Free-scoring Tyrone have Jim Gavin on red alert
Jim Gavin’s arithmetic is sharp. Either that or his advice is solid.
Having just been told of the Tyrone result beforehand, he was able to fashion their combined total against Roscommon and Laois the week before as a reason for Dublin to tread carefully in Healy Park next Saturday.
Tyrone have found the net seven times in their last two outings compared to Dublin who have managed less than half that figure — three.
“The next day, which we have against Tyrone, that won’t be good enough seeing the lads two games after today’s result, 7-44 they have put up in two games,” Gavin remarked.
“We will need to be putting up scores at the other end. That gives us something to reflect upon, it won’t be good enough to reflect upon.”
He added: “It was just one of those days. I suppose the positive you can take is we kept our composure and we kept trying to work a score. That is all you can expect from them and we created a lot of chances in the game, just up in Omagh we have to try to convert them.”
Gavin appreciates Tyrone are aiming to make up for last year’s All-Ireland semi-final.
“It’s a fantastic game, a fantastic opportunity to go to Omagh. We’ve always got a really warm welcome from the Tyrone people. The games have been really competitive for the last couple of seasons and we expect this will be nothing less.
“Obviously, we met this time last year. I know Tyrone were disappointed with their performance and I’m sure they’ll look to right that next Saturday. They are putting up big big scores now — 7-44 is an impressive tally in two games no matter what. And it’s in championship above all things. It’s going to be a cracking game.”
Gavin will have defender John Small available for selection after Dublin’s argument that he made contact with the ball before the head of Evan O’Carroll in the Leinster final was not enough to sway the Central Hearings Committee.
The manager had expected Small’s proposed one-match ban would be overturned. “Yeah. As I said, he hit the ball. He hit the ball first, we gave conclusive evidence that the ball was struck first and it was just an accidental hit, these things happen in a contact sport so, yeah, very disappointed with that one.”
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