Tyrone v Derry, Healy Park, Omagh, 19:00 Sat 5/3/16

[lenny]

Sorry Derry lads didn't realize Pascal hit him dirty - it's the first time I heard that!

All the same Barton has a poor enough record when it comes to confrontations with Tyrone players - he's two and O'Hagan now isn't he?

Fixed that for you.

[Fuzzman]

From Irish News
TONY Scullion believes Tyrone will want to keeping shutting out the light on Derry as they prepare for their fourth meeting of the season on Saturday night.

The two counties met in the O Fiaich Cup and twice in the Dr McKenna Cup with the Red Hands winning all three.

The pair face-off again in the Allianz NFL Division Two at Healy Park and while they could meet again before the League season is over, their Ulster Championship meeting on May 22 looms.

Scullion, who is part of Damian Barton's backroom team, says that Tyrone boss Mickey Harte will not want to give Derry a psychological edge in Omagh on Saturday night.

"Fair play to Mickey Harte. Down through the years, Mickey's approach has never changed," said Scullion.

"He respects every competition, every game, no matter who they play. I'm sure Mickey doesn't want to give Derry any light whatsoever.

"I know where Mickey is coming from: the thinking is, the more they beat Derry, the less confidence Derry will have. But, please God, Derry will have the confidence to go out and give them a game."

Derry have improved each time they've played Tyrone this season. They mustered just four points from play in their 1-18 to 0-10 O Fiaich Cup defeat in December.

In their first McKenna Cup encounter Derry hit four goals against Tyrone but lost by a point in Owenbeg and were desperately unlucky to lose a pulsating final after extra-time.

Tyrone have won their opening three games in Division Two while Derry suffered their first defeat to Galway last weekend.

"Forget what's going to happen in May – that's a standalone match," insisted Scullion.

"That match will take care of itself. There's nothing to hide in these games because Tyrone and Derry know each other so well.

"We'll do our best in every game and we'll see where it takes us. We have to go out against Tyrone and give a performance because last Sunday's was very poor. We know the task ahead of us going to Omagh but let's go and enjoy it and embrace it."

Derry boss Damian Barton picked up an eight-week ban for getting involved in a fracas during the McKenna Cup final and is banned from the sidelines for the remainder of Division Two.

"It's disappointing what happened to Damian and he's hurting," said Scullion.

Derry are still without Dermot McBride (knee) and Enda Lynn, who suffered a fractured ankle in the closing stages of the McKenna Cup final.

The good news for Lynn is that he will have his cast removed this week and could be back in contention in "four or five weeks".

"We can't afford to be without those lads. Fergal Doherty retired, Patsy Bradley has been a great servant for Derry but his back is giving him a lot of problems," Scullion explained.

"When you lose men of that calibre and you lose players like Dermot McBride and Enda Lynn you're losing players that have been there and bought the T-shirt. At the minute we're trying to build a team."

The Oak Leafers delivered a tepid performance at home to Galway last weekend and were fortunate to lose by just three points.

"Galway were excellent," Scullion added. "Their ball-carrying and support play was excellent right from their goalkeeper; they attacked us from all angles.

"They are great runners with the ball and very athletic. They caused Derry lots of bother.

"After the first five minutes we were very poor for long spells in the first half and even in the second half. Galway were the better team and they deserved their victory. There were no excuses from Derry."

Derry have already beaten Fermanagh and Cavan and a win this weekend would see them right in the promotion shake-up.

"We started with two good victories over Fermanagh and Cavan. It was a good workmanlike performance against Cavan. To beat Cavan in Breffni Park you're doing very, very well. That was a great effort because I tell you this Cavan are a good team. Cavan will do well.

"So we've started the League well but sometimes you learn more from defeat than winning games. We're still a work-in-progress."

[Fuzzman]

TYRONE have injury concerns over Colm Cavanagh and Conor Meyler ahead of Saturday's derby clash with Derry.

Both were forced to leave the pitch before the end of last weekend's win at Portlaoise. Meyler's energy and dash was missed, while the Red Hands suffered defensively from the departure of midfielder/sweeper Cavanagh, just as they did when he picked up a black card in the latter stages of the narrow win over Galway at Salthill.

"Colm Cavanagh is a real steadying bar in this team and we missed him during the closing stages due to injury. When he goes out we miss him badly, he had an injury and had to go off, but long may he return," said Harte.

A win at Healy Park is crucial for the Oak Leafers, after they slipped up at home to Galway. For Harte and his unbeaten , table-topping side, a fourth straight success is also a must as they chase promotion back to Division One.

"These are all big games at this stage of the year and any day you don't get two points then you're slipping down the table. We want to keep getting the wins to keep ourselves at the right side of the table."

Despite Tyrone's flawless record, the manager is looking for improvements, and insists his players have plenty of issues to work on.

"The start has been perfect in terms of results, but there's also plenty to improve upon as well in terms of performance."

He expects the Division Two leaders to perform more fluently than they did in the first half against Laois, when signs of rustiness were evident following the league's three-week break.

"Maybe the three weeks without a game had an impact, because we had played seven games previously within a fairly short space of time. So, the game atmosphere was missed and it took a while to get into the swing of things again."

But Harte was encouraged by the quality of the second half performance at O'Moore Park, when Tyrone played some outstanding football.

"In the second half, the players really showed the type of football that we're capable of playing and it's a pity that we didn't push on and get the result that reflected that.

