Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Harte: We had to win twice.. it was a real battle
Red Hands delighted as Bonner’s left frustrated by costly basic errors Tyrone 2-13 Donegal 1-10
IT was billed as a must win game for both sides and it was Tyrone who came out on top on Saturday night to ease their relegation worries and leave opponents Donegal in deep trouble.
Goals either side of the break from Niall Sludden and Mark Bradley sent the Ulster champions on their way to victory.
And while an Odhran Macniallais goal sparked a Donegal fightback it was the Red Hands who finished the stronger with Lee Brennan taking his personal haul on the night to 0-5.
Manager Mickey Harte (inset) was naturally delighted to pick up a second win of the league campaign.
“The two points were vital, that’s for sure, and we had to battle for them,” admitted Harte.
“In the first half, Donegal had the upper hand and maybe seemed to be more in control of the game than we were.
“But goals are very important in a game, and we got that one in the first half, which actually gave us a bit of confidence going in at half-time.
“We got scores at vital times, and when we got the second goal, we were in a really strong position
“But we wouldn’t be happy with the fact that we let Donegal get back with a goal.
“If we had held on properly, and made them look for points, I think they would have had great trouble getting as close to us as they did. We actually had to win the game twice.”
The defeat leaves Donegal with just two league points to their name with only two games left to play and their manager Declan Bonner felt that they contributed to their defeat.
“We were the architects of our own downfall,” he said. “It was disappointing as we started the game well and then we gave away a goal just before half-time and then another one just immediately after the break. “The one thing you can’t do against Tyrone is to turn over ball cheaply in the final third and that’s what happened.
“It was something we spoke about during the week that we could not allow that to happen, but it happened.
“All of sudden they came back and their second goal also came from a ball being turned over. That was very frustrating, cheap ball turned over and basic errors that cost us.”