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TYRONE manager Malachy O’Rourke maintains that they will ‘not close the door’ on a potential return to the County panel of Peter Harte despite confirming that the Errigal Ciaran star isn’t part of his plans right now for the 2026 campaign.
Speaking in the aftermath of his side’s two point victory over Armagh at the Athletic Grounds in the opening match of the relaunched Dr McKenna Cup on Friday night, O’Rourke didn’t mention the word retirement though he acknowledged that as things stand 35-year old Harte won’t be figuring for Tyrone in the upcoming League or Championship.
“ Peter at this stage is probably not going to be able to commit unfortunately. Peter has given so much service to the County. He is a brilliant role model for all the boys so he will be missed greatly. “ We will never close the door on him if it was a case that he got a bit of breathing space later in the year but at this stage he can’t give that commitment. We will just have to move on in the short term without him anyway and see how things go.”
O’Rourke conceded that the absence of a player with Harte’s wealth of experience was a blow given his inspiration and example he sets for younger colleagues in the squad.
“ Both on the field and off the field the way he conducts himself, the way he trains, the way he prepares, everything about him is just what you want in a panel. We have so many young lads coming through so you want fellas like Petey about who they can learn from.
“ Maybe there will be some chance he will be back later in the year but right now I’m not sure if that will turn out to be the case. But Petey certainly owes no-one. He has had a tremendous career and last year we found him brilliant to work with.”
As for the match itself at the weekend, which marked the start of O’Rourke’s second year at the helm with Tyrone, he felt the fisted goals in either half from Lorcan McGarrity and Mattie Donnelly came at opportune moments, with Armagh threatening to take a stranglehold on proceedings.
“ The two goals came at good times and were obviously crucial. The boys kept playing and kept working for each other. We were delighted to have squeezed out the result at the end.
“ After the first goal we went four points up but Armagh in fairness were very quick to cut down that lead and they went ahead. We struggled for a ten minute period before half-time but in the second half we were able to introduce a few fresh legs.
“ Every time we went down the field and got a score they were able to reply at the other end. So again the second goal was also a crucial score. We worked it well and once we got that it gave us a boost to push on and win the game.”
Four players were making their competitive debuts for Tyrone, with another couple introduced off the bench after the break and overall the manager was satisfied with their impact against top calibre opposition.
“ We were pleased with them. We have a big panel there at the minute and everyone is working very hard. We wanted to see just how they would fare in a hard place like this, the Athletic Grounds. So it was a case of throwing some of them in to see how they got on and overall we were pleased.
“ We are wise enough of course to realise it’s the second of January, very early in the year, so you can’t take that much from it. But at the same time we were pleased with a lot of aspects of it and it gives us a platform to keep building.”
O’Rourke added that it was crucial in these early season fixtures to get the blend right in terms of the make-up of his starting fifteen, so as not to throw too many rookies into the mix.
“ It’s about trying to balance it, allowing the experienced players to mix with the younger players just to give them a fair crack at the whip. We have a number of lads who are coming back from injury as well and we need to be careful with them.
“ There is a good attitude among the group and we are just keen to keep pushing on. The main focus for us is obviously the National Football League so all these games are geared towards that.
“ Down next week will obviously be a different game again and after that the games come thick and fast. But as long as we have big enough numbers and fellas coming back from injury we should be okay to keep mixing and matching to get something out of the games.
“ No doubt they are good preparation for going into the National League and as well we will probably have to cut the panel at the end of the McKenna Cup as well so it gives us a good chance to look at everybody.”
