Laois ready to test Tyrone mettle

PETER CANAVAN believes that Tyrone face a physical challenge in Sunday week’s Allianz National Football League final in Croke Park.

Outstanding once again in the impressive win over Fermanagh in the weekend semi-final, Canavan rates the Mick O’Dwyer managed Laois ‘a bigger’ team than the holders. From O’Dwyer’s perspective, Laois will be taking on a team with considerably more experience than his own.

“From what I saw of their game with Armagh in the second half, Laois were physically strong and full of running,’’ said Canavan. “And, knowing Mick O’Dwyer, he would have done a fair bit of training with them over the winter to have them in such good physical shape. I think they are a bigger team than Tyrone, from what I have seen.’’

Canavan agreed that the scoreline on Sunday was ‘somewhat flattering’ from their point of view, based on the amount of possession that Fermanagh managed to win in and around midfield. “We took our chances in the second half while they had a number of bad wides. I wouldn’t have said we were nine points a better team.’’

More pertinently, the Tyrone captain argues that qualification for a second consecutive final will not place them under additional pressure. “We know what it’s like to have won the League, so that it has no effect on the championship as such. From our point of view there are a lot of men getting chances to win places. Micky (Harte) has made a lot of changes since he took over. In a way it’s a new team. That’s the way we see it.

“The championship is still very much the aim. I don’t think we would be losing the run or ourselves because we have made it through to the final.’’

O’Dwyer is genuinely surprised to see Laois contesting the final, even though it was always a probability once they got into a winning sequence. “I was going to experiment quite a bit in the League, but as we experimented and were looking at players we were winning as well. We won a lot of games by a point, and there was an element of luck in that.

“It just snowballed after that and it went on and on. Before we knew where we were, we were in the final!’’

The team he has built includes a number of newcomers, among them Colm Byrne, who was the Under-21 full-back last year and Russ Munnelly, who impressed as a substitute on Sunday. More importantly, he persuaded former minor stars Damien Delaney and Colm Parkinson to re-join the team, which includes hurler Darren Rooney. Midfielders, Pauric Clancy and Noel Garvan, both in their early twenties, are on the evidence of recent form, both very good footballers.

Not surprisingly, O’Dwyer pointed to Canavan’s display as one of the features of Tyrone’s win. “He is as good as ever,’’ he commented. “And, young (Eoin) Mulligan in the corner looks a very good prospect.

“They are a good side. As a matter of fact early on in the League I said they were the team that could win it again. They are a team that a lot of people are expecting to win the All-Ireland. But, whether they can take it through to the championship is another thing!’’

Meanwhile, O’Dwyer says he ‘wouldn’t read anything’ into Wexford’s defeat at the hands of Limerick, noting that they only came back from Spain on Sunday and changed a lot of positions.

Westmeath manager Luke Dempsey isn’t surprised to see Limerick lining up against them in the Division Two final, commenting: “they are a fine team, in good form from last year’s championship. I forecast they would beat Wexford, not as comprehensively as they did. When we met them in Mullingar they came back at us very determinedly in the second half, hit a crossbar and had a goal disallowed. They were unlucky not to have at least got a draw.

“We’re looking forward to the final. It’s another chance to get Westmeath back into Croke Park, which every footballer aspires to playing. We weren’t there at all last week. You feel a great sense of achievement when you get the right to play there in a final. Limerick are a bit like us in that regard. When we beat Cork in the final two years ago it was our first national title ever and in that regard it gave us a great platform to launch our championship campaign. I’m sure Limerick will be looking at it in the same way.’’

Dempsey will have to plan without full-back David Mitchell, who requires surgery on the leg he broke in the semi-final against Longford. And, at this stage, the management haven’t decided on who they will play in his absence. “We’re going to have to try different options in training,’’ he added. “The break was so bad that a plate will have to be inserted. Unfortunately he will be out for a long time. He’s a huge loss, because he was back to his best. But, he is philosophical about it as I would be - in that it’s sport.’’