Dooher rues shoddy second half showing

IT was a frustrating afternoon all told for Tyrone’s senior footballers on Sunday as they fell narrowly short to Galway, and joint-manager Brian Dooher acknowledged that their overall performance wasn’t quite up to scratch as they missed out on two badly needed league points.

The Red Hands led by 0-6 to 0-4 at the half-time interval but Galway stepped it up a gear in an eventful second half at O’Neill’s Healy Park to cross the finish line with a single point to spare.

Dooher cited a lack of ‘continuity’ as their main shortfalling on the day and while not quite in the mire of a relegation battle just yet, they’ll need to pick up points and fast if they’re to keep their place in the top flight for another year, starting with the visit of Mayo next Saturday night.

Dooher said, “We had our chances but we didn’t get into our groove in the second-half. You have to give Galway a bit of credit for that, they really came out and put the game to us in the second-half.

“It’s disappointing, it was a game we feel we should have got something out of it but it is what it is. We were too slow to get going in the second-half, a bit like in the first-half. We struggled to get any continuity in the second-half, we got the odd score here and there but it wasn’t enough.”

Tyrone had one last chance of snatching a draw deep into injury time but hesitated to get a shot off and Joe McQuillan reached for the final whistle. He could’ve granted a few more seconds but that’s how it goes.

“I know we didn’t get the shot off quickly enough and the whistle went and that’s it game, over. We’ll look at that but I was surprised as well, I thought there’d be more time but that’s the decision we made and we have to live with it,” said Dooher.

2021 Footballer of the Year Kieran McGeary made his first appearance of the new season on Sunday having been sprung from the bench in the second-half, but a raft of mainstays remained sidelined with injury.

Conor Meyler, Cathal McShane, Mattie Donnelly and Frank Burns are among those who are yet to see game-time this year, and joint-manager Brian Dooher believes that the demands placed upon players by the ‘split-season’ is a major factor in their injury woes at present.

“We have these issues and it’s fairly obvious, a lot of men are injured purely because they’ve been on the go constantly for too many years. It’s taken its toll on their bodies and that’s where we are. It’s not an excuse, I think we should still have got something out of the game with the opportunities we had and we just didn’t convert what we should’ve done.”

Dooher also gave a positive update on Feargal Logan, who hasn’t featured on the sidelines for the last two games due to health issues.

“Feargal’s recovering well and we’ve been glad to hear that. It’s going to be a full journey back to recovery and we’ll see how long that takes.” Asked about the likelihood of Feargal returning to a full role before the year is out, Dooher added: “Time will tell, it’s not for me to determine that. He’s recovering well and that’s as much as we know. We send our best wishes to him, we keep in touch and he’s definitely doing well.”

Dooher also thanked the other members of the management panel for their hard work in ensuring that the senior intercounty set-up continues to be run in a smooth manner. “We’ve a strong backroom panel putting their shoulder to the wheel so there’s no issue that way. We’ve Joe [McMahon], Collie [Holmes], Des [McGuinness],