"Very small things can make a difference and sometimes you're in control and players can get a bit complacent, bad choices are made and the turnover gives the opposition momentum."

"We got ourselves into a really good position to close the game out, but the game wasn't finished off when the chances arrived and there were a few scary moments near the finish as a result."

Saturday's clash is the fourth meeting of the sides this season, and the Red Hands have won the previous three.

With each game, the fierce rivalry between the neighbouring counties has been more evident, and this latest encounter brings with it a degree of tension.

Fall-out from the two clashes in the McKenna Cup has left a sense of uneasiness in the air, and Derry manager Damien Barton will be absent from the sideline this weekend, still suspended as a result of an incident in the McKenna Cup final.

[screenexile]

At least that's one less Tyrone player our lads have to worry about trying to get them sent off!!

[JoG2]

hopefully Colm's fit for Saturday

[WT4E]

Sorry Derry lads didn't realize Pascal hit him dirty - it's the first time I heard that!

All the same Barton has a poor enough record when it comes to confrontations with Tyrone players - he's two and O'Hagan now isn't he?

Fixed that for you.

Lol What happened? I never heard this one before?

Maybe Barton will bust some ould granny in the stand this saturday night and even up the score!!!

[Walter Cronc]

Sorry Derry lads didn't realize Pascal hit him dirty - it's the first time I heard that!

All the same Barton has a poor enough record when it comes to confrontations with Tyrone players - he's two and O'Hagan now isn't he?

Fixed that for you.

Lol What happened? I never heard this one before?

Maybe Barton will bust some ould granny in the stand this saturday night and even up the score!!!

Go ask your Daddy. Everyone knows about the Barton O'Hagan incident!

[redzone]

Sorry Derry lads didn't realize Pascal hit him dirty - it's the first time I heard that!

All the same Barton has a poor enough record when it comes to confrontations with Tyrone players - he's two and O'Hagan now isn't he?

Fixed that for you.

Lol What happened? I never heard this one before?

Maybe Barton will bust some ould granny in the stand this saturday night and even up the score!!!

Go ask your Daddy. Everyone knows about the Barton O'Hagan incident!

Let's just say ohagan was a bit of a lady's man back in the day

[WT4E]

Sorry Derry lads didn't realize Pascal hit him dirty - it's the first time I heard that!

All the same Barton has a poor enough record when it comes to confrontations with Tyrone players - he's two and O'Hagan now isn't he?

Fixed that for you.

Lol What happened? I never heard this one before?

Maybe Barton will bust some ould granny in the stand this saturday night and even up the score!!!

Go ask your Daddy. Everyone knows about the Barton O'Hagan incident!

Everyone doesn't know - I was going to the shop there - stopped a lad and asked him - He didn't know!

Go on tell us there what happened!

[Redhand Santa]

From memory he broke O'Hagan's jaw? Which made his crying about what Cathal McCarron did not belonging on a pitch etc all the more funny.

[Champion The Wonder Horse]

Anyone who thinks this will be anything other than a v handy win for Tyrone is either attempting and failing to be a cute hoor or living on an entirely different planet. Tyrone are in the top four teams in Ireland, they are better than more than half of the teams in division 1. Derry are mediocre and have yet to even prove they have enough to stay in div 2. Tyrone watered Galway in Galway, a week later Galway water Derry at Celtic Park. The obvious extension of this link is that Tyrone will beat Derry easily on Saturday night. Only one of the three games this year between the two teams was close, the first McKenna Cup game was skewed by the four goals, including two dodgy penalties. The only thing that may keep it close for a while is the derby nature of the game, but Tyrone will be wanting to hand Derry a lesson ahead of the championship.

To the boy above who hopes Colm Cavanagh is playing on Saturday, it can only be to witness the best exponent of the sweeper role in action - he is of massive importance to Tyrone.

All us Derry folk can really hope for is that no more of our players suffer broken legs and that none need to visit the plastic surgeon after the game is over.

Tyrone by 5+.

[Wildweasel74]

+5 it be more than that given the shambles i seen against Galway last week, A goalkeeper who wont kick the ball out past the 45m line, go short as close in as 21m line putting players under severe and taking all day to turn defence into attack as we are starting up too far back and the opposition just drifts back at its leisure. I expect 1 way traffic unless Derry learn to go long to middle of the field and set up attacks early from there.

[Champion The Wonder Horse]

+5 it be more than that given the shambles i seen against Galway last week, A goalkeeper who wont kick the ball out past the 45m line, go short as close in as 21m line putting players under severe and taking all day to turn defence into attack as we are starting up too far back and the opposition just drifts back at its leisure. I expect 1 way traffic unless Derry learn to go long to middle of the field and set up attacks early from there.

Tyrone -2 is 11/10 with Paddy Power. Free money for any businessmen out there.

[LeoMc]

Sorry Derry lads didn't realize Pascal hit him dirty - it's the first time I heard that!

All the same Barton has a poor enough record when it comes to confrontations with Tyrone players - he's two and O now isn't he?

I'm afraid not, its two and one, Mr O'Hagan from Coalisland will testify.

Was it not 3-1 after Mrs O called with him afterwards?

[BennyHarp]

At least that's one less Tyrone player our lads have to worry about trying to get them sent off!!

Don't worry I'm sure your players and management team will find someone to go running to the press about after the game.