TWO WEEKS AFTER Covid robbed Dublin of four players for their Leinster hurling final, Tyrone lifted the Ulster football crown despite the absence of several key men.

A Covid related issue in the camp meant joint-manager Feargal Logan couldn’t travel with the team, while they were also without Frank Burns, Rory Brennan, Tiernan McCann and Richard Donnelly.

It’s unclear if the absence of all four players was related to a Covid case, but regardless their preparations were rocked coming into their first Ulster final in four years.

“It’s well know we had a few men out with close contacts and one thing and another with Covid,” said joint-boss Dooher. 

“It was precautionary and we are taking no chances with it and taking advice from our medical team.

“It left us down a few players. That’s the environment we are in at the moment, you have a high level of Covid in the community and our people live in the community. They keep themselves to themselves as much as possible but there are risk factors out there. 

“We will go back to look at it next week, everybody is due back in on Tuesday.”

Tyrone were aware of the Covid issue early in the week according to Dooher, and the management team were in constant communication with Logan during the game. 

“To be honest the players manage it. You send them over the white line and they control the game. Thankfully we had a few leaders on there and they stood up.

“Things didn’t go their way but they kept digging away. They didn’t hide. Thankfully they came up with the scores at the end.

“It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t good but they done enough.”

After leading by 0-11 to 0-5 at the interval, Tyrone were off the pace after the turnaround. Their passing was sloppy and the bite went out of their tackling for a spell as Monaghan drew level 14 minutes after the restart.

To their credit Tyrone composed themselves and slowed down the pace of the game.

Peter Harte and Darren McCurry arrowed over key scores in the finale to guide them into a semi-final against Kerry. 

“I suppose relief, after that second half,” said Dooher of his emotions at the final whistle.

“Just glad to get out of here. There was a long period there, especially at the end of it the way Monaghan were coming at us, we struggled to contain them. We were just a bit disjointed ourselves.

“It was a tough second half but thankfully we were able to chip in with a few scores and that’s what got us through in the end up. 

“Monaghan to be fair to them came at us and pressed hard, with a lot more intensity. They asked hard questions of us. We didn’t start the second half with the same purpose and intensity as we had in the first.

“Any day that happens, you go on momentum and Monaghan had the momentum, they had their purple patch and they could chip in with a few scores and they probably should have had a few more scores.

“We are just glad to get through it, we have a lot to work on but I suppose we have the next two weeks to work on it anyway.”

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