Harte aims to make it 12 titleswith Tyrone’s new faces show
manager Mickey Harte has every reason to relish the fact that his side will contest another Bank of Ireland Dr McKenna Cup final tonight.
Monaghan will form the opposition at the Athletic Grounds, Armagh (7.30pm) where Harte’s side will bid to capture the trophy for what would be the 12th time under his watch.
And while a further success in the competition would provide an additional encouraging statistic, Harte views the decider from a somewhat wider perspective.
“This will be our fourth game in the competition and I find that very helpful because it affords us the opportunity to further assess our resources in advance of the Allianz League, which will start next weekend,” he points out.
“In addition, we are playing once again at the Athletic Grounds, where we have always been comfortable of late, so we certainly have no objection to going there.”
He may be missing a raft of familiar faces for a variety of reasons but Harte is taking a positive stance as he contemplates the possibility of another success in the early-season competition which his side have dominated for so long.
Ronan McNamee, Hugh Pat McGeary, Ben McDonnell, Kieran McGeary and Frank Burns are among those who have already slipped into consistency mode for the Red Hands, with Burns earning the man of the match accolade in last Sunday’s semi-final win over Down.
They will all start tonight’s game alongside players such as Michael Cassidy, Michael O’Neill, Ronan McHugh and Daniel Kerr, who are bidding to earn regular representation in the Red Hands line-up.
A tranche of players who have helped to get Tyrone into tonight’s decider will start on the bench, but a few can expect the call to arms at some stage in the winner-takes-all tie.
Darren McCurry, Ronan O’Neill, Kyle Coney and Niall Sludden have certainly caught the eye this month, with McCurry’s seven points against Down last Sunday and O’Neill’s twogoal blast in the earlier game against Armagh among the Red Hands’ scoring exploits to date.
Although Tyrone are unbeaten to date, the fact that they have conceded some unusually high scores has provided manager Harte (right) with food for thought.
“Obviously it’s good to be winning games, but at the same time you don’t want to be seen to be conceding too much,” he says.
“You are never going to totally dominate a game after all.”
Conor Meyler and David Mulgrew get the chance to parade their wares in the half-forward line, while Daniel Kerr, who certainly made a huge impact in Galbally’s surge into the closing stages of the Intermediate Football Championship, gets an opTYRONE portunity to convince Harte he has what it takes to make the grade.
And for Ronan McHugh, tonight’s game provides the perfect chance for him to carry over where he left off against Down having come off the bench on Sunday.
The Monaghan side contains only a handful of players who have senior experience, with manager Seamus McEnaney putting a strong focus on how his newcomers perform.
He will look to the Wylie brothers, Ryan and Drew, to bolster his defence, which also includes Colin Walshe and Conor Boyle, while Niall Kearns will be partnered at midfield by Barry McBennett, who will be getting a rare opportunity to show his paces at this level.
Kearns missed a portion of last year and his return to the engine-room will be particularly welcome given his fielding ability and dynamic work-rate. He will have a big part to play tonight if Tyrone’s efficiency in this sector is to be contained.
It’s in attack that a raft of fresh Monaghan faces will get the chance to stake their claim for regular places in the side. McEnaney has been impressed by the form which Philip Donnelly has shown in Blackhill’s surge into the All-Ireland Junior Club Football Championship semi-final in which they lost out last weekend, while Jason Irwin is another up and coming player who appears to have the credentials to make it at inter-county level.
Michael P O’Dowd and Robbie McAllister are others who will get the chance to impress, while
Keith McEnaney is included at full-forward.
“We have been assessing players this month and, while obviously the fact that our match against Donegal was ruled out meant that we missed an opportunity to look at new talent, these players will get the chance to show what they can do against Tyrone (tonight). This will be a good test for them,” insists McEnaney.
“You always know that it’s going to be competitive when you go in against Tyrone no matter what competition it is, and it will be no different this time as Mickey likes to win every game in which his side participates,” he adds.
Monaghan: C Forde; D Wylie, C Walshe, C Boyle; S Carey, R Wylie, P Keenan; N Kearns, B McBennett; M O’Dowd, R McAllister, D Ward; J Irwin, K McEnaney, P Donnelly.
Tyrone: N Morgan; C Quinn, R McNamee, H P McGeary; M Cassidy, M O’Neill, T McCann; B McDonnell, C Grugan; C Meyler, D Mulgrew, K McGeary; R McHugh, F Burns, D Kerr.