead of the game.”

In truth, Tyrone never looked in any danger of being caught with a sucker-punch in Newry as they ran out comfortable 2-13 to 1-7 winners.

After a decent opening 10 minutes from Derry, it was one-way traffic, Tyrone’s power and athleticism forcing turnover after turnover as they made their neighbours pay time and again.

Harte has struggled to find the positives from the Red Hands’ other performances in the McKenna Cup, but admitted he liked much of what he saw on Saturday night.

“They do work hard on the training field, and we do a lot of ball work on the training field, and they know the style of play that we want them to play with,” continued Harte.

“And I suppose you only hope that they progress during the year, and as the season gets tougher and the challenges get harder, they’ll be able to bring that sort of preparation to bear.

“That was good tonight, we did do some really good movement up the field. 

“Probably as usual, with the conditions that prevailed, there was a few mishandlings, a few wrong shot selections, a few wrong pass selections, but that’s all part and parcel to be progressing to be better than you were the last time out, and I think that was a good performance.

“We have done well in the McKenna Cup in the last six years. If you look back at our progress over that period of time, we weren’t too bad.

“We were in a league Division One final and we have been in an Ulster final and won it, and we have been in All-Ireland semi-finals, so I don’t think there’s any way you can say doing well in the McKenna Cup mitigates against doing good the rest of the season.

“So we’ll take it as a positive and we’ll try and build on it.”

Tyrone have had the Indian sign over Derry in recent times, coming up trumps in their last five encounters over a 13-month period.

Yet Harte played down the notion that his side will carry a significant psychological advantage into the Ulster Championship meeting between the counties at Celtic Park on May 28.

He said: “It’s a different venue, it’s in Derry’s back yard, they’ll want to make right what we did last year, so I do expect that it will be a much closer encounter than it turned out to be, and obviously Derry will learn from this tonight as well.”