McShane opts out of Tyrone squad

Tyrone have been dealt a major setback ahead of their assault on the All-Ireland title with the news that attacker Cathal McShane has stepped away from the panel.

The 29 year old Owen Roes star has opted to leave the county squad in the midst of the current Championship campaign, with Tyrone set to meet the Ulster runners up, as well as Mayo and Cavan in their Sam Maguire group games in the coming weeks.

McShane made his Senior Championship debut a decade ago in 2015 against DonEgal, that appearance coming on the back of his pivotal role in the Tyrone Under-21s All-Ireland success earlier that year.

He went onto collect three Ulster Senior medals (2016, 2017 and 2021), while in the latter season he also memorably secured the All-Ireland Senior title. His most significant impact in that run to glory was coming off the bench to score 1-3 in the semi-final triumph over Kerry at Croke Park.

McShane was an All-Star recipient tin 2019, accumulating 3-48 in his nine appearances for Tyrone as he led the Championship scoring stakes. Such a scorching run of form attracted the attentions of the major AFL clubs Down Under, but any hopes of a switch to Aussie Rules were scuppered when he suffered a serious ankle injury in a league game against Galway in Tuam in February 2020.

He has faced a prolonged battle for fitness and form ever since but was named in the starting fifteen by Malachy O’Rourke for the Ulster Championship opener last month against Cavan in Omagh, where he scored two points from play in an encouraging performance up front.

However he was subsequently left out of the match day squad entirely for the semi-final loss to Armagh in Clones, with Darragh Canavan coming back into the starting fifteen.

While the return of the likes of Mark Bradley and emergence of young stars like Ruairi Canavan and Eoin McElholm creates fierce competition for places for Tyrone in the forward sector, there is no doubt that McShane brought a physicality and aerial ball winning capacity to the fold around the opposition square which will be sorely missed.