Repair and recovery of damaged and fatigued bodies is the number one priority ahead even of the huge task of facing a formidable Donegal side, according to Tyrone manager Brian Dooher.
The walking wounded will have to pick themselves up and go again in less than a week, back at the scene of a Jim McGuinness masterclass in their tactical triumph over reigning Ulster champions Derry.
But the Red Hands are only too grateful to have Sunday’s trip to Celtic Park to look forward to after surving a mighty scare at Kingspan Breffni.
Ahead by eight points, they fell apart in the absence of black-carded full-back Padraig Hampsey and the home side struck for two goals.
“That’s the challenge you have. They put in a big shift over maybe a hundred minutes of football when you add everything into it,” he said.
“It’s tough on the bodies, and that’s the challenge – we have to get those bodies ready for next week,” said Dooher.
Tyrone’s failure to deal with the setback of Hampsey’s loss was a worrying failing, one of many issues which will have to be addressed in the short turnaround period.
“We didn’t handle it well when we got it, you can see that by the scores.
“We were lucky enough to get out of it ultimately, but we brought it to extra-time and the boys dug deep and got out of it.”
He watched on in awe as Donegal dismantled Derry’s highly rated system a day earlier, and a reinvigorated Tic Chonaill side has another north-west rival in its sights.
“Last night’s performance, I haven’t seen a performance like it for a long time, the way they dismantled the Derry team, and Derry twiceUlster champions and Leaguechampions,” he said.
“You have to really look at it in that context, of who they beat, and how they dismantled them. It was a phenomenal performance and to get near them we will have to seriously up our performance. We know that.
“But that’s the challenge we have, and we look forward to it in a way. That’s what we’re about and these young boys will look forward to it too.”
The young boys he referred to were the rising stars who have stepped in this season, thrown in at the deep end to step up to the top level in the face of an injury crisis.
Yesterday, six of them made a first Championship start with a couple of others coming off the bench for their first taste of football at this level.
“A lot of young boys came in there and you know what, they got us over the line at the end-upultimately and all credit to them,” he added.
“It’s a learning experience, but it will stand to them, hopefully. They dug it out in the second half and in extra-time and that was the important thing.
“They could have buckled, but they stood up whenever it mattered.”
All the warnings were there, written in bold type in accounts of Cavan’s impressive preliminary round win over Monaghan, but Tyrone appeared to be well on their way to avoid becoming another Division One scalp when they carried a six-point lead into the interval.
That advantage was stretched out to eight by the end of the third quarter, but the house came crashing in around the Red Hands as the Breffni Blues threw everything they had at them.
“We were in a good position at half-time, and then we went into a better position, then we had the black card and didn’t really cope with it well after that.
“Them couple of goals and the momentum went to Cavan, a few wrong options, a few wrong decisions and we really put ourselves under pressure.
“You have to give Cavan credit too, they did well. Momentum is massive. We got ourselves settled down for extra-time, and we looked that bit better in extra-time and just did enough to get over the line.”