"Tyrone are most dangerous when they are being written off" - Bradley
June 23, 2023
Westmeath's John Heslin and Pádraig Hampsey of Tyrone exchange handshakes after the game ©INPHO/James Crombie
Donegal coach Paddy Bradley says Tyrone are “obviously” going in as favourites for tomorrow evening’s do or die derby clash in Ballybofey.
The Red Hands came dangerously close to exiting the championship last weekend but a 0-18 apiece draw with Westmeath was enough to secure them an away All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final berth.
Donegal came out of the hat on Monday morning and, speaking to BBC Sport NI, Bradley says the Tir Chonaill camp are expecting their opponents “to bring plenty of fire” when they visit MacCumhaill Park this weekend.
"To me, from experience, Tyrone are most dangerous when they are being written off," said the former Derry attacker.
"They've obviously got a lot of experience and some class players. They'll start the game as favourites but we think we have a good chance."
He added: "It's not that long since Tyrone were All-Ireland champions and they've retained many of those players.
"Darren McCurry didn't play at the weekend but we're expecting him to play and then you have Darragh and Ruairi Canavan entering the fold too. Tyrone are a match for anybody, we're hoping they'll have another off day at the weekend.
"But I'm sure they'll have talked about their near-exit at the weekend and we're expecting Tyrone to bring plenty of fire and their best performance. Donegal will have to improve the performance levels by five or 10% to match them."
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