Joe Oguz has experienced more defeats than victories in his short inter-county career, but he feels the tide has turned for Tyrone.
A narrow win over Armagh halted a run of four Championship losses, giving him his first taste of success, and he’s looking to double the tally in Saturday’s round robin clash with Westmeath.
“That was my first Championship win. It’s great to get, it was a great atmosphere, and thankfully we got there in the end,” said the Errigal Ciaran man.
“I might not have many experiences of winning, but there’s a lot of lads around me that have done all the winning, and they have your back the whole way and can help you through it.
“They have been there and done it. as we said in the changing room, we’re all there to back each other up and they all do that, definitely.”
Newcomer Oguz experienced a baptism of fire in the unforgiving world of the Championship, finishing on the losing side against Monaghan and Galway.
But he insisted that valuable lessons learned from those reversals will make Tyrone a more potent force as the series progresses.
“The defeats we have had, against Monaghan and Galway, there’s a lot of good to take out of them matches as well.
“So if we can just take the learning from it, we can move on.
“The five weeks after the Monaghan match it was hard work, we put in the hard yards.”
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His input around the middle third has added energy and impetus to the Red Hand approach this season.
He accepts there’s more to be done, though, in the process of nailing down a regular starting place.
“I’m enjoying my football. Last year was probably a bit of an easing in year for me, and now I’m looking to press on, cement a jersey down and take it from there.
“Having a lot of the Errigal lads around too, Petey, Darargh, Ruairi, Cormac and Niall, the whole lot, they just helped me settle in that wee bit easier, it feels more like home.”
This weekend’s trip to Kingspan Breffni Park for the final group game poses a stiff test for the Red Hands against a Westmeath side that came close to defeating Armagh and competed strongly against Galway prior to having a man sent off.
“Westmeath are not to be underestimated, they can definitely hold their own, they showed that against Armagh.”
Oguz joined the squad last year for Tyrone’s defence of the All-Ireland title.
While fortunes have taken a dip since then, he feels he’s privileged to be part of a star-studded group of players who have win the game’s supreme prize.
“It makes me that bit hungrier, myself not having one, to get my hands on one of them.”
And he’s confident that Tyrone have what it takes to challenge for Sam again this summer.
“We know we have what it takes to go the whole way, and we’re going to show that this year.”
Buoyed by a hard-fought derby victory over Armagh, Tyrone go into this weekend’s tie with a home fixture guaranteed for the All-Ireland SFC preliminary quarter-final if they get the better of the Leinster side.
“We were six points up, and it was about keeping them at arms length, but like the Monaghan game, we let the lead slip.
“They pushed us the whole way, and hard work got us there in the end.
“At half-time we didn’t underestimate them. They needed to come out of the blocks quick, and so they did, they pressed hard and we had to work hard to get out of it.”
