Mickey Harte says Tyrone will be going all out to win their fourth consecutive Dr McKenna cup in January.

Speaking at last night's launch of the Ulster pre-season football competition, which the Red Hands have won an incredible seven times under Harte's watch, the long-serving manager said: "It will be the same approach, that doesn't change.

"The National League starts before the month of January is even out. We are out on January 31.

"If you are not prepared for that then you are going to come up short. As much as you want to win the competition, you want to be in it as long as possible.

"We want competitive matches and it is the only place we will get them. We put a lot of effort into getting into the knockout stages all the while. It's happened most years for us and we hope to get to the knockout stages."

Harte admitted that Tyrone's early championship exit this year was a major disappointment for all concerned.

"Some people say you have to go out and prove people wrong, but I think we need to prove to ourselves that we are good enough to compete at the top level," he continued.

"I am not doing this to shut anybody up. The challenge for us is: let's get better.

"The rub of the green could have made a big difference to things. We could have got something out of the Monaghan game and that could have changed the course of the whole season.

"I'd say if Mattie Donnelly hadn't been sent off against Armagh, although we didn't play particularly well, it might have made a huge difference. We might have been able to hang in there - and look at what Armagh's season turned into."

Tweet

Most Read Stories