The Ulster side have now won two games on the spin in the round robin race for Sam Maguire. The efficiency of their four-point win over previously-unbeaten Cork in Tullamore on Saturday, suggests they will prove formidable opponents in Omagh.
“Everybody wants to play on their home pitch and to have everything that comes with that. But it was just about getting a performance, getting a win, and moving on to the next step. Whoever that is next week, we’ll have to just deal with it. There’s nothing easy from here on,” he admitted.
Tyrone’s fate could hinge on whether they persuade the authorities to overturn a red card on midfielder Conn Kilpatrick.
“It was disappointing. I don’t know what happened, so we’ll look at it and see what the incident was. But it’s definitely disappointing to get someone sent off because it always gives you an uphill battle, especially going into this time of the season.
“We’re into sudden death from here on so you need your full panel of players available. It’s something we could do without, to be honest.”
Dooher suggested that the absence of Cork captain Brian Hurley weakened the Rebels’ challenge given the way they play.
“The first-half was probably touch and go for long parts of it. We weren’t really pushing on. In the second-half I think we upped our intensity, and we were able to push on. Once we got the goal, we were able to keep Cork at arms’ length,” he said.
“It was important to control what we could control. We couldn’t do anything about Donegal and Clare. All we could do was come in here, give a performance and hopefully get a result. That’s what we came down to do and we know now where it takes us.”
Former Footballer of the Year Kieran McGeary picked up an injury in the warm-up which forced Tyrone into making a late change. His replacement Ben Cullen did well scoring the game’s only goal in the 47th minute which effectively decided the outcome.
Dooher declined to elaborate on the nature of McGeary’s injury but said they would be “working to get him back for next week.”
For Cork it was a missed opportunity – a draw would have been enough to secure them top spot in Group 3 and direct passage to the quarter-final. Instead, they now face an away tie next weekend in the preliminary quarter-final.
“We are very disappointed. We came up to win. We played very well in the first half, but we didn’t take our scores. We should have been four or five points up at half-time and we weren’t,” said team boss John Cleary.
He identified the black card incident in the third quarter in which Chris Óg Jones was sinbinned for a trip on Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan as the pivotal moment in an entertaining match.
“They managed the game better during that period than we did. That was a lesson for us and it cost us the game.”
Cleary suggested Cork’s lack of Division 1 experience was a factor in how the failed to manage the game.
“I suppose that is the beauty of playing in Division1 year in year out and playing against the top teams. You get your times of dominance as we had today. When you get those, you have got to be clinical. Then when you are under the cosh you have got to manage things better,” he said.
“Ultimately Tyrone deserved to win, and we just have got to take lessons from it as a group,” he acknowledged.
Cleary explained that team captain Brian Hurley wasn’t 100 per cent fit.
“There was no way he was going to be starting,” he said. But he confirmed there was a chance he would be fit for next week’s away preliminary round tie.
“At the start of the league we were three games down and our next game was away in Fermanagh, and you know it was do or die. The guys galvanised and got going and that’s what we intend to do for this week.
“I said to the lads inside (in the dressingroom) there we can be feeling sorry for ourselves now for ten minutes, but championship week starts right now.
“This is the first time in the championship this year where it could be our last game, or we could be going to Croke Park. There’s still a big prize at stake and hopefully we can learn from the learnings here now today.
“We just have to wait until Monday morning, it’s the luck of the draw then where we could be going,” said Cleary.
