Peter Canavan: The Ulster landscape has changed immensely

All-Ireland champions only 16 months ago, Tyrone abruptly dropped off the radar last summer after making a dismal fist of their title defence.

Supporters of the county will be hoping that their 2023 form will consign last season to the status of a bad dream - as opposed to bolstering any notion that their victorious 2021 campaign was an outlier.

The county's greatest attacker Peter Canavan says the players and management will be anxious to "draw a line through" the 2022 season as they seek to return to the top table.

After an underwhelming league campaign, in which they narrowly escaped relegation at the expense of Dublin and Kildare, they surrendered their Ulster title in horrendous fashion against a resurgent Derry in Omagh. While their qualifier performance away to Armagh was more respectable, they still fell short against Kieran McGeeney's men, exiting the championship early.

The 2022 season wound up copper-fastening the narrative that Tyrone have a problem - admittedly a high-status problem - of backing up All-Ireland victories.

By common consensus, last year's title defence was the worst from any All-Ireland champion since Tyrone themselves were dumped out by Laois in a Round 2 qualifier in 2006.

"Well, it's a nice problem to have in that you win it every now and again!" two-time All-Ireland winner Canavan told RTÉ Sport.

"But absolutely. Last year, the management were devastated, the players found it hard to deal with. One season, you're All-Ireland champions. And the next, you're really struggling for form and to be competitive.

"Last year, they will draw a line through very quickly. They blooded a number of younger players in the Dr McKenna Cup.

"The final didn't go the way they wanted. Brian and Feargal are possibly