Tyrone U20 boss Devlin hits the reset button

TYRONE U20 manager Paul Devlin says that there’s no need for his players to feel disheartened after a disappointing group stage defeat to Donegal last Wednesday evening at Ballybofey.

Eight points separated the teams at the final whistle, an unexpected outcome when you consider the undoubted  pedigree of this Tyrone team, and now they’ll have to take the scenic route if they’re to retain their provincial title.

They have the perfect opportunity to get back to winning ways in their fourth and final group stage clash against Antrim this Wednesday on home turf at O’Neill Park in Dungannon, and their manager Paul Devlin was keen to press home the point that they still have the chance to leave a strong impression in this year’s championship.

“It’s important that the lads don’t drop their heads. They’re young lads and it’s a game of football at the end of the day,”he said.

“The lads gave what they could [against Donegal] and things didn’t work out for a few of them and now we go back to the drawing board. We’ve Antrim to play next, and then we’ve a quarrter-final, and we’re really looking forward to those games. >body2text<There’s still more football to be played yet, you learn a lot from defeat and thankfully we’re going to get another go at it.”

Tyrone were competitive in the opening exchanges but the floodgates opened in the second quarter when they conceded 1-6 without reply. That left them playing catch up against a Donegal side that were content to sit back and absorb the pressure while keeping the scoreboard ticking over at the other end.

“The first 15 minutes were cagey and then our boys seemed to switch off, Donegal were able to get in behind us, and full credit to them, they got that edge on us on the scoreboard,” added Devlin.

“Unfortunately Donegal got another goal right at the start of the second half and that was difficult but our lads competed strongly with them for the rest of the game and kept on working out. We didn’t create enough goal chances, bar one which we didn’t take, whereas any time Donegal got a chance of goal they took it and full credit to them.”