By 
HAVING played an instrumental role in both of Tyrone’s goals last weekend, Ciaran Daly appears to be settling well into his role around centre field, where he is given license to bomb forward, but he is quick to praise the support of the Red Hands 2021 All-Ireland winning midfield tandem.
Tyrone bossed the aerial exchanges in the second half against Cavan, a factor which helped swing the tie decisively in their favour, and Trillick ace Daly believes the presence of both captain Brian Kennedy and Conn Kilpatrick provide the side with that reassuring platform on which to garner primary possession.
He reveals that gaining a foothold around the middle and pressing the opposition kickouts had been a feature of their play that Tyrone have been working on of late.
“ To have big Brian in the middle and Conn there to coming in from the wing really helps. It is something we have been working on and it paid dues (on Sunday).”
Daly was at the hub of Tyrone’s two first half goals, dispatched by Kennedy and his Trillick clubmate Matthew Donnelly, which handed them the initiative to push on against the Breffni Blues after the break. He felt that the pace and energy of the Red Hand display overall had moved up a notch or two from those previous disappointing first two league outings.
“ It was what we were working on. We know ourselves that the first two rounds weren’t good enough but there was still plenty of positives. We just wanted to put on a good performance at home.
“ We got the two points we were looking for but we need to move on and the remaining games now are crucial.”
A final scoring tally of 2-23 is not to be sniffed at and Ciaran stressed that the side knew they had to put recent below par showings
behind them and get back in the winner’s enclosure.
“ Cavan are a good side. We played them twice last year and there wasn’t much between the sides. We know each other pretty well at this stage so we knew we needed to be on our game
“ The boys took their goals well though we probably left a few behind us. Their keeper made a few good saves as well. So we could have had more on another day but we’ll take it.”
Despite the victory Tyrone still trail the top two in the Division (Cork and Meath) by three points, the Rebels and Royals maintaining their 100 per cent winning records at the weekend.
It means that the Red Hands must now built up a head of steam as they look to reel in those above them in the battle for promotion. Next up is a trip to Ardee to meet Louth on Sunday and Daly is conscious that another victory is a must for Tyrone, given their tardy start to the campaign which has left them playing catch up.
“ We have a bit of momentum going there but we know we need to build on this and try and get a few wins on the bounce. At least with this win we have a few positives alright moving forward.”
