Dooher beating his demons

BRIAN DOOHER has admitted there were times when he doubted whether he would make it back for a 15th season with Tyrone.

The double All-Ireland winning skipper, who will soon turn 35, spent the winter fighting the injury demons, and rehabilitation ruled him out of the National Football League. But dedication and an almost superhuman determination ensured that he returned to lead the Red Hands out for the Ulster Championship opener against Antrim.

And as he prepares to take a remarkable career a step further this weekend when the provincial champions take on Down, Dooher is just grateful he will be stepping on to the team bus prior to departure for Casement Park.

“You always have doubts,” said the Clan na nGael man, who paid tribute to the medics within the Tyronecamp who helped him through the difficult times, the darker days when injury threatened to win the battle.

“We have a very good medical team here, and they did a lot of work for me, and thankfully it has turned out all right now. Hopefully I can get a bit of fitness gathered up.”

Old friends with whom he has trained and played for more than a decade also made it difficult for him to walk away, convincing the great man that he must give it at least one more shot.

“I’m lucky to be part of a good bunch of lads here. You want to play football along with them, and if you didn’t enjoy it, you wouldn’t be there. That’s first and foremost the reason.”

Dooher believes it’s more important than ever in 2010 to remain in mainstream championship action, given the line-up of big-name teams in the Qualifiers.

“It’s not a nice place to be at the minute, with a lot of big hitters put into it. You could be lucky, you could get a favourable draw, but you could be unlucky as well and you could get a very tough draw which could shorten your summer. So our aim is to get to an Ulster final. We’ll give it our best shot and see where it takes us.”

But Down will be aiming to target the frailties that contributed to a disastrous NFL campaign which ended in Tyrone’s relegation to Division Two.

“The league wasn’t good. To be honest it’s not nice being relegated, but it’s done, we can’t do much about it. We just move on and draw a line in the sand there.

“So anything was a bonus after that. We got a win against Antrim, and we were probably lucky enough to hold on at the end. They could have got another goal.

“But we’re there, we’re in the semi-final now against Down, we have got our work cut out for us. They’re going well, they’re fairly organised and very fit, and they mean business this year.”

Dooher got 55 minutes of football under his belt against the Saffrons, but insists he is still a long way off full-match fitness.

“That was one game, but I have a bit of work to do yet. We all have a bit of work to do yet before the next round.

“Every match is beneficial to you, beneficial to everybody, and hopefully it will stand us in good stead.

“But we have more work to do to begin to compete with Down after their performance with Donegal. You must remember that they went to extra-time, so that will be of great benefit to them as well.”

Meanwhile it has emerged that midfielder Barry Cullinane has been dropped from the Galway squad along with three other experienced players – but boss Joe Kernan insists the door is open for them to return.

Cullinane, who played at midfield in the unconvincing 2-13 to 0-12 first-round win over New York, was the biggest name to be culled as Kernan reduced his squad to 30 ahead of Sunday week’s Connacht semi-final clash against Sligo.

Versatile defender Niall Coyne and attacker Damien Dunleavy – who, along with Cullinane, were members of the Galway team which won the 2005 U-21 All-Ireland – were also dropped, along with sub goalkeeper Paul Doherty.

Kernan said: “The lads are going back to their clubs and the door is not closed on anyone. Some of them are just coming back from injury and we will be keeping a close eye on them.”

Milltown’s Diarmuid Blake, Damien Burke and Matt Clancy are all carrying knocks too and their availability for team selection is a cause of concern for Joe Kernan.

On the hurling front, experienced forward Damien Hayes and newcomer Aidan Harte – who formed the right flank of the Galway attack against Wexford – are both in a race against time to be fit for Sunday’s Leinster semi-final against Offaly. If the pair are not fit, then Galway will be without half of the attack that started against Wexford as wing-forward Andy Smith is suspended for Sunday’s game, having received a red card in the second half of the Nowlan Park clash.

Former All-Star Hayes is troubled by a knee injury and was unable to play in a training match at the weekend but he is making progress and could yet return.