Former Tyrone ace Ronan O’Neill says Kieran Donnelly’s knowledge of the Red Hands should help Fermanagh be competitive on Saturday, but he ultimately expects the All-Ireland champions to prevail.
The current Erne County boss is a teacher at Omagh CBS and, like O’Neill, several past and present Tyrone players played MacRory Cup football under Donnelly’s guidance including the likes of Peter Harte, Conor Meyler and Niall Sludden.
Harte, however, looks set to miss the Ulster SFC opener in Brewster Park after having his appendix removed recently, while the versatile Mattie Donnelly has been ruled out with a hamstring injury.
Read more: Former Erne star Shane McCabe says Fermanagh must believe they can beat Tyrone
O’Neill still expects his native county to have enough in reserve to pull away from Fermanagh in the closing stages of Saturday’s preliminary round tie.
“KD (Kieran Donnelly) is a very thorough coach and manager and is a former teacher of mine,” said O’Neill.
“He is a very astute coach and he knows a lot about the game - he has been around a long time and been around successful teams.
“He has probably coached the majority of the players who are going to be playing on Saturday night. He’ll definitely have a plan for Fermanagh to thwart Tyrone. I’m sure the boys will know that too and, vice-versa, they’ll know what Kieran will bring to the table for Fermanagh.
“It will probably make for an interesting battle for 40 or 45 minutes I’d say - I would like to think Tyrone will pull away towards the end.”
O’Neill retired from county duty after 10 years following Tyrone’s All-Ireland triumph and the six players who stepped away subsequently has generated plenty of debate about Tyrone’s ability to retain their Ulster and All-Ireland crowns.
Paul Donaghy was the latest player to exit the panel after the League campaign while the likes of Mark Bradley, Tiernan McCann and Lee Brennan are no longer available to joint-managers Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher.
Should Tyrone successfully navigate Saturday’s first hurdle against Fermanagh, they would face Derry in the quarter-finals.
O’Neill still thinks it would take “a damn good team” to defeat Tyrone this season and believes they’ll make the All-Ireland semi-finals at the very least.
“They still have 16 or 17 of the players that were constantly playing last year that won an All-Ireland,” said O’Neill.
“Those boys have another year under their belt.
“They got through a League campaign where people thought it was quite poor by their own standards, but they still ended up with the same points as Armagh, who people thought had a great League campaign. You have to take that into context as well.
“I do still think they’ll definitely reach an All-Ireland semi-final, All-Ireland final and it will take a damn good team to beat them
“Players have got another year under their belt and they’re playing with more confidence.
“Once they get into the swing of things - of playing with each other in Championship football.
“Championship is a different ball game to League football. It will definitely take a very good team to beat them.”
There had been speculation that Tyrone might call up a few of their U20s to the senior ranks following the departure of the seven players from last year’s panel.
However, those plans are on hold for now as the Red Hands prepare to take on Cavan in next Friday’s provincial decider, which will also be played in Brewster Park (8pm).
O’Neill name-checked Ruairi Canavan and Michael McGleenan as two players who could be drafted into the senior squad following the conclusion of the U20 Championship, but he has called on several of the current squad to step up and generate the level of competition for places which helped Tyrone’s claim Gaelic football’s ultimate prize last season.
I do expect Michael O’Neill to come back in to play this weekend. If not this weekend, then definitely the next,” added the Omagh St Enda’s clubman.
“That obviously creates a spot for someone to come into the bench. Out of the pack, you’re looking at Michael Conroy or Liam Rafferty. Richie Donnelly has been performing well coming off the bench for the last 25 or 30 minutes in games.
“We haven’t seen Emmet McNab yet. I know he has been injured from Dromore’s Championship team. You are looking for those boys to step up and contribute the way Cathal (McShane) and Darragh (Canavan) came off the bench last year.”
Read more: Brian Dooher says Tyrone are ready to give Ferm defence of All-Ireland crown
Read more: Derry’s Championship hopes hit as Ciaran McFaul exits panel
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