Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
KEEPING IT GOING
Tyrone maintain fine record in the qualifiers & Harte vows to stick with his rotation policy
Cavan 1-12 Tyrone 0-18 MICKEY HARTE has promised to start Niall Morgan next weekend as Tyrone close in on the Super 8s.
The Tyrone boss’s novel goalkeeper rotation policy has seen Morgan and Michael O’neill start two games each this summer.
It’s worked out so far and the Red Hands are on the verge of the All-ireland quarter-finals after shrugging off Cavan down the stretch on Saturday.
Morgan started against Monaghan in Ulster and Carlow in the qualifiers while O’neill was between the sticks for the Meath and Cavan games, conceding just one goal in his two games.
And with Laois, Roscommon, Fermanagh and Cork their potential opponents in this morning’s draw for Round 4, Tyrone will fancy navigating all four qualifier rounds for the third time since 2013.
On the goalkeeping issue, Harte confirmed Morgan will return for a tie that’s expected to be played at Croke Park.
He said: “In the qualifiers we said we’d give each goalie a game each. It’s Niall’s turn next week.”
Alternating keepers seems a risky ploy given the potential for an unsettled defence.
But Harte is confident he’s got the right formula as last year’s Ulster champions return to the brink of the quarter-finals.
He said: “After the upset of getting knocked out in the first round of Ulster, we’ve clawed our way back to a position where we’re just one game from the quarter-finals.
“This is knock-out, this is serious stuff. If you get through the next one then you’re guaranteed three more games at least, so this is where everybody wants to be.”
In a meeting of two counter-attacking teams, Tyrone asserted their authority in the second quarter to take a 0-9 to 0-5 half-time lead. They added to their advantage when Connor Mcaliskey pointed after the restart but Cavan came roaring back to level it up with an unanswered 1-2.
Marty Reilly (inset) scored the 43rd minute goal but Gearoid Mckiernan was the beating heart of Mattie Mcgleenan’s team, picking off five
points in total. Tyrone are seasoned performers though and edged clear down the stretch, the contest fizzling out when Ciaran Brady was dismissed (right) on a second yellow after a tussle with Cathal Mccarron.
Harte said: “We were looking comfortable enough until Cavan got their goal.
“When that happened the whole momentum shifted over to them and we were under pressure.
“That’s a mark of the quality of these players now, that we were under the cosh against Meath and again with Cavan, and battled our way out of it.”