League glow wears off fast

PETER CANAVAN INTERVIEW: It wasn't quite a fall from grace, but Tyrone were clearly shaken after last Sunday's Ulster championship draw with Armagh. Team captain Peter Canavan accepts that their recent League title may have made Tyrone a bit soft, but it also allowed Armagh to get more homework done.

Things should be a little different for Sunday's replay, not that Canavan is suggesting Armagh blew their chance of causing the first great upset of the summer. "Mentally I do think we'll be better prepared for this replay," he says.

"We very much know now what it's going to take to beat Armagh. I think a lot of our recent games were nearly over by half-time, in that we played a good 30 minutes and the game was won. On Sunday we know it's going to come down to the last five minutes again. That takes a bit of getting used to.

"Armagh, though, will be thinking they can play better as well. We just know we can improve as a team, and trying to get another 10 or 15 per cent out of everybody, and if we do that we won't be far away."

Canavan was in Croke Park yesterday to pick up his Vodafone Player of the Month award for April, his second honour this year (he also won in February). Both awards came from his outstanding form in the League, and though there is great tradition of teams flopping in the championship after a good League run, Canavan still puts a lot of value on the success.

"The League was a very important step for us. Overall the team is still very young and it was important for us to win something to build morale and maintain confidence. But we weren't fooled either into thinking we were unbeatable.

"But after that game on Sunday it just shows you can't read too much into the League. We were very wary after winning the League that we had set ourselves up somewhat, and that Armagh would know exactly the style of play we'd been using in our recent games. And they applied a style that was suited to match our style. They definitely frustrated us, and stopped us from playing."

Tyrone will still be favourites for Sunday's replay, yet Canavan also admits that they will still need to get used to the greater intensity of championship football: "People are always talking about the difference between League and championship, and after 10 or 15 minutes of that game on Sunday it was obvious we weren't playing in a League match.

"We were worried though having won the League that so much press was given to us. And it was all very positive. We were wary of that, but it's hard to counteract it, because subconsciously it does start to sink that you're better than you actually are."

Assessing the game, he says: "I'd say the Armagh defence as a whole would be very happy about Sunday. Our forward line didn't get going as well as we can, and you have to give the Armagh defence a lot of credit for that."