Niall Sludden says Tyrone proved a lot to themselves during Saturday night's battling draw with Dublin.

Sludden delivered a Man of the Match display as the Red Hands looked set to break the hosts' amazing unbeaten run with a dogged display, but ultimately the 50th-minute dismissal of Mark Bradley was the turning point and - in the face of the inevitable Dubs onslaught - the Ulster champions surrendered a five-point lead in the last quarter:

"It's something to build upon. It shows us that we can challenge the top four, the Gaelic elite as they say. Hopefully it gives us a bit of self belief," the Dromore clubman notes in The Irish News. "We had a few boys missing there, we've a few coming back, so competition should be fierce in the squad.

"We were quite timid last year against Mayo and we kind of sat back a lot. Defensively [against Dublin], especially in the first half, we were quite solid. Offensively we've got a bit of work to do and continue to improve. But it's a work in progress and it's still only February.

"In the second half when we started running the ball, we were creating a lot of overlaps and coming through the middle, especially for the goal.

"We just have to get back to work on the training field, at our score-taking and ball retention. When we got turned over, they came up the field and punished us with a couple of scores. Those are the scores that killed us really."

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