Harte’s men leave Donegal staring at relegation

TYRONE: N Morgan 0-1f; F Burns, P Hampsey, C McCarron; M Donnelly, HP McGeary, C Meyler; C Cavanagh, P McNulty; C McShane 0-1, N Sludden 1-1, P Harte 0-1; L Brennan 0-5, 4f, C McAliskey 0-3f, M Bradley 1-1

Subs: M McKernan, for HP McGeary (50), K McGeary, for McNulty (57), D Mulgrew for McAliskey (62), D McCurry for Bradley (67), C McCann for McShane (70), R Brennan for Meyler (73)

DONEGAL: S Patton; C Morrison, S McMenamin, EB Gallagher 0-1; T McClenaghan, C Ward, E Doherty 0-1; H McFadden 0-1, O MacNiallais 1-2; L McLoone, R McHugh, M McHugh 0-1; C Thompson, M Murphy 0-3f, J Brennan

Subs: D O’Baoill for Thompson, M McElhinney for McClenaghan (42), S McBrearty 0-1, for M McHugh (50), F McGlynn for Ward (57), N O’Donnell for Brennan (63), M Langan for MacNiallais (67)

AS tempting as it might have been for Mickey Harte to appear smug in the face of the criticism he has taken for his part in Tyrone failings this season, the message hardly ever deviates, and he was back on familiar ground after his side showed the greater experience to edge out a weakened Donegal side in Omagh.

“You can’t beat workrate. Whatever else you do, or whatever other skillsets you have, if skill isn’t accompanied by work, then it doesn’t really work,” he explained.

“We had boys who were prepared to work hard. It took a while to settle in I suppose, to the flow of the game, and to get them to play the way we actually wanted them to play.

“But when they got to grips with that, and understood what we were looking from them, a couple of fast breaks in the first half were just breath-taking.

“And I think that’s a nice way to play football, if you can hold out, turn people over, and break at breakneck speed, then to me, that’s a very interesting and entertaining game.”

Forcing turnovers and the rare skill of blocking down opposing players, along with some instinctive play won Tyrone this game, and the scoring of two goals either side of half-time were borne out of each of those two valued qualities.

The first came on the stroke of half-time when Niall Sludden blocked down Michael Murphy and propelled himself forward at lightning speed to receive a pass from Padraig McNulty before slotting a shot to the corner of Shaun Patton’s net.

Donegal were living dangerously at this point, Patton having hauled Sludden down a few minutes earlier to concede a penalty that Peter Harte fluffed, but miraculously escaped a black card.

At the start of the second half, Mark Bradley took it upon himself to provide the inspiration. He played a one-two with Cathal McShane before sending Leo McLoone down the street with a fine dummy and rolling the shot between Patton’s legs.

Donegal managed to get back in the game with an Odhran