Christy Ring Cup round three: Tyrone v Sligo (Sunday, Carrickmore, 2pm)
Tyrone have met the challenge head-on in their debut season in the Christy Ring Cup, and they can extend an unbeaten run on Sunday afternoon.
Sligo visit Carrickmore to rake on the surprise table-toppers at Pairc Colmcille, and they will encounter a Red Hand side performing with freedom and confidence.
A draw with Derry was followed by a 2-22 to 1-17 at Castlebar last Saturday, and Michael McShane’s side lead the way along with the Oak Leafers.
Goals from Sean Duffin and Lorcan Devlin were the key scores at McHale Park, along with a string of Dermot Begley points, and his free-taking expertise will be important against the Yeatsmen.
After an opening day win over London, Sligo were soundly beaten by Derry last weekend, and will be looking to Joe McHugh and Andrew Kilcullen for scores, the latter hitting eight points in the 4-27 to 2-13 defeat at Owenbeg.
Tyrone manager McShane will be looking for another high energy performance from his side, hailing the ferocious workrate that saw them triumph over Mayo.
“The victory was born out of savage hard-work,” he said.
“We out-worked Mayo and that was our mantra all week. In the second half last week against Derry we out-worked them and come back from an eight point deficit to get a draw.
“So we said to them that we needed to go like that from the first minute.
“The players did that, and from the first minute to the seventieth, we outworked a very good Mayo team and I think you could see that their heads were down in the last 10 minutes when they just had no answer for us.”
FIXTURES
Christy Ring Cup round 3
Saturday, April 29
Derry v Meath (Owenbeg, 2pm)
Sunday, April 30
Mayo v London (Hastings MacHale Park, 12.30pm)
Tyrone v Sligo (Carrickmore, 2pm)
