Allianz Football League One: Tyrone v Mayo (tomorrow, Healy Park, 2pm, live on TG4)
THE nature of last August’s All-Ireland quarter-final means there will be a bit more at stake in Healy Park tomorrow afternoon than two League points.
Mickey Harte and Stephen Rochford can bat away the suggestion all they like, but there is considerable needle between Tyrone and Mayo, an enmity heightened by their widely-perceived equal billing as challengers-in-chief to the all-conquering Dubs.
Losing that last eight contest was a sickening gut shot for the Red Hands, one that took a long time to get out of their system – if they have even moved on that far in the seven months since.
They will hope for another crack at the westerners later in the summer but, with a possible Division One final spot still within their grasp, Tyrone won’t be lacking for motivation in Omagh.
“It is important to get a win for our own sake, never mind other secondary reasons,” said Harte when asked about coming up against their recent rivals.
“We want to get the two points going into the last game with something big to play for. If we don't beat Mayo, I think we can kiss goodbye to our chances of making a League final, so it is very important that way.
“People can point to recent encounters with Mayo and we don't do particularly well across the spectrum of the games that we have played against them, they have always proved to be a difficult challenge for us.
“So we have to look at that as well to see if we can do something about that.”
Harte pointed to their “degree of unpredictability” as the reason why Tyrone haven’t quite been able to get to grips with Mayo when it matters, and the Red Hand boss is clearly trying to add something of the unknown to his own arsenal heading into the Championship.
At times during their quarter-final exit last year, Tyrone appeared lost for ideas when their familiar running game hit a green and red brick wall, prompting calls for a plan B.
Harte has taken note. Against Monaghan three weeks ago, he experimented with Sean Cavanagh and Mattie Donnelly on the edge of the square in the second half.
Last week against the more defensive Donegal in a game played in horrendous conditions, Donnelly, Cavanagh and even Peter Harte all found themselves deployed as a lone targetman at some stage.
Unable to win any ball at midfield, none of the three got any joy but at this stage of the year it’s a case of nothing ventured, nothing gained for Harte.
“It is a very fluid situation,” he said.
“People think because you see Sean Cavanagh in there, you see Mattie Donnelly in there, sometimes on their own and sometimes together that this is a new departure for Tyrone football.
“It is not necessarily that at all, it is a degree of experimentation, of trying some things out and the conditions are going to make a difference to that, and getting players used to playing with that kind of personnel in there.
“That brings a different challenge to their mindset too, because we don't normally play that sort of ball in. It is a question of getting a bit of balance, maybe sometimes that will be appropriate for us to do and other times, we revert to type.”
And while Tyrone target a League final date, Mayo’s immediate concern will be moving away from the drop zone as they hover just a point above second-from-bottom Cavan after last week’s shock defeat to the Breffnimen in Castlebar.
Rochford will have noted how easily Donegal were able to pick off scores inside Tyrone’s 45 with little or no pressure on the shooter, and in the likes of Cillian O’Connor, Conor O’Shea and player of the year Lee Keegan they have men who can do damage from range.
Expect Mayo to have been rattled into action but - still without key players Ger Cafferkey, Aidan O’Shea, Seamus O’Shea, Jason Doherty and Diarmuid O’Connor - Tyrone can edge a close, potentially feisty contest.
Tyrone: N Morgan; P Hampsey, R McNamee, C McCarron; R Brennan, Justin McMahon, T McCann; C Cavanagh, D McClure; K McGeary, N Sludden, P Harte; M Bradley, S Cavanagh, M Donnelly
Mayo: TBA
Allianz: for more information visit www.allianz.ie
