McGinley will be fit, says Harte
A recurring hamstring strain forced McGinley to miss Tyrone’s quarter-final victory over Kildare, where the All-Ireland champions struggled to deal with the physical midfield power of Dermot Earley.
“We are hopeful that he (McGinley) will be okay,’’ Harte said. “He has had treatment on the injury. He didn’t do a lot at the weekend, but we are hoping that he will be able to do a full session by the end of the week. We are very optimistic at the minute.’’
The All-Ireland-winning manager was in buoyant form regarding the health of his camp.
At present, goalkeeper John Devine is the only player who has been ruled out of contention for the semi-final on August 23. Apart from Devine, Harte revealed he could enjoy the rare privilege of picking from a full complement of fit footballers.
“I think everyone is in with a fighting chance. Maybe for the first time in our lives we will have 34 or 35 available to us.”
Harte is acutely aware that he might need every card in his pack if he’s going to overcome a Cork side who pulverised Donegal. Although Tyrone and the Rebels haven’t met in a competitive encounter this year, Harte said that the memories from a League defeat in 2007 are still very fresh.
“It was only a couple of years ago that they gave us a bit of a roasting in Páirc Uí Rinn,’’ he said. “We know what they are capable of. I wouldn’t say that we are in the dark. I would say that we are very well aware of what we will face against Cork.”
Harte was also keen to stress that he wasn’t ignoring the threat carried by new players like Colm O’Neill and Paul Kerrigan, who didn’t feature in that League defeat two years ago.
“I think we have met many good players. Cork are like many others. They have good talent coming through, but I would like to think that our experience over the years allows us to factor in how these people will make their contribution,” said Harte.
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