Eoin reaching for the stars

IT’S little wonder that Eoin McElholm has scooped the Under-20 Footballer of the Year award when you consider that the Loughmacrory starlet is already tearing it up at senior intercounty level.

Now in his second year at senior level, it’s expected that McElholm will play a part in Sunday’s All-Ireland group stage finale against Cavan at Brewster Park – and he says that playing alongside Darren McCurry and the Canavan brothers Darragh and Ruairi Canavan has been an immensely enjoyable and educational experience.

McElholm, who yesterday was named as U20 Footballer of the Year, said: “Practice always helped from when I was no-age, going up to the pitch with a bag of balls and kicking as many scores as possible,” he says.

“Going up to the seniors and playing with the likes of Darren (McCurry), Darragh and Ruairi Canavan has been great. All the boys, just playing with them and watching what they can do helped me this year.

“Whether it’s wee different movements, or different wee tips they gave me to get a shot off. I felt last year, there were times where I wasn’t really scoring as much in Ulster and stuff and that just might have been down to a lack of experience.

“Coming to the seniors, I definitely learned a few things, just watching the boys and watching what works well for them and trying to implement that into my game. They’re great lads to learn off.

He added: “The U20s and minors is all about building players up to senior level. The jump-up is massive and I’ve been fortunate to come on and make a few appearances and gain some experience but it’s a big step and I still have plenty of learning and plenty of work to do.”

McElholm has packed a lot into his burgeoning career. To give a flavour, he won back-to-back Ulster Minor titles in 2021 and 2022, captained Omagh CBS to MacRory and Hogan Cup honours in 2023, and has played a starring role in the U20’s amazing run of success over the course of the last two seasons.

Now he’ll be hoping to achieve similar success as part of Malachy O’Rourke’s senior set-up, but Tyrone can’t afford to take their eye off the ball in Sunday’s third and final group stage tie against Cavan this Sunday with much left to be determined in an exciting conclusion to the round-robin series.

“We need to bounce back well after the last day and Cavan are going to be very good,” said McElholm.

“They put up a great performance against Mayo and they put up a good performance against Donegal, they just got caught in the second half. We’re going to need a good performance and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Eoin, who is one of six Tyrone players to make the Football Team of the Year, expressed his honour at landing the big individual prize. It’s certainly more than deserved – he scored a whopping 6-21 from play throguh Tyrone’s successful campaign, 2-4 of which came in a magnificent display against Louth in the All-Ireland final.

“Just to hear the words ‘Player of the Year’. It was unreal. “We set out to win the All-Ireland and we did that and then the individual awards are obviously a bonus so it was great to hear.

“Going back-to-back was unreal. After last year there was a few of us who knew we had another year at U20 and when we came back at the very start of the year, Paul (Devlin, the manager) said: ‘The goal is to get to another final and get over the line’.

“The work we put in throughout the year and the challenges we got over… Donegal that day in Owenbeg, Derry in Owenbeg… They were two huge challenges that went right down the wire.

“It just showed us that we had that determination and desire to get over the line and I think that really helped us when we went into the final.

“When Louth made it tight, we already had experienced tight games and getting through them. That really stood to us and getting back-to-back was unbelievable.”

“Last year was unreal and it was a great crew of men,” he says.

“A lot of my best friends were on that team and it was special.

“This year was unbelievable. There are not many teams that have one All-Ireland and a very small group of teams that have done back-to-back, so this one definitely was the cream of the crop.”