McNamee In Race Against The Clock

Thursday 02.08.2018

 

Already without the services of Cathal McCarron, Tyrone may well have to line out in Ballybofey on Sunday without their next most experienced defender as Ronan McNamee is in a race against time to be ready.

 

McNamee, who hails from Aghyaran, right on the Donegal border, had to be replaced in the first half of Tyrone’s defeat by Dublin after sustaining a calf injury and he hasn’t trained since.

 

“Ronan’s injury is significant enough,” admits Harte.

 

“He didn’t train there at the weekend and the physios are working at him to try and reduce the swelling in the calf muscle and if that progresses as well as it has done in the last forty-eight hours then there is a good chance that he would be available but that’s not a certainly just yet.”

 

McCarron dislocated his knee in the early stages of Tyrone’s win over Roscommon and while it has ended his season Harte is optimistic that he will return next year again.

 

 

“It’s unfortunate that his injury has turned out to be a lot more serious than first anticipated,” said Harte.

 

“That’s life, he is devastated but he is very philosophical about it as well. This is where it’s at, you have to take whatever is coming, get it sorted out and roll up your sleeves and go at it again.

 

I think that it is good that he is thinking again about the future and not saying that this is a career ending injury and is just something that he has to deal with right now. So I think that is a positive that he is thinking and feeling that way but he obviously won’t be available to us for the rest of this season anyway.”

 

Its not all bad news on the injury front for the Red Hands though with Lee Brennan almost certain to see some game time at MacCumhaill Park. Brennan finished top scorer in D1 of the National league this season with 2-30 to his name and he hit 0-5 when Tyrone defeated Donegal at Omagh back in March.

 

After a recurrence of a hamstring injury in their opening round Ulster championship defeat at the hands of Monaghan he hadn’t featured in the match day squad until the Dublin game ten days ago.

 

“Its great to have another two weeks for Lee Brennan to be in a much better position than he was,” said Harte.

 

“Obviously getting over the injury and not having played much football was a high-risk factor, could he get anything out of the Dublin game so the way it turned out we felt that it wasn’t worth risking it again. He is in a much better position now to get game time.”

 

Tyrone edged past Donegal to win the 2016 Ulster title and last year they eased to victory in the semi final on their way to retaining the Anglo Celt Cup but both of those games were in Clones and its well documented that the Red Hands haven’t a good record in Ballybofey.

 

“We have met them in a few other places at different stages of the championship, in Ballybofey and in Clones at various stages, but we have never played a game of this significance and of this importance in their own back yard, so it is a serious challenge and a new challenge, and we’re going to have to be at our best to get the result we want,” said Harte.

 

“It is definitely bringing the rivalry of the recent past to a new level, and this is the most important game we will face off in in championship in my time, for sure, and probably well before that. It has caught the imagination of the general public.

 

From the off, it looked likely that both of us would be vying for the second place. Everybody expected Dublin to win this group, and we probably both believed that with the experience we had in Division One, we should both be fit for Roscommon, and it turned out that way.

 

So this was really the winner takes all game, and the fact that they have it at home, that’s the one benefit that they have got as well as being Ulster champions, so we have to deal with that.”