Tyrone’s attacking corner-back Michael McKernan says his number one priority will be to defend in Saturday’s mouth-watering All-Ireland quarter-final clash with Kerry.
McKernan’s piercing runs into opposition territory was a stand-out feature of last weekend’s victory over Donegal, picking off two points as they won comfortably in Ballybofey.
But a star-studded Kingdom attack will curtail the spirit of adventure of a defensive unit whose focus will be on containment of the Cliffords and others at Croke Park.
“We’re defenders, so we have to defend first,” said McKernan
Tyrone’s return to form following a frustrating dip in levels of performance has been a long time coming.
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They’ll need no added incentive to fire the spirits for a renewal of their fierce rivalry with the Kingdom, but the Coalisland clubman stressed the importance of taking it to a new level following last Saturday’s success.
“We need to build on that, so we’ll analyse the bad things and the good things and just keep building.
“It’s just one game. We have done that before, but we need to back it up, and we have another big test next weekend.
“Feargal and Brian told us before the game it was all about workrate. We were working for each other, and we showed that bit of hunger that we had maybe lacked in a few games.”
Tyrone appear to have re-connected with their natural instinct to bond as a united force, but a myriad of issues contributed to the 18-month slump which followed the 2021 All-Ireland triumph.
“Last year was bad. It’s not just one thing, it’s plenty of things,” said McKernan.
“Everyone wants to play in Croke Park. We didn’t get there last year, so it’s good getting back there.”
McKernan took advantage of every opportunity to raid forward in the first half of the Ulster derby against Donegal, hitting the target twice and setting up scoring opportunities for others.
“It opened up. Daire O Baoill was going out the field, so it was only really McBrearty and Gallen that were staying up, so it was giving you that wee bit of a chance to get forward.
“We were patient, and we had a strong wind, so we thought we needed to take advantage of it.
“We had a few reckless shots and a few bad wides, but kept our composure in the second half and kicked on, so that’s a good sign.”
