Ruairi relishes getting a chance to shine

ONE brother’s loss provided a golden opportunity for another as Ruairi Canavan stepped into the breach in attack for Tyrone against Cavan on Sunday.

With his older sibling Darragh ruled out by a hamstring injury, and Mattie Donnelly also not able to start, both Ruairi and Cathal McShane were drafted into the forward sector at O’Neill’s Healy Park and neither did their credentials any harm with sprightly showings.

Canavan finished the day with four pointed frees but he was at the hub of countless other fluent Red Hand attacking sorties which had the overworked Breffni backunit struggling to quell the red and white tide at times.

The 1-24 to 0-20 final scoreline was somewhat flattering from the visitors perspective, a spree of second half two pointers lending a veneer of respectability to the eventual outcome, though Ruairi Canavan stressed that Tyrone knew not to take anything for granted heading into the fixture.

“ Cavan are a very good side. You only have to look at the fact they were around the top of Division Two and we were at the bottom of Division One to see that we are very close together so it was always going to be a tough game. We were very thankful to get over the line.

“ We weren’t happy with the first 15 minutes especially. Our handling and basic skills were awful. We improved as the game went on but no doubt we still have a lot of work to do.”

Tyrone have struggled to make their mark in the Ulster Championship ever since Paudie Hampsey got his hands on the Anglo-Celt at Croke Park back in 2021. Canavan added that because of their recent poor provincial track record they couldn’t afford to take anything for granted.

“ We got the goal near the end which put a bit of a gloss on the final scoreline but it didn’t really tell the whole story.

“ In the last few years we have struggled a bit in the Championship so we were very happy just to get over the line. It will be back to the drawing board this week and get hard at it again.”

Canavan hoped that the warm weather training camp the squad enjoyed in Portugal, which came on the back of three encouraging results at the backend of the league (albeit they were still relegated), provided Tyrone with a solid platform on which to build heading into the Championship.

However he is acutely aware that reigning All-Ireland champions Armagh in the semi-final next day out represents a significant step up for the Red Hands.

“ It was good to get away and we think we are trending in the right direction but that will guarantee nothing come the next game. We will have to see where we can get better.

“ It’s where you want to be. It will be some challenge for us. We will get our work done at training over this next few nights but we know we are going to have to be a lot better to get close to Armagh.”

Meanwhile despite Tyrone wracking up an impressive scoring tally, with thirteen different men registering on the day, team captain Brian Kennedy insisted there was still plenty of aspects to their game they need to brush up upon for Armagh.

“ We had a job to do which was getting to the next round of the Ulster Championship and we done that. We weren’t as efficient as we would have liked to be throughout the game so there is plenty of things to improve on over the next few weeks.

“ We did have a good variety of scorers. Defenders were coming up the pitch in the first half and getting a few points which was good to see. Hopefully that is something we can bring forward.

“ But Cavan hit us for a few two pointers which we wouldn’t be to happy about as it clawed them back into the game, and we were missing a few at the other end too.”