GAA: SILENCEON THE HILL; ALL-IRELAND QUARTER-FINAL: Tyrone v Dublin, today 3.30pm Red-hot O'Neill hopes to give Dubs little to cheer about.

Byline: Orla Bannon

STEPHEN O'Neill says Tyrone are hoping to 'gag' the Hill by making a great start in today's All-Ireland quarter-final clash against Dublin.

Croke Park has been like a second home to Tyrone in recent years but they will definitely be made to feel like outsiders as the Dubs take centre stage.

The Red Hands fought back from a dreadful start against Monaghan last week to book their place in the quarter- finals and O'Neill thinks today's full house and electric atmosphere can inspire them to go one step further.

"Playing in front of 80,000 people is something you have to look forward to, especially against the Dubs," he said.

"If you can't raise your game to play Dublin in Croke Park then there's something wrong - it's the type of game every player would like to be involved in.

"I guess they'll make a lot of noise and the Tyrone support will definitely be out-numbered.

"It will be interesting to see how we cope with it but we'd hope to make a good start to silence the Hill a wee bit."

Dublin are not nearly as experienced as Tyrone when it comes to the business end of the Championship.A mental hurdle to be overcome is the fact that the Dubs haven't got beyond the quarter-finals since the new Championship format was introduced in 2001 - and during that time they have failed to beat Ulster opposition (losing to Armagh in 2002 and 2003).

However the Blues do appear to be battle-hardened under new boss Paul Caffrey and will feel confident after watching Tyrone's poor showing against Monaghan last week.

The Red Hands were 1-5 to 0-2 down after 25 minutes ,before sharp-shooter O'Neill once again came to their rescue - hitting a brilliant 2-6 to turn the game around.

"If we have another slow start on Saturday we'll be out of the Championship and that will be our summer finished," declared the Clan na Gael man.

"Pascal McConnell pulled off two great saves and if those chances had gone in, we could have been 12 points down with no way back, so we were very worried at the time.

"Thankfully we caught ourselves on and started playing a bit of football and got the result in the end.

"We're going to have to start really well against Dublin."

O'Neill admits kicking frees into the Hill will be "daunting" but thinks Tyrone will be inspired by the occasion in what will be their first Championship clash with the Dubs since losing the All- Ireland final in 1995.

"I was chatting to Peter (Canavan) a bit about '95 and he said it was a great atmosphere to play in.

"Kicking frees into the Hill will be a bit daunting, there will be some noise whenever we're doing that but hopefully we can get over it.

"At the end of the day, we've got to where we wanted to be and that's the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

"We wanted to be Ulster champions, we didn't get that but we're still in an All-Ireland quarter-final with everything to play for.

"Things are going okay at the minute but if we get beat on Saturday it'll be another disappointing season for us."

Having Ryan McMenamin's four week suspension lifted is a massive boost for Tyrone.

He was badly missed in a shambolic defensive display in the first-half against Monaghan and now he's back and will probably be given the task of marking Dublin danger-man Alan Brogan.Mickey Harte has not been panicked into making wholesale changes to his team, keeping faith in Chris Lawn and Shane Sweeney, despite replacing both by half-time last week.

It's felt that Brogan aside, Dublin do not have the pace up front to trouble Tyrone the way Monaghan did and Lawn and Sweeney will be relieved to get another chance, while Joe McMahon can count himself very unlucky to lose his place.

Despite reservations about Conor Gormley playing midfield at this level, he is again chosen there alongside Sean Cavanagh, whose battle with Ciaran Whelan will be one of the main features of the day.

Peter Canavan is surprisingly not chosen from the start, which again places the scoring burden on the shoulders of Stephen O'Neill, as the other forwards around him are struggling for scores.

O'Neill's first All-Star award since 2001 already looks a certainty, as he's already hit 3-18 from play alone in this year's Championship.

And although he has taken on the mantle Canavan himself carried for so long, as the Tyrone point of attack, he insists he isn't feeling the pressure.

"I don't think I'm carrying anything," he claimed, "at the end of the day I'm playing in the full-forward line and we tend to be on the end of most of the moves".

"I'm just lucky to be on the end of the play and getting the chance to finish."

However Canavan should recognise an exceptional forward when he sees one and it's certain that before today is out, both men should be playing up front in a bid to get Tyrone to the semi-finals.

"The form Stevie's been in has been brilliant," claimed Canavan.

"I'm more than happy because there is less responsibility on myself although you're still under pressure - there is always great expectation on anyone that plays for Tyrone.

"He has been carrying the can too much - we need to share out the scoring a bit more to take some of the responsibility off him - but he has been doing it week in week out for his club and we're well used to it up here.

"Hopefully he has another couple of big performances in him before the year is out."

CAPTION(S):

SEA OF BLUE: Dublin supporters on Hill 16; FIRING THE IMAGINATION: Tyrone sharp-shooter Stephen O'Neill is the danger man; RETURN: <McMenamin