By Niall Gartland

A MINI-CHAMPIONSHIP of sorts gets underway in Tyrone’s eagerly anticipated Division One clash against Dublin at O’Neill’s Healy Park this Sunday.

The Red Hands have three massive games remaining to ensure their survival in the top flight for another year (Mayo and Kerry are next in the pipeline, so it’s fair to say it’s no easy run-in).

Tyrone will be disappointed that they slipped up against Donegal a fortnight ago, while the departure of Lee Brennan is something of a blow, but the Dubs have more severe problems and are the only team in the country yet to pick up a single point from their league games to date.

Brennan is the sixth Tyrone player to step aside since the turn of the year, so it’s become something of a theme at this stage, and former Dublin star Philly McMahon admits that it’s disquieting from a Red Hand perspective.

McMahon, who won eight All-Ireland medals in a glittering career, said: “It would be a concern. Any time a young person doesn’t want to play intercounty football, it’s going to raise questions, from a sporting perspective, and the perspective of the management and the group.

“When we won our first All-Ireland, we didn’t feel there was a hangover and we wanted to go again, but we realised in 2012 that we weren’t at the levels we should’ve been.

“I see a bit of that in Tyrone at the moment, but there are signs they’re starting to grow into the season.

“They have started off slow, and it’s worrying that the wheels are wobbling a little bit. From their perspective it is worrying that players have left, and you wonder if it’s because they simply have other commitments, or is it because of team selection, or the pressure of being All-Ireland champions.

“I just don’t know but I don’t think we had the same losses for Dublin, I don’t remember us ever losing a lot of players after winning the All-Ireland.”

As for his assessment of how the game will go, McMahon thinks it’s a great opportunity for Dublin to get back on track after four defeats on the trot. At the same time, Tyrone will relish the chance to rub salt in the Dublin wounds.

“Every game we’ve played this year has had something so intriguing about it, and this game is the exact same.

“There’s a narrative of whether Tyrone will dig the knife in a bit deeper and potentially push Dublin further into a relegation battle.

“But Dublin can also say this is the time to turn things around – what better way to do so than going up to Omagh to play last year’s All-Ireland champions.

“There’s a really good energy about this game – about who’s going to win, who’s going to perform, and I think the extra week’s break will have done both sides a lot of good.”