Conor Meyler believes that Tyrone’s unwanted downtime will ultimately stand to them as their season resumes this weekend.
After an impressive finish to their League campaign, the 2021 All-Ireland champions were fancied to make a strong run at an Ulster title but instead they were floored in their first outing as Monaghan pulled off a smash and grab victory in Omagh last month.
That put Tyrone up on blocks for five weeks while the provincials played out, though they return to action away to Galway on Saturday in Group Two of the All-Ireland SFC.
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“I make no qualms about it,” says Meyler, “we were going for an Ulster Championship. But on reflection, the couple of weeks there has stood to us.
“Really hard training banked and a bit of time to rest and recuperate before the All-Ireland group stages, so you’ve got to take the positives from it."
The Monaghan defeat hasn’t watered down Meyler’s belief that Tyrone can still contend strongly for the Sam Maguire Cup this year, despite the fact that their conquerors Monaghan subsequently suffered a comprehensive defeat in their next outing to eventual Ulster champions Derry.
“Does it make me feel like we're further away? No, to be honest. I still think that this year more than any, the All-Ireland is so open and most teams will be looking at that, knowing that on any day they can beat each other - especially as the games go further on.
“If you do end up making an All-Ireland quarter-final, semi-final or potentially a final, I don't think we have what we had with Dublin a number of years ago when they were so dominant and there was a fear factor with them as well. They were the standout team.
“At the moment I don't think we have that. Although Derry are on an upward trajectory - and I'm really impressed by them and the work that they've done - if we were to draw them later down the line I wouldn't be fearful either.”
As well as Galway, Tyrone have Armagh and Westmeath for company in their group but with three teams emerging, the likelihood is that Westmeath, who have struggled since winning the Tailteann Cup last year, will be the odd ones out.
Indeed, all four groups are rather predictable in that respect though Meyler is keeping an open mind on the new format for now.
“You're getting to play big games on big days and you love Championship football. I love it anyway. It's a chance to go up against the best teams when the pressure is probably on.
“You're coming up against the top opponents, which is what you want. From a Tyrone perspective, we do love that. You're not looking at any groups and saying, 'I hope we get this team or that team'. It's a case of 'bring it on'.
“It will be exciting to see now how it all pans out. At the minute for me, there are only positives there. But I suppose we'll see does it run into dead-rubber games or how it pans out in the end. I don't know, but at the minute it's exciting.”
One thing that the format will do is give the likes of Tyrone every opportunity to find their feet, which wasn’t the case to the same extent last year. After losing to Derry, they were bounced out of the Championship in the qualifiers by a rampant Armagh.
This time, between Ulster and the group stage, they’re guaranteed four games and will likely only have to win one of their next three, against Division Three opposition at that, to progress to the knockout stage.
Reflecting on last year’s botched All-Ireland defence, Meyler said: “I would say from the get-go we were kind of chasing our tail, which was tough.
“We did enough to stay in Division One, which was brilliant. We obviously had a tough draw with the Championship.
“In hindsight, I feel if we had got any luck there and progressed we would have picked up a bit of momentum and things mightn’t have been as doom-and-gloom as we were on an upward trajectory.
“We were probably unfortunate with the draw as we got Armagh at a time when they were going well. I’d take all those factors into account and it probably summed up last year.”
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