By 
EVEN in the absence of their talismanic attacker Darragh Canavan Tyrone were able to shoot the lights out in the second half against Offaly on Saturday night
The Red Hands averaged roughly a point every two minutes after the break as they surged clear of the Faithful County in Dungannon to seal a much needed victory in their quest for Division Two survival.
Among those who really stood up to be counted was Seanie O’Donnell, a relative of the famed Canavan clann. He slotted over three points from play and was at the hub of a number of other blistering Tyrone attacks as they belatedly shifted through the gears.
While admitting that the loss of Darragh Canavan would be an obvious blow for any attack in the country, the Trillick ace felt that the home side showed they had more strings to their bow in terms of an attacking threat.
“ Boys are just dying to get in there to play and show their best when they are on. We want boys coming off the bench showing what they can do and chipping in with scores. Darragh is obviously a brilliant player but he is away (in Australia) so other boys want to get on and do the best they can when they do get that chance.”
Among the most heartening sights for Tyrone fans at O’Neill Park was the sparking second half cameo display of seasoned campaigner Darren McCurry who enjoyed further precious pitch action (three points from play) having missed the early stages of the league campaign.
O’Donnell argued that a fired up McCurry could only enhance Tyrone’s prospects of being successful looking ahead.
“ Dazzler is capable of doing that. We were glad to see him coming on and kicking points as well. Having him come off the bench is nice to have so credit to him to come on and do that job for the team.”
Tyrone produced a stuttering and nervy first half display, when they allowed Offaly to dictate the pace of the contest. Seanie believed that the much improved performance after the break indicated that the side had learned their lessons from the previous Sunday in Ardee, when their game dropped off alarmingly in the second per.
“ There was learnings in it from last week. Against Louth we didn’t really push on after thinking we had a good first half. We never pushed on in the second half so we had to learn and that’s what the boys did. We played well.”
This was an all too rare Tyrone home appearance outside of Omagh and O’Donnell agreed that it was refreshing to take the county show on the road, with the tie also attracting a healthy attendance to O’Neill Park.
“ The pitch was in great shape. In fairness to Dungannon they have looked after it well and it is an incredible surface. They have been putting a lot of work into it over this last few years so credit to them. We were glad to get back playing here and there was good support too.”
Despite this result Tyrone can ill-afford to ease up in their last two remaining games with relegation still a possibility. O’Neill is acutely aware they must keep the pedal flat to the mat in the meetings now with Meath and Cork, two sides chasing promotion at the top end of the table.
“ The next two games are going to be big for us. We will just try and push on. We need performances. We will look forward to those two games.
“We will work hard in training to put a good shift in and hopefully we will get good results.”
