Frank Burns has revealed the weight of pressure that the Tyrone players were under to break Donegal’s stranglehold on Ulster final appearances.
Donegal had reached nine of the last ten provincial deciders, while the Red Hands managed to qualify for just two during that period, their last in 2017.
But the sequence was broken as the fierce derby rivals went toe-to-toe yet again, with Tyrone coming out on top in Sunday’s memorable semi-final.
“Donegal were going for ten out of 11 Ulster finals if they had won,” said Burns.
“They haven’t been coming about for us too often in the last number of years, but thankfully we’re back in one.
“This is what Tyrone fans expect, isn’t it?”
The neighbours have been frequent Ulster Championship opponents in recent seasons, with Donegal holding the upper hand.
Anticipation of this latest meeting was as acute as ever, but for the players, the challenge was to blank out all the external noise and maintain a sharp focus.
“You just try and listen to what’s going on inside our circle of players, and not focus on too much of what goes on outside,” added Burns.
“We meet these boys every year. They know us inside out, we know them inside out. We know there’s never much between the teams.
“We knew it was going to be a massive challenge, but we’re just thankful we got over the line.”
