‘The season is still young, the Championship is still to come...’ Tyrone are looking up says Joe Oguz

THE season is still young, says Tyrone midfielder Joe Oguz, who expects the Red Hands to take the form they showed in Saturday night’s thrilling win against Monaghan into the Ulster Championship.

With injured All-Ireland winners Michael McKernan, Peter Harte, Frank Burns, Conn Kilpatrick, Michael O’Neill and Conor Meyler all ruled out, Oguz was part of the young Tyrone side that faced a Monaghan team fighting desperately for their lives in Omagh last weekend.

Having led by seven points early in the second half, the Red Hands were pushed all the way by the fighting Farneymen at Healy Park but they dug their heels in, survived a late onslaught and Oguz scored the final point of the game to seal a thrilling victory.

Tyrone have work to do – particularly in defence – but they can also take a lot of positives from their performance against Vinny Corey’s side.

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“We’re showing what we’re about and we’re building on it week-by-week,” said Errigal Ciaran clubman Oguz.

“We’re showing what we can do - maybe not in the full game but there’s glimpses of it. The season is still young, the Championship is still to come so hopefully we can piece it together for that.”

Darragh Canavan (1-6) and Darren McCurry (0-6) led the way with a steady stream of scores but, at the other end, Monaghan cut through the Red Hand rearguard almost at will on Saturday night. Wind and rain meant the conditions were difficult for both defences and the sides racked up 35 scores between them in an entertaining content.

A major plus-point for Tyrone was the return of experienced Mattie Donnelly who tore the posterior cruciate ligament in his knee and broke his tibia while playing in the Kilmacud 7s tournament last August.

Long hours of hard work and dedication have enabled the Trillick clubman to recover and supporters at Healy park cheered in unison when he jogged out onto the field early in the second half.

“It was great to see Mattie coming in,” said Oguz.

“He’s an experienced head and he’s able to come in and slow things down and dictate the play so it’s great to have him back.”

After the victory over Monaghan, Tyrone manager Brian Dooher ruled out the possibility of any of his injured players returning for the final Division One fixture against Dublin at Croke Park on Sunday. But Kerry’s victory over Roscommon last Sunday banished any lingering relegation fears so the focus will turn to preparing for the Ulster Championship opener on April 21 against the winners of the Monaghan-Cavan preliminary round game.

Monaghan were relegated following their loss in Omagh but with Conor McManus, Ryan McAnespie and Conor McCarthy all fit again and others to come, they’ll fancy their chances of making an impact on the Championship.

As will Tyrone…

“Monaghan asked a lot of questions of us,” said Oguz.

“There were a couple of big plays and Ruairi Canavan coming sliding in with the block - that lifted the crowd, it lifted all of us. We fought to the very end and that’s typical of both teams.

“I’m just glad we were able to get over the line in the last couple of minutes. We came into the game looking for the two points, we were under pressure ourselves so we’re happy we got the line in the end and now we want to build on it.

“I think we showed the grit and determination we have as a group. That has been questioned over the last couple of years but we showed what we are capable of doing when we get our heads down so it’s definitely a performance we can build on.”