Cavanagh anxious to face Dubs
COLM CAVANAGH is confident of being fit for the All-ireland semi-final clash with champions Dublin on August 27. The big Tyrone midfielder, who once again drew praise from manager Mickey Harte after his display last weekend against Armagh, had to go off in the closing stages of their victory after shipping a heavy knock in a challenge from Brendan Donaghy. But he was able to take part in training earlier this week and revealed there has been a bit of banter at training between him and Peter Harte, the man who supplied him the pass. “Petey said that was us even as I had given him the pass against Mayo in the 2013 semi final when he had to go off after running into Tom Cunniffe!,” he said. “It was a ball that I had to go for even though I could see out of the corner of my eye that the contact was coming. “It is still sore although I was able to take part in training. I have to stay out of contact at the moment but hopefully that will have changed by next week.” While Tyrone were thumping 18-point winners over the Orchard men, Cavanagh knows they will have to improve if they are to stop Dublin’s hopes of three in a row. “I was giving out to the boys at the start of the second half about the way we were playing,” he said. “We were sloppy and were giving the ball away too much and it kept coming back into our defence. We may have been comfortable winners but it certainly won’t be good enough next day out against Dublin.”