Westmeath was a wake-up call-Quinn

SURVIVING in the Championship by the skin of their teeth last week has acted as a massive wake-up call for the Tyrone camp, Cormac Quinn insists.

With Westmeath missing a last gasp free to win the match and so knock the Red Hands out of the reckoning at the group stages, Tyrone made the most of their dramatic reprieve in demolishing Donegal by eight points on Saturday night to take their berth in the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals.

It was a much improved showing by the side, who maintained a consistent level of performance across the seventy minutes to barely allow their opponents a look-in.

Cormac Quinn has enjoyed a stellar debut season in the senior fold, after making his first competitive start in the McKenna Cup against Fermanagh back in January. He was pleased to see the team extend their Championship season by getting the better of Donegal in fairly emphatic fashion.

“ Anytime you come to Ballybofey and get a win it’s satisfying, nevermind to do it by eight points. It was a tough week after the way the Westmeath match ended. That showed that football is a game of inches and we could easily have been knocked out. We have to learn our lessons from that and I think we showed that today.

“ It’s a mindset thing and we were just determined not to let it slip again. In fairness all the boys stepped up to the mark, from Niall in goals whose kickouts were one hundred per cent on the mark to everyone of the outfield players. You couldn’t ask for more than that.”

Tyrone will now return to Croke Park, a venue where the bulk of the squad enjoyed their finest hour, in the All-Ireland Final against Mayo just under two years ago. Quinn is yet to take his bow at the famous old ground, but insists it would be a major privilege to lock horns with the likes of Dublin or Kerry there next weekend, depending on the draw

“ There is no better place to play football than Croke Park. I’ve been there many’s a time but I was always looking for that first run out so it will be a great experience to be involved.

“ Those (Kerry/Dublin) are the counties you watch on the Sunday Game growing up so it would be something else to be involved in a Championship game against either. We will take whoever comes along for us in the draw.

“ You only have to look back two years and what the boys done. We will take it one game at a time and see what happens. We won’t get too far ahead of ourselves. There’s many a team has had a better run than ourselves over the past year so we will stay grounded.”

While obviously thrilled to still be involved at the business end of the Championship, Cormac also admits that Tyrone are at the hub of a gruelling run of fixtures which can take their toll.

“ It’s a tough runs of games when you are talking about three weeks in a row so the other counties might have a bit of an advantage. We will just do recovery sessions this week and try and get everyone fit and ready for what will be a huge match next weekend.

“Football is on the day and it just shows you week to week there has been big upsets and shocks so it’s just about trying to keep everyone healthy and peaking when it matters.”