Kingdom repeat the objective for Tyrone U20 coach O’Donnell

RECOVERY is the name of the game for the Tyrone Under-20 footballers ahead of Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final clash against Kerry, according to coach Connor O’Donnell.

The Omagh St Enda’s man as part of the coaching set-up that helped Tyrone to last year’s All-Ireland final triumph, where they overcame the Kingdom on a scoreline of 1-20 to 1-14, in a performance that oozed class.

Kerry are back and Tyrone are back and Sunday’s afternoon match in Portlaoise will determine which team will field on All-Ireland final day against either Louth and Mayo, but O’Donnell is confident that his players will leave no stone unturned in their preparations.

Speaking in the direct aftermath of their Ulster final triumph over Donegal, O’Donnell stated: “ The Kerry game will come around quickly so it’s about getting our bodies right, a couple of boys went down with cramp.

“Anything we ask them to do, they do it to the letter of the law so we’ll focus on recovery and getting ourselves right for Kerry.”

A two-time Senior Championship winner with St Enda’s, Connor is now gaining valuable experience of life on the sidelines and he says he’s indebted to Tyrone U-20 manager Paul Devlin, who has led the team to five provincial championships over the course of the last seven years.

“It’s different when you’re standing on a sideline, there’s not a pile you can do apart from losing the voice and doing a bit of shouting but I definitely enjoy it.

“It’s a privilege working with a group like this, Paul’s taken me under his wing and I’m so grateful to him for that.”

“We’ve ten of a backroom, and when we’re training we have great craic on top of the serious stuff, and I think that feeds into the players – they’re young lads at the end of the day, they’re there to enjoy their football and you can see that out on the pitch.”

The Tyrone team is adorned with a significant number of players who were not only at the coalface of last year’s All-Ireland win, but who have also enjoyed a significant degree of success at school’s level.

O’Donnell says it was a calm dressing room in between full-time and extra-time against Donegal, and hopefully their experience will come to fruition again in their last-four date with Kerry.

“The lads were calm and were saying we’re where we want to be. Paul has a really good calmness in the dressing room as well, there’s no roaring or shouting, it’s all about the plan and here’s how we’re going to do it, and the lads take it all on board and deliver it.

“We’ve a lot of lads who were involved in the Ulster final last year and you lean on that experience as well, they’ve been here before and some of those lads will even be back again next year so full credit to them.”