Tyrone great Peter Canavan reckons the championship might "spring to life" when his native county take on Dublin in Omagh on Saturday evening.

Mickey Harte's side are 3/1 outsiders to hand the Dubs their first championship defeat since losing the All-Ireland semi-final to Donegal in 2014 and Canavan expects it to be quite an occasion at Healy Park.

"Tyrone against Dublin will be a real chance to see if the home side has closed the gap on Dublin since last year's hammering at Croke Park," he wrote in his column for Sky Sports GAA.

"This one is at Healy Park, and it has by no means being a fortress for Tyrone, and all the signs are that Dublin will have more supporters there than Tyrone will - principally due to the amount of season ticket holders they have.

"I think Tyrone have closed the gap, they are well organised, hungry, efficient and they get from defence to attack very quickly. Richie Donnelly is doing a good job in the target man role up front and that has given them an added dimension. But Dublin have most of the aces that Tyrone have - and probably more - so will that be enough for Tyrone?

He added: "The Championship could spring to life here but Dublin will feel they have the experience, game-management and quality to get out of Omagh with a result."

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