Back-to-back wins for Tyrone now the aim-Daly

PUTTING together back-to-back wins has been a rarity for Tyrone this season but that has to be the objective now, attacker Ciaran Daly has pointed out in the aftermath of Sunday’s routine Championship victory over Clare.

The Red Hands came on strong down the home straight at Healy Park to dispatch with their Banner visitors 3-15 to 0-10 to all but ensure they will progress out of Group Three.

However only victory over Cork in a fortnight’s time will guarantee Tyrone a home match in the preliminary quarter-finals, and keep them in with a long shot opportunity to top the section.

Daly is conscious however that the team have struggled for consistency throughout the year and stresses that they must build on the Clare result now going forward.

“There will definitely be a lift in the camp at training after this win despite the flaws in the performance. Everything feels a lot better when you win a game, that goes without saying. We haven’t put together many back to back wins this year but that has to be the target now. We know it will be tough but that has to be the aim.”

Tyrone were lethargic in the initial stages at the weekend and after a listless first half an hour the match was tied up at 1-2 to 0-5. Daly admitted that it had been something of a slow burner.

“It was a better result today but we were still a bit sluggish and have plenty to work on. There always is.

“We were poor enough early on. Clare went down to fourteen men with the black card and we were unable to capitalise. We improved in the second half and finished well enough so we have to be happy enough overall.”

With their opponents visibly flagging in the protracted spell of injury time, Tyrone rattled off a goal and four points in the latter stages. Daly felt that late surge spoke volumes for the resources at their disposal.

“We ended the match well and probably the bench has a lot to do with that. We have a good squad of players and boys came on there looking to prove a point.

“We know that next time out against Cork that will not be good enough. We will get back to training over the next two weeks and get ready to go again.”

Tyrone have endured their fair share of criticism in the aftermath of last week’s defeat to Donegal at Ballybofey, but the Trillick star stated that the players sought to drown out any dissent from outside the confines of Garvaghey.

“We were probably a bit disappointed with our performance last week. We know what we have inside the camp.

“We don’t really listen to any external noises. We focus on ourselves and we knew we had a job to do today. “

Ciaran realises that the next day will represent a significant step up, with Cork coming into the match having won both of their group games to date.

“We respected Clare here today. We knew what they were capable of. We definitely have to respect Cork especially after their result yesterday against Donegal. They will be flying because of that. We know we have a lot to work on and this definitely wont be good enough for two weeks time.

We are into knockout football now really.”