Owen Mulligan has lamented Derry's demise ahead of Sunday's Ulster SFC preliminary round clash with Tyrone at Healy Park.

The three-time All-Ireland winning forward expects the Red Hands to comfortably win what was once one of the fiercest rivalries in Gaelic football.

"I fancy Tyrone. I fancy Tyrone will beat them strong, I do. I don't really see… Tyrone are way ahead of Derry at the minute, way ahead. Double scores I can see, no problem," the Paddy Power GAA ambassador said.

"It's not right. I know growing up and when I played, those games were brilliant. You need Tyrone and Derry to be at each other from the word go. You were marking (Seán Marty) Lockhart and Niall McCusker.

"I'm going seeing Tyrone and Derry playing there two years ago and they're shaking hands and laughing. If you're going to mark a man, you have to mark them like the old days, the way those boys would have marked us. It doesn't seem to be that way in Derry.

"The Tyrone-Derry games of years ago, you knew you were in a game. You were coming off and you were sore, good battles. There doesn't seem to be that rivalry anymore.

"Tyrone have gone way ahead and it's just another game.

"Will the ground even be stuffed? I don't know, because it's not a contest. Derry supporters don't even believe they're going to win and it's not right because of Tyrone's superiority."

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