IT’S a case of win and hope for Tyrone when they welcome Dublin on Sunday in the final set of fixtures in the Allianz League Division 1.
Malachy O’Rourke’s team gave themselves a fighting chance of survival with a win over a much-changed Donegal in Letterkenny.
Although the make-up of this season’s top-flight means a team can go down with seven points.
Donegal, who already had eight in the bag, made 11 changes and manager Jim McGuinness wasn’t overly disappointed with his lot, despite it being suggested it was in their best interests not to win.
The Donegal boss, who team finish out against Mayo, said: “To stand in your own county with a full house and not try to win.
“I don’t want to be in that spot. I never want to be in that spot. I don’t tend to get involved in that stuff anymore.
“I did see one or two comments that that’s what we were trying to do. I don’t see how someone could put pen to paper and write that. They must know my thoughts.
“That is not what I was thinking. We want to get to a level and we want to manage the players who have played five games back-to-back.
“We want the healthiest, strongest, most robust squad for the Championship.”
Donegal are just three weeks out from the visit of Derry in the Ulster SFC preliminary round, and were best served by Jamie Brennan and Michael Murphy, who along with Odhran McFadden Ferry, started for his county for the first time in 33 months.
By the interval though, the stronger-on-paper Tyrone were stronger on the field and 0-12 to 0-7 in front, with Darragh Canavan kicking four first half points, with Ciaran Daly and Mark Bradley putting over two each.
Both enjoyed the spells in the second half, with goalkeeper Niall Morgan putting over two two-pointer frees.
While Donegal saw Caolan McColgan and Odhran Doherty fire over from outside the arc.
Tyrone had enough wherewithal to keep Donegal at arm’s length, although were thankful of the woodwork late on as Eoin McHugh hit the angle of post and crossbar having been fed beautifully by Murphy.
The Tyrone boss said: “Dublin will want to be in the League final and they’re playing very well.
“They have a lot of experienced players there, even though they’ve lost a few of their older players. They still have a lot of lads with All-Ireland medals in their back pockets.
“It will be a really good test for us and it’ll be a really good test for the Championship as well.
“We’re finding out more about the players every week, about the strengths and weaknesses in our team. We will find out more next week, that’s for sure.
Scorers for Donegal: Michael Murphy 0-4, 1f; Jamie Brennan 0-4; Caolan McColgan and Odhran Doherty 0-2, 2p; Ciaran Moore 0-2; Hugh McFadden, Kevin McGettigan, Finnbarr Roarty, Mark Curran, Eoin McHugh 0-1;
Scorers for Tyrone: Niall Morgan 0-5, 2x2pf; Darragh Canavan and Mark Bradley 0-4, 2f; Mattie Donnelly 0-3, Ciaran Daly 0-2; Peter Teague, Kieran McGeary, Peter Harte, Michael McKernan, Brian Kennedy, Seanie O’Donnell, Darren McCurry 0-1
Donegal: G Mulreany; M Curran, K McGettigan, P Mogan; O McFadden Ferry, F Roarty, C McColgan; H McFadden, D Mac Giolla Bhríde; J Brennan, J Mac Ceallabhuí, O Doherty; C McGuinness, M Murphy, N O’Donnell.
Subs: E McHugh for Mac Ceallabhui (half-time), C Moore for McColgan (48), K McGroddy for McGuinness (48), L McGlynn for Doherty (54), J Carlin for Murphy (63).
Tyrone: N Morgan; A Clarke, P Teague, N Devlin; M McKernan, R Brennan, J Oguz; B Kennedy, C Kilpatrick; M Donnelly, K McGeary, C Daly; P Harte, M Bradley, D Canavan. Subs: S O’Donnell for Oguz (48), C Quinn for McGeary (51), R Canavan for Harte (51), D McCurry for Bradley (57), S O’Hare for McKernan (67).
Referee: P Faloon (Down).
