Dooher wants an end to ‘fits and starts’ displays

The ‘fits and starts’ nature of Tyrone performances in the Championship must be quickly nipped in the bud if they are to prolong their summer much longer, joint manager Brian Dooher has warned.

The Red Hands head to tackle Donegal in the All-Ireland quarter-final play-offs this Saturday evening in MacCumhaill Park with both teams scratching around for a bit of consistency after fairly turbulent campaigns.

It will be the end of the road for one of them this weekend, as the knockout series of the Championship belatedly kicks into gear, and in truth neither set of supporters will really know what to expect from their sides.

Since lifting the All-Ireland in 2021 Tyrone have won just two of their subsequent seven Championship clashes so it goes without saying that a quick upturn in fortunes is now required if they are to have any say in the destination of the Sam Maguire this term.

Speaking after the gripping 0-18 apiece draw with Westmeath last Sunday at Breffni Park, which saw Tyrone progress past the group stages by the skin of their teeth, Brian Dooher sought to put his finger on the Jekyll and Hyde aspect of his team’s displays of late.

“ It’s about getting that wee bit more energy and intensity. It comes there in spells and in fits and starts but we are not getting it consistently. In the first half it was lacking to a large degree but in the second half we got it back a bit and worked really hard and showed some good movement

“ It’s about hard work. Whenever a Tyrone team really goes at it we can play a bit of football.”

Tyrone looked well placed to secure a home tie this weekend in the playoffs (the prize for finishing second in the group) but they relinguished a three point lead in injury time against Westmeath to drop into third spot.

Given that Lake County captain John Heslin subsequently missed a match winning free with the last kick, which would have dumped Tyrone out completely, Dooher was just relieved to still have a match to prepare for this Saturday

“ We are still going and still alive and that is the main thing I suppose. Ultimately we wanted a win but didn’t get it, we just had to settle for a draw. We just had to take it and go on.

“ We know we are definitely on our travels. But we are glad still to be there. That is the main thing. We will take a journey next week now into a tough venue.”

Dooher revealed that ace scoregetter Darren McCurry sat out last weekend as a precautionary measure because of a knock he sustained, but he did expect the Edendork star to be back this Saturday. In the meantime the Tyrone boss was thrilled with the ten point scoring return of Daragh Canavan, without which the Red Hands would have been in real boher.

“ Darragh was phenomenal. He really carried the battle to them in the forward line. He took some stick too with a few knocks but he kept getting up again and going at it. Thankfully for us he took some great scores.”