Mickey Harte says his Tyrone side will be hoping for a tougher test when they meet Derry for the second time in the space of four weeks this Sunday.

Harte's men scored a comfortable 1-18 to 0-10 win over the Oak Leafers last month on route to the O Fiaich Cup final and while he acknowledged that both sides had experiment for the game in Crossmaglen, the three-time All-Ireland winner says he is unsure of what kind of team Damian Barton will field this weekend in Owenbeg.

"It depends what team Derry put out and it depends how seriously they take this next particular game," Harte told The Irish News.

"If they (Derry) put out their better side, the best players they have available to them, it's in their home ground this time, and I'm sure that they'll be smarting a bit from the fact that we beat them up in Crossmaglen," said Harte.

"So I think it will be quite competitive, and I expect it to be a much tougher game than we had in Crossmaglen as well."

Debutant Shane Heavron's two goals inspired Derry to a 4-16 to 2-12 win over Antrim in last Sunday's Dr McKenna Cup opener and Harte will be hoping his side can prevent the same from happening again Sunday.

"Clean sheets are important. We don't like conceding goals, and the linger we can go without conceding, then I think the more confidence it gives to the players," said Harte.

"It's something they want to protect, not conceding goals, and that's a challenge, because teams do create goal chances, and it's good as a unit to be able to guard against that."

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