Tyrone set for new dawn under O’Rourke

NIALL GARTLAND LOOKS AT THE ROAD AHEAD FOR TYRONE UNDER MALACHY O’ROURKE…

Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher’s names will go down in the history of Tyrone GAA for their seismic contribution as players and managers, but it proved difficult to recapture the form of 2021 in their role as senior joint-bosses and they stepped aside late last August.

After a prolonged period of quiet in the wake of a surprise championship exit to Roscommon, change at the top came quickly.

Feargal and Brian stepped aside after four years in charge and a fortnight later Malachy O’Rourke, a vastly experienced manager who won an All-Ireland with Glen 12 months back, was formally announced as their successor.

O’Rourke was the only man nominated for the job and while there’s palpable excitement about the road ahead, there’s also a recognition that it might take a year or two for Tyrone to return to the top table.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and all that but at the same time it wouldn’t be much of a shock if the Red Hands put in a credible challenge for All-Ireland honours as the raw ingredients are there.

O’Rourke, who’s brought with him his sideline sidekicks Ryan Porter and Leo McBride, as well as enlisting Collie McCullagh, Chris Lawn and John Devine, has assembled a provisional panel of around 45 players ahead of their first competitive outing against Derry on Saturday, January 26.

In terms of strength-in-depth, it’s hard not to draw parallels with the stacked squad at Logan and Dooher’s disposal in their All-Ireland winning debut season of 2021.

Mark Bradley, Richie Donnelly and Rory Brennan have decided to give it another crack, there’s no retirements to speak of – Mattie Donnelly, for one, lined out in last weekend’s challenge game against Meath, which Tyrone won – and there’s a batch of immensely promising players coming through the ranks who backboned the county’s 2022 and 2024 All-Ireland U-20 wins.

Eoin McElholm made his debut against Roscommon and has been touted as a star of the future – he was even named by The Irish Times recently as one of five young sportspeople (not just GAA) to watch out for in 2025. A word of caution – he’s only 19 and will need time, and even just finding a place on the team will be difficult enough with similarly talented, and more experienced forwards like Ruairi and Darragh Canavan and Mark Bradley and Darren McCurry around. Still, he looks a class act.

And as much as he might like to, O’Rourke can’t play ’em all. Cast your mind to the All-Ireland final of 2021 and Mark Bradley didn’t see a single minute of action. Not long after, he announced his retirement from the inter-county game – and that’s how it was couched, his retirement. Rory Brennan also departed the panel around the same time, and these brilliant footballers aren’t just coming back to renew friendships – they’re coming back to win a second Celtic Cross.

Plenty has said about how the new rules are tailor-made to All-Star goalkeeper Niall Morgan. He’s arguably the best in the business, but he needs help at the back and Tyrone have been uncharacteristically porous in recent years.
Further out the pitch, there’s serious competition in that middle eight. Conn Kilpatrick and Brian Kennedy have formed a familiar partnership in the middle while Richie Donnelly and Joe Oguz are also serious asssets in the middle third.

Elsewhere there are a batch of hard runners fending for a starting berth on the wings. Conor Meyler too could come back into contention after an injury-ravaged 2024. Then there’s another star of the future, Shea O’Hare, who was drafted into the senior team swiftly after last year’s All-Ireland U-20 success.

It really feels like anything could happen with Tyrone this year. It wouldn’t be a shock if they struggle to stay afloat in Division One (given the strength of the competition) but nor would it be a surprise if they pick up a head of steam and give the All-Ireland a serious rattle.

O’Rourke is a generational manager, he knows the new rules inside out having formed part of the specially formed Football Rules Committee and he delivered a coaching day on matter last weekend at Garvaghey. He’s a down to earth fella but there’s a steely intelligence there and he knows Tyrone football inside-out having lived in Ballygawley for decades.

A look at his LinkedIn account gives us a glimpse into his managerial priorities: “Establishing a vision; Crafting a sustainable, resilient culture; The importance of belonging; Setting standards; Striving for excellence; Realising individual potential; Personal growth and motivation; Developing leadership; The power of positivity; Building effective teams and The importance of physical health and wellbeing.” In a term, man management.

He’s won his All-Ireland at club level with Glen and there’s an obvious box to be ticked with Tyrone. But. as Jim Gavin always spoke about, it’s a process.

The first step, in our eyes, is improving the team’s consistency levels. In recent years, you never really knew what you were going to get with Tyrone and there were plenty of chastening defeats. If they pick up a winning habit and in general bring a lot more cut and thrust to their play than in recent years, it’ll bring out the crowds and you never know where it might all lead…