Conor McKenna: 'That wasn’t as good as we could be'

The former AFL star readily acknowledges they are only in year one with Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher - he is expecting a lot more from the group in the coming seasons

Tyrone's Conor McKenna and Brian Kennedy celebrate with the Sam Maguire. Picture: INPHO/Tommy Dickson

Conor McKenna has warned Tyrone are only playing at 60% to 70% of their capacity.

The former AFL star readily acknowledges they are only in year one with Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher. However, he is expecting a lot more from the group in the coming seasons after capturing the county’s first All-Ireland SFC title in 13 years.

“We knew that wasn’t as good as we could be,” he said of the winning performance over Mayo. “I still don’t believe we’re as good as we can be. I think we’re operating at 60-70%. We made a lot of mistakes throughout the Kerry game and today.

“But we’ve only been a year with the new management and we still haven’t probably clicked fully. So there’s a lot more improvement to come from us. So that’s really the goal now. We’ll enjoy this for the next couple of weeks, and get back at it next year.”

McKenna revealed the pain of missing out on the 2018 All-Ireland final was a primary reason why he returned from Australia to line out for his county.

With Essendon at the time, he looked on with regret as several of his friends and former under-age team-mates lost out to Dublin.

To be part of a winning side three years later has more than compensated for his previous absence. “Watching that in 2018 I really had a sick feeling in my stomach. If they had to have won, I would have been happy for them obviously but very disappointed for myself so I came home and it's probably perfect timing it still really hasn’t sunk in now that final whistle going, winning an All-Ireland... it’s madness.”

After impressing upon his return in the final league games of 2020, the 25-year-old concedes he didn’t hit the heights this season. “I haven’t been good this year at all. I have done bits and pieces but I haven’t been. Even today I wasn’t good, so there’s plenty to work on for myself.

“But it’s not about me, it’s about the team. The best teams never stop learning and getting better. That’s how they keep winning, so that’s what the goal is, just to keep improving for every player.

“There’s players there not even making the squad that could be starting in that team, and if they were starting you wouldn’t be shocked. You have seen Feargal and Brian giving boys chances, and the team has changed that much, you don’t know who is going to play half the time.”