Ulster U20 Football Championship quarter-final: Tyrone v Donegal (tonight, Healy Park, 8pm)
CHAMPIONS Tyrone put their Ulster U20 title on the line this evening in a difficult quarter-final tie against a talented Donegal side at Healy Park.
It’s a first outing of the season for the Red Hands, while Donegal are fresh from a preliminary round win over Armagh last weekend.
That competitive match could be crucial in helping Gary Duffy’s side find their feet early on, and they will look to catch the home side cold and establish themselves in the initial stages.
Accomplished finishers Shane O’Donnell, Johnny McGroddy and Padraig McGettigan will be the main threat up front, along with Eoin Dowling, a goal-scorer in the 1-17 to 0-8 defeat of Armagh at Ballybofey.
Tyrone have a smattering of survivors from last year’s title-wining side, including skipper Cormac Quinn, Neil Kilpatrick and Tarlach Quinn, but Lorcan Kilpatrick will miss the game through injury.
Donegal boss Duffy said his players will have to be ready for a step up in class from their previous game.
“Omagh is going to be a tough place to go to, as it always is Tyrone is always strong, whether they won last year or not, they have the structures in place, but Donegal are going in the right direction as well,” he said.
“Games take on a life of their own, and of course when you’re reigning champions, it does give you an expectation to go out and push on as well.”
Duffy is hoping the 12 points win over Donegal will have provided the confidence and game-time his players need to get their ready for this evening’s test.
“Competitive football is what it’s all about. Unfortunately there was no league for the U20s this year. It takes competitive games for players to learn to play with each other and we’re still trying to find ourselves.
“And Armagh was a good test to take us a long way for that.
“It’s always good to get over the preliminary round, but it leaves a lot of bruises and knocks, so we’ll be trying to put ourselves right from that.
“A couple of players will be going through assessments for groin and hamstring straings, and that’s happening a lot, becaue everything is coming thick and fast at the moment.”
Tyrone manager Paul Devlin identified O’Donnell and McGettigan as the main threats in the Donegal attacking unit.
“They’re two lads that can take scores on any given day, but you can have different lads popping up here and there kicking a few scores,” he said.
“We’ll have to work at stopping Donegal from getting the ball to those danger men.”
He watched Donegal’s win over Armagh, and a performance which will give the Tir Chonail lads confidence for their trip to Omagh.
“They have strength all over, they’re a strong team, and they work well together.
“They’re just what you would expect of Donegal, they work hard, they keep pushing and they’ll keep pressing you.
“But our main thing is to worry about ourselves and what we’re going to do, and that’s what we will have to focus on.”
While Donegal have the benefit of a preliminary round outing, Tyrone have yet to play together, but Devlin feels their involvement with their clubs will help them get up to speed.
“Our lads have been available to play for the clubs all along and that's been a big bonus too, lads want to get out and get playing, they've really excelled in their five games.”
“We said it was up to the lads to come back fit to us, and they did so. You can have all the challenge matches you want, but a competitive game is a big step forward for the lads as well.”
