Oisin McConville says Tyrone can gain belief from their display in Saturday’s narrow Super 16s defeat by a Galway team that he believes will win this year’s All-Ireland Football title.
“I thought there was a lot in that [Tyrone] performance,” McConville told BBC Sport NI’s, The GAA Social Extra.
Tyrone had Frank Burns sent off in the first half while Niall Morgan was black carded in their 0-16 to 0-13 defeat.
“Things went against them but they coped admirably with the adversity.”
Burns was shown a straight red card on 19 minutes after his shoulder connected with Jack Glynn’s and while former Armagh star McConville believes it was a red card, he feels the Tyrone did not deliberately set out to injury the Galway player, who did not return to the field after half-time.
“Frank Burns’ reaction will tell you everything about it. He just turned into the tackle. I do agree it was a sending-off offence but it’s total mistimed.
“It was accidental. There’s absolutely no doubt about that but it’s still a red card because the duty of care for the opponent is with you.”
‘Galway as dogged as anyone now’
Tyrone will have a weekend off before their next round-robin game against Armagh at Omagh on 3/4 June before completing their Group Two campaign with a contest against Westmeath two weeks later.
While Galway had to graft to hold off the 14-man Red Hands, McConville believes their performance augurs very well for their chances of improving on 2022, when they were edged out by a David Clifford-inspired Kerry in the All-Ireland decider.
“Galway are as dogged as anyone now and that’s been the big difference to the last two years.
“The ammunition which they have off the bench is significantly better than it was last year. They’ve definitely added three or four players.
“I think Galway have an unbelievable chance of winning the All-Ireland. I think Galway are going to win the All-Ireland.
“They always had the footballers and the ability to turn it on. They’ve always had those mavericks within the team who can win you a game but I don’t think I’ve seen the level of everybody chipping in, everybody willing to put in a shift that they have now.
“That’s the biggest compliment that you can give to Padraic Joyce.”
McConville added that Mayo were “full value” for their 1-19 to 0-17 victory over the All-Ireland champions, who suffered the county’s first home championship defeated since 1995, and the 2002 All-Ireland winner was surprised by the Kingdom’s tactics in the Killarney game.
“Mayo should have won by a bit more. David Clifford on his own more or less kept Kerry in it.
“Kerry just completely changed the way they played at the weekend. The sweeper was so much more advanced than he normally is and they didn’t seem to have much protection.
“But it was brilliant win for Mayo. They looked full of energy. They looked like a team that was really, really fresh. But that’s making excuses for Kerry. It’s not as if they were put to the pin of their collar in Munster.”
Donegal ‘exceptional’ in Ennis second half
McConville also told the BBC Sport NI GAA podcast that he was impressed by Donegal’s second-half display as they overcame Clare 0-14 to 0-9 in Ennis to boost their morale following their relegation from Division One of the League and defeat by Division Three Down in the Ulster Championship.
“I’m going to start on a negative for Donegal. The first-half performance was absolutely shocking but I don’t know what Aidan O’Rourke and Paddy [Bradley] said to them at half-time but in the second half, they looked back to a little bit you would expect of them.
“They got some brilliant scores. They got their scorers on the ball.
“It was by no means perfect but from where they were in that game and where they have been and the negativity around the camp and from people outside the camp, that took some guts, some heart but it also took a hell of a lot of footballing ability.
“I don’t think they have the players they had but in the last 40 minutes of that game, they were exceptional.”