Eoin hopes for a ‘Long’ run this summer

By Barry O’Donnell

TYRONE will hope to make it two wins out of two in the Ulster Minor Championship when Cavan are the visitors to O’Neills Healy Park this Saturday afternoon.

The Red Hands recorded a facile 2-19 to 0-3 victory over Fermanagh at the same venue last time out and will go into this encounter as warm favourites having beaten the same opponents in the Ulster Minor league semi final on their way to the silverware.

Full forward Eoin Long hit 1-5 against the Erne lads in the opening round but he knows that they will have to improve further on their shooting this weekend.

“We had a good campaign during the league and it was great to win it but all’s focused on the Championship now and we are well aware that we have a target on our backs now,” said Eoin.

“We know that we have to be at our best every day that we go out as all teams will be looking to beat you even more now. Training has been going very well this past couple of weeks and we have no injury concerns with every player in the squad itching to get going.”

Even though Tyrone cruised across the finish line against Fermanagh the Cookstown lad still thinks they need to brush up on their finishing skills.

“We put up a good tally against Fermanagh in a game we always looked like winning but having said that we also missed a lot of chances that day and took the wrong decisions at times so that is something that we have been working on since. It doesn’t matter who scores, we have emphasised that all year, as long as the team scores.

“We need to improve on that as against better teams you won’t get as many chances so we need to make the most of any opportunities that come our way. As the Championship goes on the tests are going to get a lot tougher beginning with Cavan this weekend.”

Tyrone beat Cavan in that Ulster League semi final 4-10 to 0-11 but it was a scoreline that perhaps flattered them on the day with two late goals putting a bit of gloss on the victory. Since then the Breffni lads had a good win in the championship against Derry and Eoin and his teammates certainly won’t be taking them for granted.

“They had a good win against Derry in the championship so they travel to Omagh in good form and they will be confident that they can beat us,” he stated.

“I don’t think that we will have half the chances that we had against Fermanagh so we need to get our percentages up. They are well set up defensively and we have to be patient and not rush our shots.

“We need to work the ball through the hands and make sure that the player in the best position gets the pass. If we play to our true potential we are a good side and our aim is to go out and do just that.

“ It’s an advantage having the game in Omagh but that won’t win it for us we have to go out and play. Cavan will be up for it after we beat them in the league semi final and they will be looking revenge. I have no doubt that they will throw everything at us from the first whistle and we are going to have to deal with that and play our own game.”