Tyrone’s Sean Cavanagh
MICKEY Harte rightly receives regular praise for his attitude towards the Dr McKenna Cup, and with good reason. Saturday’s final against Derry in Armagh will be the county’s ninth since he took charge in 2003 – and they have won every one of those.
But also worthy of extreme praise is team leader Sean Cavanagh. While many other established players like to take a backseat for the January competition, the Moy man relishes being in the heart of the action.
Big names may line out for other counties, but may only operate in second gear. Cavanagh, however, has played in seven of their eight finals under Harte and has scored 2-14 in the process.
Cavanagh believes that giving your all in January can pay dividends further down the line.
“Derry under Damien Barton have come out as a different force in 2016. They perhaps should have beaten us that day up in Owenbeg so next Saturday evening is going to be a big game for both sides,” he said.
“But that’s what you want. At this time of year you are looking for competitive games and we know that is what we are going to get.
“It’s mission accomplished in terms of getting a fifth match in the McKenna Cup and everyone is getting plenty of game time. It’s giving everyone a chance to stake their claim for a place in the team.”
That earlier meeting in the group stages was an extremely entertaining affair with the Red Hands overturning a nine-point deficit to record a 1-16 to 4-6 victory.
Since then, Derry have responded with wins over Queen’s and Cavan, in the semi-final, to secure their place in the final. Cavanagh believes that a Breffni county win may have led to a less competitive final.
“It was never going to be ideal either way I suppose because even if we had Cavan in the final this Saturday, we are due to play them in the first round of the League a week later anyway,” he said.
“In fairness if it had been Cavan there might have been a bit of shadow boxing going on for that reason, so at least that won’t be the case now.”
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