“It doesn’t serve us any purpose in dwelling on it any longer.”
Tyrone had to fight stormy conditions as well as a spirited Kildare side before they could get their first win the National League this season.
All the pre-match hype was about the four Red Hand players, Peter Harte, Padraig Hampsey, Kieran McGeary, and Michael McKernan, who got sent off against Armagh a fortnight before, and the fact that they would be suspended for this game.
Manager of the All-Ireland winning team, Brian Dooher, has felt that the time has come to look past that incidents and move on.
“The way we look at it is that we have drawn a line under it,” he said.
“It doesn’t serve us any purpose in dwelling on it any longer, what is done is done.
“We are not going to change it, we took the suspensions that we got, the players have served them and will be back available for selection next week along with the boys that played today. It is in the past and we are looking to the future.”
Brian Kennedy had number 14 on his back, but starred in midfield as Tyrone got two points on the board with a close victory over the Lilywhites.
“Yeah, it was four men out, four men back in,” said the 2021 All-Star.
“It was maybe unfair on them men at the Athletic Grounds, but that’s football – four men go out and we replaced them with four other good men.
“It was good to do it for them [the suspended players], they’re probably feeling a bit of hurt from two weeks ago so it’s good to get the two points.
“Some people might say that [it created a siege mentality] but we didn’t look on it like that,” he continued.
“It was an opportunity for other players to put their hand up and show the Tyrone supporters what they can do. They went there and put in a huge effort.
“It didn’t look like it was going our way for a long time but they kept going, kept trying, kept working hard and they got their just rewards.
“There was definitely a lot of character shown, we went into the depths of our panel but we showed that we have some good players who want to play for Tyrone.
“They went out there today and represented their county well. We have to give them credit for the effort and work they put in. It was a huge performance.”
