Mickey Harte furious over 'manhandling' of Conor McKenna

Conor McKenna of Tyrone following the Ulster SFC loss to Donegal. Picture: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

Tyrone boss Mickey Harte claimed Conor McKenna was “manhandled’ by Donegal’s defenders at MacCumhaill Park.

The three-time All-Ireland winning manager felt his side didn’t get anything near the rub of the green both before and during the game and ended up on the wrong side of the 1-13 to 1-11 scoreline.

Donegal, on the face of it, seemed the handle the 24-year-old well, conceding one-pointed free, with Neil McGee initially assigned with the responsibility before Paul Brennan in the second half.

Harte didn’t agree when asked was the AFL returnee “well-marshalled”.

He said: “If you were watching what was happening in the first half there, I don’t think that was marshalling. I think that was manhandling and I don’t think he got the correct protection he deserved from the officials. So, marshal, yeah, you can call it that. I would call it worse than that.” 

The Tyrone manager was also unhappy at having to face Donegal in Ballybofey, with the initial fixture penned in for May 17, before the postponement and switch to the old-fashioned straight knock-out championship.

“Since it became a knockout Championship there may have been a case for a redraw or at least a neutral venue,” he said. “It is a tough draw in any case but whenever you haven't got a backdoor it makes it tougher.

We are out of the Championship and all we asked our players was to give the best of ourselves and I can honestly say they did that. I think we played well enough to get a better result than we got.

Understandably, Declan Bonner, the Donegal manager, was in better tune considering the result, although refused to comment on the handling of McKenna.

“It was about rolling the sleeves up,” Bonner said. “You can have all the best tactics and top-class players, but there comes a time in Championship matches when you have to roll up the sleeves and really dig deep. Our lads did that today.”