Owen Mulligan has predicted another double scores victory for Tyrone over Derry in Sunday’s Ulster Championship opener.
Though it was once the standout rivalry in the province, Tyrone have moved well ahead of Derry over the past decade or so and scored a 0-22 to 0-11 victory in their last Championship meeting two years ago having dished out a 3-14 to 0-12 drubbing the year before.
Derry dropped to Division Four in the meantime and though they won promotion this year, former Tyrone star Mulligan doesn’t believe the gap has closed.
He said: “Tyrone’s way ahead of Derry at the minute, way ahead. Double scores I can see, no problem.
“I know growing up and when I played, I would have went to school in Derry, them games were brilliant like.
“You need Tyrone and Derry to be at each other from the word go. You’re marking Lockhart, you’re marking Niall McCusker, I’m going seeing Tyrone and Derry playing there two years ago and they’re shaking hands and laughing.
“If you’re going to mark a man, you have to mark them like the old days, the way them boys would have marked us. It doesn’t seem to be that way in Derry. Even Tyrone’s physique looks better. Derry have still a lot to do to get up to that level.”
The Paddy Power ambassador questioned the structures in Derry and how the club game appears to take precedence.
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Mulligan added: “It seems to be a club v county thing. They didn’t want to play for the county. It’s one of the biggest honours you can get.
“Alright club football in Derry is class, it’s a really good competition like, I’ve been to a few matches. Why can they not transfer that on? Why can you not do that? Why do you not want to play for your county? It baffles me.
“Maybe the club structure, maybe the schools as well, St Pat’s Maghera, they’re competing nearly every time. Alright, they’ve lost your man Glass to Aussie rules but every county does that.
“I just think Tyrone has gone way ahead, they’ve invested in youth, all the time it’s youth, youth, youth and it’s reaping rewards.
“Since when we were minors, there’s this conveyor belt, that’s never stopped in Tyrone.
“I’ve never seen a conveyor belt in Derry for a long time.”
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