Red Hands still have major point to prove - Donnelly

TYRONE Minor manager Gerard Donnelly believes his players have yet to fulfil their performance potential, and have significant room for improvement as the Ulster Championship enters its sudden death phase.

The Red Hands booked their place in the semi-finals with a six points win over Cavan at the weekend, but the boss is demanding more from his talented group.

“We have lots to work on. Look, I would have taken a one-point win coming here today,” he said.

“We were disappointed with a lot of parts of our game, especially the first half.

“I thought we were very, very poor, we were second every ball.

“There were men running free, we conceded two frees with three men up, which is something we've been really good on all year. That lack of concentration, those wee things.

“It was just one of those games that we knew was going to be tough because, but we were glad to get through and that's what it is, a relief to get through.”

But Donnelly praised Cavan for the manner in which they set up to nullify the main Tyrone threats, and for their positivity in taking the game to the home side at O’Neills Healy Park.

“Look, credit to Cavan, that's a good Cavan team there. They were first to every breaking ball, every second ball.

“It didn't happen for us, and part of that was due to Cavan. We knew they were going to set up and defend that arc. Look, maybe we were too settled on trying for two-point shots rather than trying to work for bigger scores.

“We hit a few wides, and just lucky enough, towards the end of the half, we got a couple of two-pointers in.

“We had a lot of talking to do at half-time because we were coming out against a fairly substantial breeze, and thankfully we got through it.”

Tyrone struggled to break down a well organised Breffni defence while playing with wind advantage in the first half, but finshed strongly to lead by seven points at the interval.

However, Donnelly believes they scarcely deserved to be so far ahead.

“We were going in seven up at half-time, which we probably didn't warrant, and that's being totally honest.

“We thought we didn't deserve to be seven up because of the way we played in the first half.

“Look, we were asked questions in the second half. Cavan came out then and got a couple of two-pointers to begin with.

“There were three points in it at a stage, but our lads dug in. We kept the ball well and worked a couple of good scores.”

The 0-19 to 0-13 win over Cavan earned Tyrone a direct passage to the semi-finals, while the losers must contest a quarter-final this weekend, a round of the series that the Red Hand manager is happy to have avoided.

“Thankfully we're in the next round and straight through to the semis. The prize today was the semi-final, and avoiding the lottery of a quarter-final and getting the two-week break. That's what it was about today, getting to a semi-final.”

Tyrone have a two-week break ahead of their last four clash with a winner from the two quarter-final ties which see Monaghan face Armagh, while Down, who defeated defending champions Derry, take on Cavan.

“We have two weeks ahead of us for a very tough semi-final. It's going to be a tough quarter-final too. There's no real standout teams in it. Whoever we play in two weeks is going to be really, really tough, and we have to be ready for it.”