Dooher not drawn on future plans

TYRONE joint-manager Brian Dooher said he would take time to consider his next step following his side’s desperately disappointing All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Kerry on Saturday evening at Croke Park.

There was certainly a lot to unpack following their 2-18 to 0-12 shellacking at the hands of a supremely slick Kerry side – from the flat nature of the performance itself, the implications of the new championship format which saw Tyrone play three heavy duty matches in as many weekends and the road ahead for Tyrone football in general.

At this stage as we all come to terms with a second-half display where everything seemed to unravel for the Red Hands, there are probably more questions than answers.

Brian Dooher and Feargal Logan have now officially completed their three-year term as Tyrone senior intercounty joint-managers. Dooher was non-commital when asked about their plans for next year

“I haven’t given it much thought yet. We have to digest the disappointment first and they we will give it some thought afterwards. That will look after itself in due course. Whatever will be, will be.”

Elaborating, he said “Well you want to leave it in a better place than when you got it. You move things on and you would like to move them on better. In the three years, we definitely had some big achievements. It’s just today it’s disappointing to end the way it ended today. Just looking at this year on its own merits.”

Whatever happens, Tyrone fans will harbour life-long memories of their remarkable voyage to the All-Ireland summit in 2021. For that alone, their tenure will be deemed a success as Tyrone brought back Sam for only the fourth time in the county’s history, but there have been some disappointing days out in the mean-time, none more so than their double-scores defeat to Jack O’Connor’s Kerry on Sunday.

Reflecting on the last three years at the helm, Tyrone legend Dooher said, “I suppose you could say it is a success.

“The way we look at it is you want to leave Tyrone in a better place than you got it.

“That is what the players do when they go out every day, they want to leave the jersey in a better place than they picked it up in. The management and backroom team are the same in that respect.”