Bank of Ireland Dr McKenna Cup: Tomorrow: Healy Park, Omagh (1.30): Tyrone v Ulster University
From Celtic Park, via Thailand, to Healy Park, Tyrone play their first game of 2019 tomorrow, and victory over Ulster University will see them plant one foot in the semi-finals of the Dr McKenna Cup.
Coming off a comfortable win over Derry, the Red Hands are strongly fancied to overcome the students and hold on to the Group C leadership.
Manager Mickey Harte has, as expected, named a team sprinkled with exciting newcomers, fortified by a core of experienced players.
Goalkeeper Benny Gallen makes his debut, while there are first starts for teenager Darragh Canavan and Matthew Murnaghan.
And the Tyrone boss has the luxury of having proven campaigners Peter Harte. Niall Sludden, Cathal McShane, Niall Morgan and Rory Brennan on his bench.
The Jordanstown side will feel they can compete strongly with the Ulster giants, having held Fermanagh to a draw in their opening game.
It was Tyrone pair Lee Brennan and Daniel Kerr who did most of the scoring in that 1-9 to 0-12 stalemate, hitting all but one of their points.
And with All-Star nominee Michael McKernan also in the UU side, Harte will get a look at plenty of his own prospects at Omagh.
Defender Liam Rafferty and midfielder Brian Kennedy get another chance after impressing for Tyrone in their debuts before Christmas, and with Declan McClure and the returning Conan Grugan also in the side, the Red Hands will be strong around the middle third.
As always, Harte wants his side to be competitive in the pre-season competition as he gears up for a dough NFL opener away to Kerry later this month, and with his side bidding for a seventh McKenna Cup title in eight seasons, that approach shows no signs of changing.
Commentary on the first round of games was dominated by reaction to the introduction of the new experimental rules, most of it negative, and Harte is among those who voiced his disapproval, describing their implementation as “an impossible task” for referees following the 0-20 to 0-11 victory over Derry
“I think there’s a bit of hysteria out there in certain quarters about this game of ours, not a lot of quarters, but the quarters that they are in, they come very loud, as they do about most things, and they would be sound-bite stuff more than really thoughtful thinking about the game at all,” he said.
“It’s a pity that that’s the case, that certain interpreters, or call them what you will, are rabbiting on about things so it almost becomes a truth.
“I don’t think it’s the truth at all. If you speak about something continuously in a certain way, people almost come to accept this must be right.
“But I think we need to be more discerning than that, and we need to step out that sound-bite philosophy that we get from a lot of people who consider them authorities on how our game is played, and take a step back and just look at the good that’s in our game.
“If you have great access to the media, and you keep saying things, it does have an impact, that’s the truth of the matter, and there obviously wasn’t enough credence given to the views of the players, who clearly had serious reservations about most of these rules, some extreme reservations about some of them and moderate reservations about others.”
