Tyrone will have too much for Fermanagh says former Red Hand star Ronan O'Neill

Former Tyrone ace Ronan O’Neill says Kieran Donnelly’s knowledge of the Red Hands should help Fermanagh be competitive on Saturday, but he ultimately expects the All-Ireland champions to prevail.

The current Erne County boss is a teacher at Omagh CBS and, like O’Neill, several past and present Tyrone players played MacRory Cup football under Donnelly’s guidance including the likes of Peter Harte, Conor Meyler and Niall Sludden.

Harte, however, looks set to miss the Ulster SFC opener in Brewster Park after having his appendix removed recently, while the versatile Mattie Donnelly has been ruled out with a hamstring injury.

Former Erne star Shane McCabe says Fermanagh must believe they can beat Tyrone

O’Neill still expects his native county to have enough in reserve to pull away from Fermanagh in the closing stages of Saturday’s preliminary round tie.

“KD (Kieran Donnelly) is a very thorough coach and manager and is a former teacher of mine,” said O’Neill.

“He is a very astute coach and he knows a lot about the game - he has been around a long time and been around successful teams.

“He has probably coached the majority of the players who are going to be playing on Saturday night. He’ll definitely have a plan for Fermanagh to thwart Tyrone. I’m sure the boys will know that too and, vice-versa, they’ll know what Kieran will bring to the table for Fermanagh.

“It will probably make for an interesting battle for 40 or 45 minutes I’d say - I would like to think Tyrone will pull away towards the end.”

O’Neill retired from county duty after 10 years following Tyrone’s All-Ireland triumph and the six players who stepped away subsequently has generated plenty of debate about Tyrone’s ability to retain their Ulster and All-Ireland