Team Check

Tyrone All-Star Stephen O'Neill was last night passed fit to play in Sunday's National Football League final. The team will be unchanged from the one that so emphatically defeated Mayo in the semi-final 10 days ago.

O'Neill had been nursing an ankle ligament injury but it has responded to treatment. Less pressing injury concerns over Ciaran Gourley, Brian Dooher, Brian McGuigan and Kevin Hughes have also subsided.

Defender Brian Robinson completes a two-week suspension at midnight on Saturday, and slots into a side which at times looked awesome in its semi-final demolition of defending league champions Mayo.

Gourley has made the centre back slot his own with a string of classy performances this year, and another defensive shut-out this Sunday will go a long way towards bringing a first ever national title to Tyrone.

Victory over Cavan in the final is the vital breakthrough being sought, and Gourley feels that many inhibitions could be shed if Tyrone can win.

"It's very important for Tyrone to win a national title," he said. "It's not very often these chances come around, and you have to grasp them with both hands."

Gourley was a member of the Tyrone side which won the first of two successive All-Ireland Under-21 titles in 2000, but this weekend marks the high point of his developing senior career. "It's probably the biggest game of my career so far, and I'm looking forward to it, it will be a big challenge to us all."

Victory came so easily in the end as Tyrone brushed past Mayo and booked their place in the final with nonchalant ease, but the team has not yet attained a sufficient level of consistency for the defender's liking.

He remains fearful that Tyrone's tendency to sparkle in one game and struggle in the next could come back to haunt them.

Superb displays against Galway, Dublin, Roscommon and Offaly were punctuated by disappointing submissions to Donegal and Cork, and the cynics among Tyrone supporters would suggest that the team is due another off-day.

"We have a tendency to build up a good lead at half-time, and then fall asleep and let teams back into it, and were probably a wee bit wary of that at half-time against Mayo.

"We had built up a good lead, but in the second half we got a few early scores and were able to increase the lead, and after that Mayo heads began to drop. It was a pleasing aspect for the defenders that we didn't concede any goals."

But Cavan will pose a more potent threat than the outgoing NFL champions managed at Brewster Park, and Gourley has been studying the details of their spectacular victory over Roscommon in the other semi-final.

"They scored 5-13 in that game, so I think if we relax at all and give their forwards a chance, they are capable of scoring goals."

Cavan will choose their side tonight, with Ger Pearson an injury concern.

Division Two finalists Laois and Kerry also name their line-ups tonight. The midlanders are concerned about the fitness of John Kealy, Eamonn Delaney and wing back pair, Derek Conroy and Damien Ryan.

Kerry's XV is expected to be much the same as started the semi-final against Meath.

TYRONE: P Ward, C Gormley, C Lawn, B Robinson, R McMenamin, C Gourley, P Jordan, C McAnallen, C Holmes, B Dooher, S O'Neill, G Cavlan, B McGuigan, K Hughes, Peter Canavan. Subs: J Devine, D McCrossan, S Teague, S Kavanagh, S McCallan, R Thornton, Jarlath Quinn, Pascal Canavan, O Mulligan.