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A FIRST victory in more than a year still awaits the Tyrone hurlers as their National League Divison Three campaign continues with what is expected to be a tough away encounter against Louth this weekend.
Action in Division Two and the Christy Ring Cup provided some tough outings for the Red Hands in 2025. But now they are determined to maintain the learning process for a host of young players beginning to make their mark.
Cian McGuigan, Aidan Woods, Cahir and Senan Munroe, Pierce Mullan and Liam Griffiths are among those all gaining what the team manager, Stephen McGarry, says is vital experience at this level.
He is also giving priority to many of the U-20 players whose campaign began for 2026 with a win over Derry last Friday night.
The Antrim native is in no doubt about the importance of gradually developing new blood within the panel.
“It’s going to take time for the young players to get up to the speed of the game. Donegal are a very seasoned team, it’s a tough division that we’re in. We have a very young team and the average ageof the players is 22.5 or 23,” he said.
“So they are very young, but they are getting the experience again this year. They experienced last year, we’ve been building and building for the past couple of years. A lot of emphasis has been put into our U-20s and giving them that chance along with the seniors.
“It’s a tough process at times, but you have to give them that experience and at the end of the day Tyrone will benefit from it.
“The players came on and did well. They are super hurlers and I think we have seven of the U-20s who are part of the panel and a key part of it. Them getting that experience is going to be really good for them.”
Tyrone lost out to Donegal in the opening match last weekend, but there are renewed hopes that they can perhaps make the trip to Louth and emerge with the two points.
The clash is one which Stephen McGarry and the players will be relishing. This is a first meeting between the teams for several years and offers the Red Hands a chance to break a losing streak stretching back to 2024.
“Louth will be coming into this game after a positive result against Armagh and I’m sure that they’ll have a skip in their step,” added McGarry.
“It’s down to us now to go and match that from them and get the result that we want.
“I felt that for long spells against Donegal we moved the ball well and our decision at critical stages let us down. But that will come.
“This is a results-driven business. Maybe our promotion last year was just a bridge too far for a young squad.
“If we could just start getting wins, because you need that momentum. We’re all hurting and it’s about getting things going now at this stage.
“Maybe our energy dipped towards the end of the game against Donegal. But they worked really hard up until that point and then Donegal just got in front of us and with their experience they made it count down the stretch.
Their goal came at a crucial time in the second half and maybe took the wind out of our sails a wee bit. Maybe the wee bit of experience that we lacked on the pitch showed at that period of the game. But we were well in the game for long stages, and we’ll go away now.
“Irrespective of whether we won lost, or draw, we know that there’s plenty to work on.”
