Brian Dooher says his Tyrone squad have done everything asked of them since the shock Ulster Championship defeat by Derry.
The All-Ireland champions go into the lion’s den on Sunday to face Armagh in a first round qualifier with the loser exiting the Championship.
Armagh lost out to Donegal in the Ulster quarter-final and Dooher reckons that they didn’t reach their potential.
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Tyrone have never managed to defend the All-Ireland before, with this their fourth attempt.
But with the Qualifiers now just two rounds, Dooher, Feargal Logan and their players are just five wins away from making history and retaining the Sam Maguire.
They also know that they’d hit Croke Park for an All-Ireland quarter-final with serious momentum, facing a provincial champion lying idle for four weeks, who could be caught cold.
For now though, all Dooher is focused on is Armagh.
“It will be a real tough battle,” he said. “We have played Armagh a couple of times this year already. They had the upper hand on us in the McKenna Cup and in the League.
“They’re a good team. They were one of the best teams in the National League.
“They had some great results, against Dublin and ourselves. We’re going to have a fair battle. There’s no doubt about it.”
Dooher continued: “They (Armagh) didn’t perform to the potential that they have. It was like ourselves and Derry, when we didn’t perform at all.
“I don’t think they performed anywhere near their potential against Donegal.
“You have to give some credit to Donegal for that, but for whatever reason, I don’t think they played to their utmost.
“I’m sure they’ll sit back and look at that and take learning from it, get re-focused and ready for us.
“This is a winner-takes-all game. Whoever loses this is gone, and that’s the long and the short of it.
“There are big stakes here. The thing is over if you’re out, and that’s where we are.”
Tyrone were hit with two red cards against Derry and also had one in the preliminary round victory over Fermanagh.
Throw in four reds against Armagh after the Division One melee at the Athletic Grounds, another against Dublin, and it’s clearly an area they have to work on.
“You don’t go out with the intention of getting boys sent off,” said Dooher.
“The players themselves will be far from happy, never mind ourselves, but it is what it is. We have moved on.
“We had a harsh lesson, unfortunately and you hope you have learned from it.
“We have had too many in the year — you can’t argue with that — more than you would like.”
Dooher reckons Tyrone didn’t bring the hard graft required in their 11-point defeat by Derry, who went on to win the Ulster Championship.
He said: “If you don’t bring your work rate and intensity to the game, you’re always going to struggle.
“Derry worked a lot harder than us. They were more intense. They really wanted the game a lot more, and that showed.
“You have to earn the right to play football, and that’s through hard work, and we just didn’t work hard enough I thought - and most of our players would agree with that.
“It’s disappointing to be beat. We have dusted ourselves down, got back training again. We’ll see where we are.”
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