By Alan Rodgers

ONE more win would do nicely indeed for the Tyrone hurlers who will be aiming to maintain their impressive unbeaten run in the Nickey Rackard Cup when they take on Fermanagh this Saturday in Garvaghey.

A place in the final at Croke Park at the end of this month is the big incentive for the Red Hands. Victories to date over Sligo, Mayo and Louth, have put Stephen McGarry and the players in pole position to reach headquarters for the first time since 2022.

Four years ago Tyrone won the Nickey Rackard and, while nobody is looking that far ahead just yet, two more points on the table would more than likely secure their place in the decider at the end of this month.

But the manager is under no illusions about the task facing them as they prepare to meet the Ernesiders this weekend, and then complete the round-robin stages against Armagh. While Tyrone will go into the game as favourites, Fermanagh challenged them strongly in the National League earlier this year and there is no sense of complacency as a result.

“We had a good free-flowing match against Mayo in the second round and then the game against Louth was more of a physical battle. But we’re expecting another tough challenge against Fermanagh this weekend,” McGarry said.

“Our boys have had to be on their game and the last win was good. Louth were always going to cause us problems, and we spoke to the players about not letting complacency sink in after the big win over Mayo.

“ It is very hard to get that bounce back and they have been reacting really well.

“It was good to accumulate a high points tally and we’ll try and keep improving. The lads have reacted well, but we have a lot to work on and we’re not ignorant to that fact. There’s another couple of games in this competition and improving and improving and improving is our aim.”

Tyrone currently top the Nickey Rackard table with full points from their three games. Mayo and Sligo are now in joint second on four, while Fermanagh have gained just one victory from their matches to date. Nevertheless, the risk of a shock is something that Tyrone will be anxious to avoid.

“The three wins so far have put us in a very strong position in the Nickey Rackard. It is a good place to be. We had confidence that we could go and win the first three, but we’ll try not to stop at this,” added McGarry.

“Fermanagh produced a strong performance against us in the league.

“They are probably similar to what we faced against Louth in that they are a physical team, they move the ball really well and we had to show a similar type of performance with grit and resolve to get over the line.”