The story of Tyrone’s season

Niall Gartland reflects on the key talking points after the conclusion of Tyrone’s season!

An early shower

THE Championship trumps all else so it’s disappointing that Tyrone bowed out of the race for Sam last Saturday with their preliminary quarter-final defeat to Roscommon. It was the nature of the defeat that proved disappointing as much as anything else – Roscommon are no world beaters (though they are certainly stronger than they’ve been given credit for) and Tyrone failed to press home the argument in their ill-fated attempt to stage a second-half comeback. There were few positives to take from the game and while some of the social media chatter in its aftermath was way over the top, there’s no doubt that it was a deflating end to the season.

Fans staying at home

A RECURRING topic of conversation over the last while has been the paltry attendances at the majority of Tyrone games, regardless of the venue or stature of the match. Take their recent group stage clash against Clare at Omagh – there were barely three thousand spectators who thought the game was worth attending.

It’s arguably even more glaring at matches when the opposition fans have come out in force – for example Tyrone’s Ulster Championship encounter against Donegal at Celtic Park looked for all the world like a home game for Jim McGuinness’ team. So why the low turnout? Ticket and fuel prices are an undoubted factor – it’s an expensive day out, particularly for families, but even at that, you’d expect more of a showing from Tyrone supporters.

The future looks bright

IT was the undoubted highlight of the season for followers of Tyrone football. The Red Hands surged to a brilliant victory over Kerry in the All-Ireland U20 final on a sunny day in Portlaoise, their second win at this level in just three years. Four members of that team have already taken the step up to the senior ranks and two of them, Shea O’Hare and Eoin McElholm, have seen game-time. Eoin is just 18 years old and scored a point on his debut against Roscommon, while Shea, Michael Rafferty and Ronan Cassidy have bundles of potential as well. Don’t be surprised if more members of the all-conquering U20 team get their chance to shine when the 2025 season rolls around (it does seem quite a while away).

Shining lights

WHILE the All-Ireland Championship came to a shuddering halt last Saturday, and there were a couple of disappointing day outs against a resurgent Donegal, it wasn’t all doom and gloom. A few key members of the Tyrone team had exceptional seasons, in particular Niall Morgan (is there a better goalkeeper in the country), Darragh Canavan and Mattie Donnelly. Morgan played the fly keeper role to perfection all year, setting up scores, dictating the tempo, and he wasn’t bad at the old basics either! Darragh Canavan’s performances warrant a second successive All-Star nomination in our book, while Mattie Donnelly returned from a serious leg injury to play an integral role in Tyrone’s championship campaign. For his leadership qualities alone, he’s crucial to the cause, but he’s still playing great stuff on the field of play as well.

What next for Feargal and Brian

FOLLOWING last year’s All-Ireland SFC quarter-final defeat to Kerry, there was a sense of uncertainty about whether Brian Dooher and Feargal Logan would stay in charge as they had fulfilled their three-year term at the term. They decided they had the appetite to stay at the helm and were granted a fresh contract lasting until the end of the 2026 season. Whether the managerial duo have the appetite to remain in charge is unclear as there were no post-match interviews after Saturday’s defeat to Roscommon, so time will only tell on that front. That aside, there’s more important things in life than football and we wish Feargal all the best in his continued recuperation from a stroke, and it’s been great to see him back playing a key role on match-day in recent weeks.

Will 2025 be better?

WHILE there’s a batch of talented underage players coming through the ranks, this isn’t an overnight process and it could take a few years for those lads to develop into– all being well – marquee names on the senior team. Since the unforgettable All-Ireland success of 2021, Tyrone have struggled for consistency and haven’t looked like bona fide contenders for Sam.

It’s hard to put your finger on as the bulk of the starting members of their All-Ireland winning team are still available for selection, but there have been big losses elsewhere with experienced lads like Mark Bradley and Rory Brennan to name just two taking a step back from intercounty football, while Ronan McNamee and Niall Sludden have retired. Still, there’s a feeling that we have the potential to be doing better and last Saturday’s defeat to Roscommon was definitely a shock.