Football

Tyrone must sharpen up their act quickly, admits Mattie Donnelly

TYRONE have done well in the League as defending All-Ireland SFC champions - but former captain Mattie Donnelly reckons this year could be their toughest test of all.

The Red Hands may have four home games in Division One - starting with Monaghan on January 30, then hosting Kildare, Dublin, and Mayo - but they face trips to Ulster neighbours Armagh and Donegal before concluding with the long journey to Kerry in round seven.

With senior players only returning from the team holiday to Florida in early January, Tyrone are playing catch-up, and lost both their McKenna Cup matches, hammered by Cavan then edged out by Armagh on Saturday past.

Trillick man Donnelly believes those games have been beneficial to the squad, though, insisting:

"It's been a good eye-opener for a lot of us, both young and old. The next two weeks will be about getting the work done that needs to be done. We still intend on showing up in good shape for the first league game."

"This is a great environment for the younger players to be in. They've done the work and shown great endeavour and energy and that keeps everyone on their toes."

Joint-manager Feargal Logan gave full debuts to 10 players, with three more coming off the bench against Armagh, and Donnelly says the two games so far showed everyone how much improvement will be required for top flight football:

"That's on the agenda for us – to start refining and getting up to those levels and we need to do that pretty sharpish as we've Monaghan in two weeks. We've a lot of work to do but we have the boys to do it.

"We're acutely aware that we have a lot of work to do. We've a lot of work behind us as well, but we have to work on things physically, tactically and technically. We have the squad and management to do that so we'll make progress week-on-week."

Tyrone will obviously be targeted by all opponents, not least Monaghan who were edged out by them in last year's Ulster SFC Final, with a visit to the Athletic Grounds to follow for the Red Hands in round two.

Donnelly was not at all surprised at the intensity the Orchardmen brought to Healy Park, commenting:

"Armagh are well-conditioned physically, they know what they're at and have been on the road a long time under Kieran McGeeney. Any team coming to play us this year will be very motivated. You've seen that already and we just have to raise our standards."

Turnovers cost Tyrone on Saturday, including losing possession for what proved to be the crucial second Armagh goal from Rory Grugan in their eventual 2-15 to 1-15 victory.

"Their goal was the difference and it came from a turnover. It's something to learn from, we maybe forced the issue a few times. We passed up a few good point-scoring opportunities to bring it back to a one-point game, we probably forced the issue a bit…

"At this level you can't afford to hand out unforced turnovers, especially against counter-attacking teams like Armagh. You saw how fast and mobile they are, and their high level of physical conditioning lends itself to that type of game.

"We played into their hands at times, but our intention was right and we just need to learn from it and hopefully we will, with a bit of refinement."