Conor Meyler reckons Tyrone and Derry can both benefit from the fierce rivalry between the two counties.
Saturday's fractious McKenna Cup final was the third meeting already this year of the bordering counties and there are at least two more to come between league and championship before the season is out. Meyler, who came on at half time at the weekend and earned the Man of the Match award, believes the arch rivals will drive each other on:
"We need Derry and Derry need us to push each other on," he told The Irish News. "We're in Division Two of the national league this year, so we're going to be playing Derry again. We need them to push us on, so that when we play the other teams, we know what the intensity is like.
"You can only learn so much from training, but you need matches and you need matches against really good teams, and Derry is a fantastic team.
"At the end of the day, nothing beats playing football. There's only so much training you can do, and at the end of the day you need games to progress, and you need really tough games.
"We got a couple of tough games through the McKenna Cup, and in time, it's something that's going to stand to us, and it's going to stand to Derry.
"At the minute the squad is really tight, and I'm just happy to get a bit of game time, and try and prove another point to Mickey [Harte], just to try and make the panel, because at the minute, the competition for places is serious."
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