Tyrone skipper Sean relieved to chisel out narrow away victory

THE heavy underfoot conditions in Pairc MacCumhaill Ballybofey on  meant that the Ulster Minor Championship quarter-final between Tyrone and Donegal was never going to be a classic but that won’t unduly worry the visitors who came out on the right side of a low scoring affair.

After a nine month lay off bothsets of players were back into County action and there is no doubt that the rustiness showed with a lot of basic mistakes. The work rate and endeavour though of Collie Holmes’ Red Hand charges certainly couldn’t be faulted as they chiselled out a 0-8 to 0-7 victory.

Left half back Sean O’Donnell played a real captain’s role, particularly in the second half, and he admitted afterwards it was all about getting the result.

“It wasn’t pretty but conditions were difficult and at this time of year it is all about getting the right result and thankfully we did”, said the Trillick teenager

“Our main here coming to Ballybofey was to just get over the line and it was a case of mission accomplished. Only a few weeks ago there was no word of there being any Ulster minor championship and we are just glad that we got the opportunity to play and represent Tyrone.

“While waiting it was a matter of keeping the head down and remained focussed and try and believe that we would get the chance to play in the championship.

“Parts of the pitch were badly cut up, just as they were a few weeks ago in the senior championship, but it was the same for both sides and we just had to keep going.

“Some decisions probably didn’t go our way there today but there is no point in worrying about that as you can’t do anything about that. It was a case of having to dog deep and concentrate on the next ball and I felt that we did that and deserved to go through to the next round.”

FULL STORY IN LAST WEEK’S PAPER