Tyrone expect a tough test

GAA:THE COUNTY itself actually translates as The Fortification and Pearse Park has been earning itself a similar reputation as a championship venue. As Derry, Mayo, Kerry and even Dublin recently discovered it's not the kind of place you can simply walk in and out of – and Longford will be hoping to remind Tyrone of that in Saturday's All-Ireland football qualifier.

It’s a first championship meeting between the counties, and while Tyrone will start as favourites, Longford’s home advantage may well balance that out. Last year in Pearse Park, in the first round of the qualifiers, they dumped Mayo out of the championship – and with that prompted the resignation of John O’Mahony. The year before that Kerry were lucky to escape from Pearse Park in the second round, 1-12 to 0-11, on a day when Longford asked some serious questions of the eventual All-Ireland champions.

In 2006 Longford also beat Derry in Pearse Park, in the third round of the qualifiers, and a few weeks before that pushed Dublin every step of the way when hosting the Leinster football quarter-final – a game that then manager Paul Caffrey admitted was one of the great escapes of his managerial career.

Part of the enduring novelty of the qualifiers is that counties like Tyrone, once beaten in their provincial championships, are forced to go into the great unknown: Pearse Park is not a great distance away, but Tyrone will be far from similar surroundings. The tight pitch and close proximity of the crowd also help make Pearse Park a difficult battleground for visiting teams, no matter what their calibre.

“People have talked about it as being a banana skin,” says Tyrone assistant manager Tony Donnelly. “But I wouldn’t term it as a banana skin. It’s a real tough challenge for us, and we’re going to have to be at our best to get a result there. ”

It’s not just the venue that Tyrone have to worry about: Longford have been steadily improving under manager Glen Ryan, and having won the Division Four title this year, really should have beaten Laois in the first round of the Leinster championship. They lost out by a point after squandering several late chances to at least force a draw, but put the lessons of that defeat to good use when beating Cavan in the first round of the qualifiers, 2-16 to 0-11.

It means Longford have yet to concede a goal in this year’s championship, and in fact boast one of the finest goalkeepers in the game in Damien Sheridan. Tyrone’s hopes won’t be helped by the likely absence of Stephen O’Neill, who hasn’t trained since the Ulster semi-final defeat to Donegal due to a hamstring tear.

However, both Joe and Justin McMahon should be available: Joe suffered a mild concussion in the defeat to Donegal but has been given the all clear, while younger brother Justin has also recovered from a hamstring injury. Aidan Cassidy is available after recovering from an ankle strain.

Longford’s scoring threat is built around Paul Barden and Brian Kavanagh – who hit 2-5 between them against Cavan – and unless Tyrone get a grip on those two another shock could be on the cards.