TYRONE carry some mental baggage into tomorrow's opening defence of their Ulster title, against Fermanagh, at Omagh. For a start, it's 20 years since a county escaped from the north for two years running and second, Tyrone are returning to champion ship football after a traumatic All Ireland final defeat last September.

Over the last week, further irritation was visited on the team with the spectacular poor mouthing emanating from Fermanagh. Eugene McKenna, joint manager with Art McRory, of Tyrone, is aware of the difficult situation facing his team.

Although they beat Fermanagh narrowly enough last year, Tyrone have home advantage this time and most people are looking beyond tomorrow's match to the likely rematch of last year's sulphurous semi final with Derry.

The central theme of Fermanagh's utterances concerns the injuries they have sustained and that they are missing seven of the (team that lined out 12 months ago. A few days ago, Fermanagh's manager Terry Ferguson gave the cheerful assurance that he'd "be able to field 15 alright". Such limited public ambition, however tongue in cheek, has successfully depressed expectations around the province.

Tyrone had a satisfactory league. They did not qualify for the quarter finals but they comfortably retained their first division status and have prepared for the championship in a low key fashion.

McKenna said: "On balance we would have preferred to be in the league a bit longer but the physical limitations we have hamper performances in the league."

It's an old preoccupation but the question of Tyrone's lack of size crops up quite frequently in conversation with McKenna. He points out that the team was exhausted after the All Ireland, weakened by the demands of club activity, and that training for the early league matches would impose ridiculous burdens.

There are a couple of players making championship debuts, Damien Gormley and Brian Dooher. Dooher earned plenty of positive notices during the league and was a valuable member of the UCD side that won last March's Sigerson Cup.

McKenna said: "Brian Dooher attracted a lot of attention which players new on the scene tend to. We looked around for physical players but found none. The Sigerson was important to Brian's development; he plays in defence for his club. We've seen very little of him at training sessions; he's exam tied and was involved with the under 21s. So he's not as fit as we'd like".

The other player causing concern in that regard is centre back Seamus McCallan. He was surprisingly included in tomorrow's team even though he has a broken finger. It is the latest in a litany of setbacks.

"Seamus McCallan is a bit behind at this stage," says McKenna. "He was sent off and then hurt his knee which kept him out another six weeks. On his first effective match back, he was sent off again for dissent and now he has cracked a bone in his finger."

More of a concern is last year's evidence that the attack is a one man band. Peter Canavan's scoring exploits were so remarkable that they tended to mask the disproportion. McKenna agrees with the thrust of the reservation but feels it has been exaggerated.

"We were aware of that but the perception was a wee bit misplaced. His scores from frees distorted the impression. It will be difficult for him to improve on it and the rest of the forwards are acutely aware of it. I would hope there's some embarrassment among the players when they consider their contribution (last year)."

Canavan's best known partner from under 21, and even early senior, days is Adrian Cush whose declining form culminated in him spending most of last year's championship on the bench from which he launched various super sub interventions. Tomorrow, he starts on the left wing, which should spread the scoring burden.

Fermanagh are a funny county. In the ultra competitive world of third level colleges' football, players from the county frequently make prominent contributions. But at county level, for whatever reason, they suffer collective loss of confidence.

This often manifests itself in second half collapses although misfortune also takes a hand. Last year, for instance, Paul Brewster the influential central player, was thriving at midfield but had to go off at the start of the second half. After this the team folded before mounting a bit of a comeback towards the end.

Despite repeated invitations, Fermanagh declined to beat Armagh three years ago in the most celebrated recent example of their difficulties in pushing home a winning advantage. Coming close to spiking a moderate gun like Armagh is a lot different to troubling the likes of Tyrone, who are taken to fulfil public expectation and proceed to that eagerly awaited semi final with Derry.