Donegal are favoured but there are a few reasons to fancy Tyrone

Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter-final

Sunday, Ballybofey, 1.30pm

DONEGAL V TYRONE

BY NIALL GARTLAND

A KNOCK-OUT All-Ireland, just like the good old days, right?

That’s one way of looking at it, but in reality it means that either Tyrone or Donegal will crash out of the race for the All-Ireland in the opening weekend of the competition, which doesn’t seem particular fair or equitable but sure at least we’re getting a bit of Gah on the telly.

The smart money is on a Donegal victory, but tussles between the pairing have proven notoriously difficult to predict.

Who would have thought that Tyrone would absolutely demolish Donegal in a 2017 Ulster Championship semi-final?

Who would have wagered that Cathal McShane, who was in the form of his life, would exert almost zero influence in last year’s contest?

Who would have guessed that Lee Brennan would come off the bench and lead Tyrone to victory in the final round of the inaugural ‘Super Eights’ in 2018 and in doing so end Donegal’s 21-game unbeaten streak at Ballybofey?

And so on and so forth, because these two great rivals seem to meet on an annual basis in the championship (only a slight exaggeration; this is set to be their ninth meeting in the past 10 years).

The prevailing feeling going into this weekend’s match is that Tyrone will need to produce something special to book a semi-final spot, and for once, it’s their defence that is being flagged as the major area of concern.

When they met in the league two weeks ago, Peadar Mogan left three Tyrone defenders looking distinctly foolish when he sauntered through the middle for a fine individual goal.

It’s reasonable to argue that it wouldn’t have happened if Colm Cavanagh was still around to hold the sweeper position, and he isn’t the only notable absentee from last year’s meeting.

Padraig Hampsey, who’s been tasked with marking Michael Murphy in recent years, isn’t likely to play any part, while Rory Brennan is suspended after nudging referee Jerome Henry’s elbow in that league match a fortnight ago, which ended 2-17 to 2-13 in Donegal’s favour.

Another physically strong half-back, Michael Cassidy, is injured, so when you take it all into consideration, Tyrone are looking a bit light at the back at the moment.

With that in mind, Donegal will be quietly confident of putting their opponents on the back-foot from the word go on Sunday.

Ryan McHugh and Michael Murphy were sublime in their recent league encounter, and they’ve also had the benefit of a fortnight’s rest as they and a bunch of other starters didn’t travel for their match against Kerry at the weekend.

Niall O’Donnell and Ciaran Thompson have also been hugely influential in and around the middle third, though questions remain about the latter’s best position, and it’ll also be interesting to see if Paddy McBrearty, Michael Langan and Odhran McFadden-Ferry will recover from injury in time for Sunday. If they do, Donegal will have serious options on the bench if things aren’t going according to plan.

It’s also worth noting that Donegal have cleaned out Tyrone in the middle in their last couple of meetings.

Goalkeeper Niall Morgan went long against Mayo when he had the wind at his back in the first half of their relegation crunch match, and to great effect. One point came from a booming 50-yard pass with the outside of his foot, while Conor McKenna’s first goal came from a kickout that fell deep into enemy territory. Mayo’s naivety at the back has to be taken into consideration, however, and Tyrone haven’t really had a settled midfield partnership in recent years, albeit Brian Kennedy is starting to show what he can do at inter-county level.

The loss of Cathal McShane to long-term injury was a devastating blow to the Red Hands, but fans have been delighted with the progress of Conor McKenna, who’s returned to Ireland after six years playing in the AFL. He was fast-tracked into the starting line-up against Donegal a fortnight ago, and after an understandably shaky start, really started to motor in the second half when played as a target-man.

Donegal have some really sticky defenders in Stephen McMenamin and Neil McGee, but McKenna is a supreme physical specimen, has an eye for a goal, is courageous and can play pretty much anywhere. If they manage to stop him, it won’t be a one-man job.

It’ll also be interesting to see whether Darragh Canavan gets his first championship start after impressing in the first half against Mayo. While he’s still developing physically, he has all the potential in the world and Tyrone probably need him now that Connor McAliskey and Lee Brennan are out of the picture, while Mark Bradley hasn’t featured yet.

In saying that, McKenna’s performances have drawn serious attention on him – a viral video here, a viral video there – and that may be no bad thing for a young player like Canavan, while former All-Star winners Mattie Donnelly, Petey Harte and Ronan McNamee showed some good form against Mayo.

It’d be foolish to write Tyrone off in a knock-out match – one suspects in recent years they’ve paced themselves for the latter rounds of the championship – but it’s still hard to see past Donegal on this occasion. It’s just a shame there’s no second bite at the cherry for the losers, but that’s where we’re at.