Brian Dooher has admitted that Tyrone’s preparations for Allianz League action over the past couple of seasons have been inadequate.
He cited the demands of a fiercely competitive club championship as a major factor behind a sluggish start to the Division One campaign.
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The Red Hands have slipped into the relegation zone in 2022 and 2023, but strong powers of recovery saw them salvage their top flight status in both cases.
Joint-manager Dooher lamented the lack of sufficient time with the players ahead of the competition.
“We have had difficulty in getting back and getting time with the players before the league starts,” he said.
“We’re coming off the club season, and club seasons in Tyrone are fairly intense.
“Players need a bit of a rest, so it’s about trying to manage that rest and recovery and get them going again.
“Probably we haven’t managed it the best over the years, to be perfectly honest about it.
“It’s different for every county, but I think in Tyrone, the nature of the (club) championship doesn’t help it.
“But we’re all playing off the same rules, and I suppose we should be there, but I suppose we have just been slow off the mark, and we have struggled.”
Tyrone take on Roscommon at O’Neills Healy Park in their opening tie on Sunday, fully aware of the Connacht side’s well-established strategy of getting off to a strong start and picking up early points to steer themselves clear of the drop zone.
It’s a repeat of last year’s opener, which the Rossies won at Hyde Park with a second half goal rush.
“They were very impressive last year, I’d say they were one of the first teams safe, and we found that to our cost when went down to play them in the first game last year,” Dooher recalled.
“We were going all right, but as the game went on, it fell away from us a bit.”
Dooher confirmed that some of Tyrone’s key players will be absent for this weekend’s clash with Roscommon as they continue their rehab programmes from niggling injuries.
“We will have a few men off. Some are starting to come back now, and we’re getting more and more back, but it’s going to come too fast for a number of them.
“But that’s the way it is. It’s going to present an opportunity for other boys to step up and make their mark.”
The retirements of Ronan McNamee and Niall Sludden, along with injury issues, have forced the Red Hands into a process of transition, and a handful of the eleven players who made their senior debuts during the pre-season Dr McKenna Cup could see league action on Sunday.
“There’s a transition taking place there at the minute. Obviously Ronan left and Niall left, and with a number of injuries to the more experienced players, it has afforded opportunities for other players to step up in the McKenna Cup.
“And to be fair to them, coming into it for the first time, they have done well, and hopefully they will get more minutes under their belt through the league.
“Hopefully that will develop them, and we’ll see where they are as the year moves on.”
Three of Tyrone’s first four ties will be played in Omagh, and Dooher wants to utilise the sequence of games to re-establish the venue as a fortress.
“It’s good to have the home, games, and we just need to get a good start to the league and settle into it, and make Healy Park a place that other teams don’t want to come to.
“But it has been a bit hit and miss over the years. We have had some good performances, and there are other times when we just haven’t been as good as we would like.”
