Struggling Tyrone still a huge test for Cork footballers

One more league fixture to secure promotion. The Cork footballers are heading into the final league game, and fate is in their own hands. All they need to do to ensure a return to the top flight, is get something from their away trip to Tyrone.

And that won’t be straightforward.

Tyrone’s form in the early months of the year has been wildly inconsistent. Even with a win on Sunday, the best finishing position they can post is fifth. While mathematically the prospect of relegation to Division 3 is still there, their odds of facing the drop are considerably lower than Cavan and Kildare’s.

Should Cavan defeat Derry, Kildare win comfortably against Louth and Cork score a big away victory against the Red Hands, only then will they be relegated. They’ve got 28 points to spare on scoring difference.

So while they’re effectively safe from the drop, they’ve got nothing to play for further up the table. That makes this one a glorified challenge game for Tyrone in preparation for their Ulster opener with Armagh, while by contrast, Cork lives will be on the line up in Healy Park.

Sunday’s trip to Omagh will still demand a lot from Cork, though. Despite a delay to Darragh Canavan’s travel plans as a result of the US-Israel-Iran conflict and a surprise substitute appearance against Meath, it’s likely that Malachy O’Rourke won’t have him available for Sunday’s meeting.

However, even without their star player, Ethan Jordan has been immense since stepping up to senior inter-county football.

He scored 1-9 on debut against Kildare and another 1-9 against Meath in their last contest. Darragh Canavan’s brother Ruairí has impressed in the previous two games, while Eoin McElholm had a decent start to the season. Jordan isn’t the only youngster to impress, last season’s All-Ireland U20 winner Conor O’Neill made his mark with a two-pointer against Derry.

And while results haven’t gone as planned, O’Rourke has used a huge number of players in this year’s campaign, and will be pleased at the fact his Tyrone side have registered 26 different scorers in only six games.

Their demolition of Offaly helped to increase the variety – they added six new flag-raisers alone in that game – but they had already managed 19 different scorers in the first four games, more than any other team in the division.

Tyrone have been far from their best this season. Their defeat to Derry and draw against 14-man Kildare to start the season hampered any hopes of a promotion push, and the defeat to Louth in Ardee confirmed it. The Red Hands’ only wins have come against Offaly and Cavan.

They’ve got a strong group of talented young players coming through, but things haven’t materialised yet, and likely won’t in the championship either.

Ultimately, this game is not going to carry near the same weight for Tyrone as it does for Cork. This is an opportunity that the Rebels cannot afford to let slip; they won’t get a better chance than this to return to Division 1.

After years of near-misses plagued with the same failings under John Cleary, this league campaign has felt like one where Cork have finally made tangible progress. They need to ensure that their league season ends with that feeling intact.

If Cork lose, both Derry and Louth are in a position where they can snatch promotion from the Rebels. should one or both win their own games to snatch a spot in the top two, Cork will be in trouble if there’s a three or four-way tie, as a result of that hefty defeat in Derry.

They cannot afford to lose.