DONEGAL are raging hot favourites to top Group 3 and go straight through to the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals, but Tyrone coach Joe McMahon isn’t convinced that there’s any clear pathway to the last eight.
Jim McGuinness takes his side to Cork for a tricky round two tie this weekend, while the Red Hands face Clare at Omagh, and McMahon feels both Munster sides are capable of having their say in the outcome of this particular round robin section.
“Cork and Clare are two very good teams also, and both Tyrone and Donegal will be up against it in both of those games,” he said.
“I have seen Clare and I have watched Cork, and I have seen enough of them to know that they are very good outfits.”
Tyrone’s misfiring performance at Ballybofey last Saturday raised fresh questions over their struggle to find form, as they slumped to a seven points loss to their Ulster rivals.
There’s a vulnerability in the camp, and weaknesses that Clare boss Mark Fitzgerald will have noted as he prepares for a first ever championship clash between the counties.
“They have quality players, they’re well set up, and they won’t fear Tyrone, for sure,” said McMahon.
“They’ll see it as an opportunity and a scalp as well, to go after a Division One team.
“In a way, all the pressure is on Tyrone, and very little on them.
“From our point of view, we have to get back and at it on the training field and go again.”
McMahon reflected on a highly disappointing second half performance against Donegal, citing areas which must be addressed.
“In terms of our own performance, that’s all we can look at at this stage, and we would be disappointed with how we performed in the second half particularly.
“We hit a lot of wides, didn’t take our chances, and Donegal punished us for that. Taking our chances when the moments come is important.
“We felt that the second half was poor, it also matched the officials’ performance as well. I think there were a couple of soft frees throughout the game, and you saw the response from the crowd.
“It’s very frustrating from that end, but we can only control what we do, and we certainly wouldn’t be best pleased with the way things went.”
Tyrone trailed by just a point at half-time last weekend, but they had no answer to the hard running of a re-energised Donegal side that swept forward in waves of attack after the restart.
The burning question of consistency, which has dogged Tyrone throughout this year’s league and championship, raised its head again.
“You’re always chasing a good performance, and usually that takes you places, and we felt that when the opportunities did arise, we were forcing shots and taking efforts on that we maybe could have worked an extra pass.
“Now we’re coming into the stage where you need to be winning the last two games if you want to be qualifying.
“We know there’s another two games to play and another two challenges for us, and it’s just about getting that consistency throughout.”
However, McMahon does feel that two wins could yet seal top spot in the group, and avoidance of the fixture congestion associated with the preliminary quarter-final.
“That was the aim, to top the group, but that’s not to say that that opportunity has been lost.”