By Niall Gartland

MALACHY O’Rourke is confident that three key players will recover in time for Tyrone’s third and final group stage clash against Cavan on Sunday week.

Captain Brian Kennedy, former captain Padraig Hampsey and u-20 star Eoin McElholm sat out last weekend’s disappointing defeat to Mayo, though O’Rourke hopes to have a clean bill of health for their second meeting of the championship season with Cavan.

Kennedy and Hampsey missed out having sustained heavy knocks against Donegal in Ballybofey, and while O’Rourke acknowledged that their absence was sorely felt, he wasn’t using it as an excuse for a disappointing defeat to the Connacht side.

“There’s no doubt we missed those two lads. And then I suppose there possibly is a wee bit of fatigue from last week as well because it is a very quick turnaround. But as I say, I don’t want to start making excuses. Mayo were the better team on the night, deserved a victory and we just have to go back and see what we can do better.”

When subsequently asked if both players would be available to face Cavan, O’Rourke added: “Well, we would hope that they would. Again, we’re going on medical advice and that was the case. We were hoping that Brian would be fit to take part (against Mayo). But just the medical team said no, it wasn’t. It was too much of a risk and Paudie was ruled out as well.

“But we’d be hoping that the two of them will be back for the next game, all being well.”

O’Rourke also said that he opted to rest McElholm, who just four days earlier shot the lights out with a 2-4 salvo in Tyrone’s All-Ireland U-20 final victory over Louth. The Tyrone manager said that it was important not to overload the Loughmacrory sharpshooter.

“Eoin picked up a wee knock and he had trouble with his hips during the year so it was just a case that it would have been too much at this stage.”

While Tyrone’s round two encounter against Mayo ended in disappointment, O’Rourke’s team are still in a strong position heading into the final round. The Red Hands will be expected to overcome Cavan, but O’Rourke believes that their opponents have made improvements since their Ulster Championship quarter-final meeting, which Tyrone won by seven points.

“The day Cavan came here they would have been disappointed with their performance and (then they) went and defeated Mayo with a good performance after that,” the Tyrone boss added.

“There’s no doubt that they’ve improved a lot.

“They have five or six key individuals back, so there’s no doubt it’s going to be a hell of a battle.

“It’s going to be a must-win game.You could see four teams come into the final round equal on points and all the teams play at the same time.

“You have to get yourself ready because there will be no excuses. We just have to look and recover straight away, and as I say, look at the game this evening, see the things that didn’t go well, work hard on them and see if we can be better the next day. That’s all you can do.”