Clubs across Tyrone set for pre-season competitions

EVERY club that fields an adult senior football team in Tyrone will have the opportunity to partake in a pre-season competition in the coming months.

Last year saw the welcome return of the dormant Jim Devlin Cup to mark the 50^th anniversary of the murder of Coalisland legend Jim and his wife Gertie, who were murdered by a loyalist terror gang.

The competition was acclaimed as a success with Dromore adding their name to the roll of honour list following victory in the final over Clonoe at Fr Peter Campbell Park, Coalisland.

Now the pre-season format has been expanded to cater for all our clubs, with a view to letting players, managers and officials acclimatise to the batch of new rules which were approved at a Special Congress before Christmas.

The pre-season competitions will commence on Saturday, March 15. Division One and Two teams will combined for the group stages, which will consist of eight groups of four teams. The top eight teams will move to the last-eight for the Jim Devlin Cup, while the bottom eight will participate in the Frank O’Neill Club.

Division Three teams, meanwhile, will come together to play for the McGarrity Cup. The finals of all three competitions have been scheduled for the weekend of April 26/27.

Meanwhile, the All County Leagues will get underway on the weekend of May 9-11. The CCC has set down that there will be no July break this year.