Harrison fit for Tyrone

Harrison fit for Tyrone

5 July 2017

DOWN have received a massive boost with the news that Connaire Harrison will be fit to face Tyrone in the Ulster Senior Football Championship final.

The talismanic Glasdrumman forward, who was forced to leave the pitch with a suspected hamstring injury during the Ulster SFC semi-final against Monaghan, was walking about at Monday night’s ‘meet and greet’ event at Pairc Tomas Ruiseil in Downpatrick.

Down manager Eamonn Burns confirmed that Harrison would be okay to face the Red Hands.

“Connaire should be fine,” Burns said. We trained at the weekend and he did a full session so he should be ready.”

However, there wasn’t such good news on fellow forward Barry O’Hagan, from Clonduff, who injured a shoulder in a club game against Kilcoo.

“Barry O’Hagan’s out,” Burns confirmed. He’s going to see a specialist and he’ll definitely not be available for the final.”

Asked if he could miss the rest of the Championship, the Down boss responded: “Could be. We’re waiting on the reports, we don’t know. It could be rehab or it could require an operation.”

The manager was speaking at Monday’s night event in Downpatrick which was attended by hundreds of fans eager to see the Down players, who face Tyrone in the Clones showpiece on Sunday, July 16.

Burns played down comments that Down were overly physical in their victory over Monaghan.

Burns was adamant that his side are a footballing outfit first and foremost.

“I think a lot of it is over-hyped. I’m not going to comment on the individuals, but they were saying things that really weren’t there,” he said.

“Our tactics are to play football at all times. Play it as hard as you want, but as long as you play within the rules you’ll stay on the field, and I’ve always emphasised that.

“We like to play football, but we know you have to be tough at it too. A lot of it comes from their will to win the game. I don’t think we’ve ever overstepped the mark in that respect.

“You’ve often heard it said that Down have a certain way to play and we do. I’ve made no bones about it that the defensive shield is not really something in our DNA and we find it very difficult to set it up, but we know if we are to make progress then we have to do it.

“We have to implement it but I wouldn’t be giving them set rules as such. They’re allowed to go out and express themselves. There is no shackle put on them but they know defensively they have to close the door and you have to keep the defence tight.”

Few pundits predicted Down would be bidding for an Ulster title, but the fact that they are is down to Burns.

His innovative tactics against Armagh and then Monaghan have been a breath of fresh air and he is not in the least surprised by his side’s performances.

“The Armagh game could have gone the other way. We toughed it out and kept ourselves ahead and gave ourselves a cushion to win the game. The experienced players pushed us on when we needed it,” he continued.

“Again, against Monaghan we got a good start to the second half which gave us a cushion. There were periods where we didn’t score and missed a lot of chances and if we had taken our chances then it probably would have been easier at the end.

“We’ll prepare properly for Tyrone and hopefully our plans will be carried through and we will see where we are from there.”