Tyrone manager Mickey Harte says his side were made to come through a dogged contest with Cavan in Omagh this afternoon.

The hotly-fancied hosts edged a tight affair by 0-10 to 0-8 against the Breffni men and afterwards Harte admitted that the opposition was very hard to break down in dour conditions.

"Cavan have been playing this way for a number of years now and they are growing in confidence with this style of play. They know what they're doing, they know how to work collectively," Harte told The Irish Times.

"It is very difficult to break them down because when you break one line there's another line coming at you. As good defensive units do, they don't let the man, if he gets through the first line he doesn't get through the second or third line, they make him shoot under pressure or recycle the ball."

The Red Hands boss felt the downside to his team's display came in the return they had up front.

"We probably weren't clinical enough with the chances we got," he stated. "The big thing is, and we've been talking about this for a while now, is that our return from free kicks is not of the standard that it needs to be to be the top level so that's something we have to really work on."

As for Harte's opposite number today, Terry Hyland says he envisages Division Two as being a "dogfight" for most of its teams.

"It's going to be a dogfight-type league I suppose. That's' the way it is, I can't see any of the rest of them being any different," said the Breffni boss.

"It's not going to be an easy division, it's one of those tough divisions. I think it will be a case of probably seven or eight points promotion, five or six points relegation."

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