|
Donegal have what it takes says Harte Tyrone manager
Mickey Harte has admitted that Donegal will be the side to watch in this
year’s All-Ireland Championship.
His side defeated the League champions by 2-9 to 0-5 in this year’s
controversial Dr. McKenna Cup final but still Harte believes they are
a real threat both at provincial and national level.
He said: “They give a new angle to the Championship. People always
talked about Tyrone and Armagh as the big two but certainly Donegal have
come up to that level and on current form they are ab-ove that level.
Their form this season has been way ahead of anyone in our province and
indeed in the country.”
Should Tyrone overcome the challenge of Ferman-agh in their Ul-ster Championship
opener and Donegal continue their great form against Armagh then the two
would meet in the Ulster semi-final.
Harte received some rare good news last week when the GAA’s Central
Hearing Committee rescinded the red card given to flair forward Eoin Mulligan
in the National League game with Mayo thereby freeing him up to face Fermanagh
on May 20.
The Tyrone boss said: “It’s great news for the player himself
and it is great that a system is in place that if someone is sent off
and it is deemed not to be accurate, people can later make a different
call on it.”
It’s also emerged that Brian Mc-Guigan may finally be ready for
his inter-county comeback. The former All-Star suffered a broken leg last
year and his recovery did not go as smoothly as was expected. However
the half-forward is ex-pected to be named in the panel for the Ferma-nagh
game as Tyrone bid for glory in Ulster.
Earlier fears that Stephen O’Neill and Sean Cavanagh would miss
the start of the Championship have also been put to bed.
O’Neill who was the 2005 Footballer-of-the-Year recently suffered
a hamstring injury but is said to be back to full training and is expected
to start against Fermanagh.
Meanwhile Cavanagh travelled to see a specialist in Birmingham to work
on a toe injury.
The pair are crucial elements to Tyrone’s plans for 2007 and having
them back will help the Red Hands as they bid to win their third All-Ireland
in five seasons.
Ulster Football Championship 2007:
First round: Cavan v Down; Fermanagh v Tyrone; Donegal v Armagh; Antrim
v Derry; (Monaghan bye to second round). |
