Donnelly savours an epic triumph for Tyrone Minors

WHILE all the talk in the build-up was over the unavailability of Tyrone’s star attacker Joel Kerr who is West Ham bound, it was his erstwhile colleagues who were ‘blowing bubbles’ at the end of a gripping All-Ireland Minor Championship Final at Newbridge on Sunday afternoon.

The Red Hands wrested hold of the Thomas Markham Cup for the ninth time in the County’s history, and first since 2010, with a stunning 1-16 to 1-15 victory over Kerry at St Conleth’s Park, Fintona’s Diarmuid Martin striking over the winning point in the third minute of stoppage time.

Playing against a strong breeze in the second half, the Ulster champions trailed by four points in the 47^th minute, despite the boost of a Peter Colton penalty goal after the interval. However as has been the case all season, during which time they have maintained a 100 per cent winning record, Tyrone summoned up the determination, character and bravery to fight back in an epic finale to edge the verdict.

An elated Minor manager Gerard Donnelly was on the wrong end of a one point loss in the 2021 All-Ireland Final to Meath in his first year at the helm, so little wonder he took time amid the on-pitch celebrations afterwards for a word or two of consolation for the distraught Kingdom boys.

“ I feel so sorry for Kerry. I have been there and it’s not easy. They probably thought they had it for much of that game. But I wouldn’t say we stole it. If anything I thought we were going to kick ourselves out of it. We hit a lot of wides towards the end there.

“ We really took charge for the last fifteen minutes but it seemed our misses would come back to haunt us. But we just dug in and I was never as happy to hear a final whistle.”

Tyrone played with the elements in their favour in the first half but conceded a goal right before the break to go in trailing by two- 1-7 to 0-8. Donnelly stated though that a few calming words from the experienced backroom team at the break had the desired effect.

“ I am just almost speechless right now. I am waiting for somebody to tell me it’s not real. In the first half we were just too slow. We were carrying the ball into tackles. We were waiting for wee handy balls around the arc and not really getting through them.

“ We got them in at half-time and fair play to the men I have with me we all settled them down and got them sorted. Niall (Morgan) and Ciaran (Gourley) just gave them a chat saying what we wanted them to do.

“ We came back out well but then they got back on top again, they kicked a couple of two pointers and with 14 minutes to go we were four down playing against the wind. We just weren’t at it at that stage but what a last quarter they all produced. We really got going and our big men really stood up to be counted.”

Given the painful reversal he suffered in 2021, Donnelly clearly savoured yesterday’s success and said that he emphasised to the squad in advance the need to make the most of this opportunity.

“ I thought in year one when we were beaten by a point in the All-Ireland Final, sure it doesn’t matter we will be back again next year but life doesn’t work like that. We have had three long years since.

“ We have all put in an awful lot of hard work and I can’t believe we have got our hands on that trophy again.

“ To go through the season unbeaten is tough to do because Ulster in particular is so competitive. With young lads you are always waiting for the day they come out and don’t play well but by god they dug in when they needed to today.”

Tyrone now stand on the cusp of an unprecedented treble if the Seniors can make it a hat-trick of All-Ireland football titles in the coming weeks. Gerard felt the title success was testament to the sterling work being carried out on a collective basis within the county.

“ Fifteen years is a long time for Tyrone to wait to win the Al-Ireland Minor title so it’s great to get our hands on that cup again. We will all be behind the Seniors now next week.

“ Credit goes to the clubs and the Development lads who are working away on Saturday mornings in Garvaghey, as well as the schools. We are all one and we all want Tyrone to win. Paul (Devlin) has done some brilliant things with the U20s and now please God the Seniors can do it too next weekend.”