Sport

Hampsey: Victory over Kerry hasn't solved all Tyrone's problems

Tyrone's Padraig Hampsey and Kerry's David Clifford in action during the Allianz Football League Division One game between Tyrone and Kerry on March 5 at O'Neill's Healy Park Picture: Philip Walsh.
Tyrone's Padraig Hampsey and Kerry's David Clifford in action during the Allianz Football League Division One game between Tyrone and Kerry on March 5 at O'Neill's Healy Park Picture: Philip Walsh. Tyrone's Padraig Hampsey and Kerry's David Clifford in action during the Allianz Football League Division One game between Tyrone and Kerry on March 5 at O'Neill's Healy Park Picture: Philip Walsh.

TYRONE captain Padraig Hampsey has warned that victory over All-Ireland champions Kerry does not mean that all is well in the Red Hand set-up.

He insisted that a number if concerning issues are still to be addressed as the battle to avoid relegation intensifies.

“Looking back at the Kerry game, there were a lot of mistakes made too, so we have to look at them and brush up on them,” he said.

“Against Mayo we leaked a lot of goals, and we have to look at that.

“Again against Kerry, we would be disappointed in ourselves at conceding two goals against a good Kerry forward line.

“But we’re just going to have to keep working hard for each other and try to fix that.”

Tyrone have had to endure some harsh words of criticism in recent weeks as they slipped to the bottom of the Division One table, having lost three of their first four League games.

But Hampsey feels that some of the outcomes would have been different had they been less careless in their approach.

“It’s a case of fine margins at times. We gave the ball away too much against Roscommon and Galway, and I suppose that’s what lost those games.”

This Sunday’s clash with Monaghan is the first of two Ulster derby ties that will decide whether or not the 2021 All-Ireland champions retain their top tier status.

A week later, Armagh travel to O’Neills Healy Park for the concluding game, and Tyrone will have to take at least two points from those two encounters to survive.

“They’re two big games, and we have to keep the heads down and keep working hard for each other.

“That’s’ what good Tyrone teams in the past have done, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

But the Coalisland Fianna clubman is certain that every member of the squad will draw confidence from the much-needed win over Kerry.

“Going into that game, our backs were to the wall, and we needed to pull out a big victory. The lads showed great fight.

“Twice in that game, whenever things were against us, with the goals, we responded well, and that’s something that we haven’t done in the last number of games, when we sorta dropped the head, threw in the towel.

“But thankfully we brought the fight to Kerry and got the two points, which was important.”

A season’s best performance was the product of honest, reflection and application on the training ground at Garvaghey in the wake of a four-goal drubbing at the hands of Mayo in Castlebar a week earlier.

“It has been tough for the past number of weeks, and we had to take a good look at ourselves.