Harte: Derry game "could take on a life of its own"

May 23, 2017

Tyrone's Peter Harte.
©INPHO/Cathal Noonan.

Peter Harte says Tyrone can't afford to take anything for granted when they lock horns with neighbours Derry in Celtic Park on Sunday.

The Red Hands are favourites to progress to an Ulster semi-final, having played in Division One this Spring and having easily accounted for the Oak Leafers at the same venue twelve months ago. However, the influential Harte points out that anything can happen and that "Derry are always dangerous":

"Every year is different. No two years in the Ulster championship are alike, no two years in any championship are alike," he notes in The Irish News. "No two matches are alike, and the match could take on a life of its own. Parts of it will be similar, bur as for the game itself, I have never played somebody twice and it's gone the same way

"Derry are always dangerous. Derry have as good footballers as anybody. You just have to look at what Slaughtneil did, and they were very unlucky not to win an All-Ireland club title. They're good footballers, and a first-round championship game in Celtic Park is a one-off game. We'll be very focused going in there to get the performance right.

"Last year was great, but it's over now. That was 2016, this is a brand new season, as you saw from the league, teams have already changed a bit, new personnel, new styles of play. We'll just be hoping to do our best in 2017, and look no further than Derry in Celtic Park."


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