Tyrone reward as pack shuffled

THEIR critics smelled blood when Tyrone were tasked with last Saturday’s trip to Pearse Park but Mickey Harte’s side impressed in a cut and thrust encounter against a game Longford side to resuscitate their All-Ireland ambitions.

The accepted wisdom was that this was a side in decline, one that Harte was stubbornly allowing to grow old since the last of their three September successes in 2008, but there were clear signs of regeneration in the midlands.

The Tyrone manager made five changes to his stated line-up, only two of them due to injuries. The men ushered in were no babes in the woods but they were new enough and young enough to suggest a break with tradition.