Ronan McNamee says Cathal McShane is “huge to the whole thing” in a Tyrone squad where the competition for places is “frightening.”
McShane has been plagued by injury this season as he bids to recapture his All Star form of 2019.
The Owen Roe's Strabane man, who won an All-Ireland U21 title in 2015, suffered a serious ankle injury back in 2020 at the height of his powers.
Read more: All-Ireland SFC permutations ahead of final round of group games
He was a vital impact sub when Tyrone landed the 2021 All-Ireland title, but has struggled to start and finish games over the past season.
The do-or-die Championship fare starts this weekend with Tyrone facing Westmeath in Cavan and it is unclear what role McShane may be able for, having not featured in this year’s Championship to date.
Tyrone lost their All-Ireland opener in Galway before downing Armagh at Omagh 12 days ago.
“We ran the bench well against Armagh with the lads all making a contribution and the likes of Cormac Quinn has been a mighty find this year,” said McNamee.
“There are a lot of boys who have left since ‘21 but new boys have come in and have stood up. The talent that is there and the competition for places is frightening.
“Boys are just mad eager to get at it and if we can get Cathal (McShane) back he is huge to the whole thing.
“He has just been really unfortunate with injuries but I think that he is aiming to be back pretty soon which will be a massive boost for us.”
A defeat against Westmeath could leave Tyrone vulnerable to a Championship exit, with their opponents fighting for their lives and knowing nothing less than a victory will do them after defeats by Armagh and Galway.
“Westmeath were wrote off before a ball was kicked in this group and that would have favoured them as sometimes going in under the radar suits,” said McNamee.
“We have been in that position a few times when nobody gave us a sniff and we went out and turned a few heads.
“Our full focus will now be on Westmeath and they will get the respect that they deserve, the respect that we give to all opponents.
“Westmeath should have got over the line against Armagh.
“They were very unlucky not to win and we all know how difficult a place the Athletic Grounds is to get a result.
“They have a lot of experience in their side such as John Heslin and they have quality young players as well so they are going to have no problem carrying the underdog tag.
“They will go into the game confident that they can get a win and no doubt they will be ripping it up.
“Why wouldn’t they believe that they can win. That’s the whole point of the thing. Go at it and give it everything that you can and if it’s good enough it’s good enough and if it’s not it’s not. It is the same for us.
“They will have plenty of respect for us but they will rip into us and likewise and you wouldn’t expect anything else. We will certainly be chomping at the bit.”
Tyrone have struggled to put a full 70 minutes together, but after Monaghan overhauled them in the second half of their Ulster quarter-final tussle, they managed to withstand 14-man Armagh’s attempted fightback.
McNamee said: "Obviously the Monaghan championship game was in the back of our mind when we played well in the first half too.
"You don’t want to be making the same mistakes, and we obviously managed it a lot better. It’s just learning and trying to improve all the time from the things that we did wrong against Monaghan.
"We let them back into it and they deserved their win but against Armagh when our backs were to the wall a few boys stood up like Darragh (Canavan).
"The way that he carried that ball 60 yards and kicked it over with his left foot at a crucial time in the game. Mattie (Donnelly) was outstanding as well and that is what you need at this level in tight games.
"In this new format you have a few chances at it but ideally you are looking for a good performance and when that happens everything falls into place.
“We just came up short a few times like Galway a few weeks ago.
“You couldn’t fault the effort. It was just that they managed the game better when they went a man up.
“We knew that anything other than two points against Armagh was no good to us and that sets us up now for Westmeath."
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