Double round of ACL at the end of July

ONLY five rounds of league matches in all divisions will remain to be played by the end of this month after the Tyrone Competitions Control Committee comfirmed on Thursday a double round of ACL fixtures on the weekend of July 29^th-July 31st.

Round 6 of the league in Divisions 1 and 2 and Round 8 in Division 3 were postponed on Friday week past as a mark of respect following the tragic death of Tyrone hurling star Damian Casey.

Those matches have now been rearranged for Sunday July 31^st and will be preceded on the Friday night (July 29^th) by the scheduled Round 10 games in Divisions 1 and 2, and Round 12 fixtures in Division 3. The Thirds teams of Donaghmore, Errigal Ciaran and Coalisland- operating at Junior level- will play their double round of matches on Saturday July 30^th and Monday August 1^st.

The rearranged round will help the County Board to remain on track to complete the vast majority- if not all- of the league programme before the various Club Championships take centre stage heading into the autumn.

Late September has been mooted as a potential starting date for the Championships, with the traditional concerns raised that an earlier commencement point would render the latter stages of the league meaningless for those clubs beaten in the knockout series.

Once again this season the staging of ACL matches on Friday evenings has proven to be hugely popular with players and spectators alike, drawing big crowds to all venues. The Tyrone CCC will be looking to continue that arrangement into August, before the shorter nights eventually become an issue.

There will be no ACL action this coming Friday (July 8^th) as Tyrone GAA takes a mini-break over the summer holiday period.

Meanwhile several Tyrone county panellists at senior and under-20 level- Conor Meyler, Michael McKernan, Ruairi Canavan, Cormac Munroe, James Donaghy, Michael McGleenan and Niall Devlin- are currently spending the summer in the USA but are expected to be back in their respective club folds in good time for the Championship.

In other news the draw for the 2022 AIB Ulster Club series was held last week with the Tyrone Senior and Intermediate champions drawn away to their Derry counterparts in the quarter-finals on the weekend of November 12/13^th. The Tyrone Junior champions are away to the Down winners in the first round.