Tyrone skipper Kennedy desperate to avoid the drop

HAVING been handed the prestigious honour of captaining Tyrone for the 2025 season, Derrylaughan midfielder Brian Kennedy doesn’t want to mark the occasion with a relegation against his name.

That’s the prospect facing the Red Hands this Sunday, but they can at least give themselves a fighting chance by taking down Dublin in their Division One Omagh clash – although they will still require at least one result elsewhere to go their way.

Still though, it’s a source of great pride for the Kevin Barrys man to be leading Tyrone out and he is hoping for a positive conclusion before they turn their attention towards an Ulster opener against Cavan on April 12.

“It’s a massive achievement, especially looking back at some of the boys that have been in that position before me.

“Obviously a lot of them are still knocking about and they’re there to lean on for advice,” Kennedy said about the move from vice-captain in 2024 to captain this term.

“It’s a massive honour for me and the club and the family, but it’s just something that I’m glad Malachy (O’Rourke) gave me the opportunity to do and I’m looking forward to it.”

Results under new manager O’Rourke have been a mixed bag to date – not entirely unexpected when a new coaching team takes over. Kennedy is hoping that the importance of the match – and the momentum of Sunday’s win in Donegal – will sharpen their blades for the visit of Dessie Farrell’s side.

“It’s basically a championship match for us – it’s knock-out.

“A win is probably the only result that will do anything for us. We know the challenge, watching Dublin all through the league, they’ve ground out results and they’ve put teams away easy as well.

“So they have serious quality and we know the challenge. We’re going to have to up it another few gears from the performances over this past number of weeks to hopefully get out on top there.

“They’re lightning in attack and they’re very solid going back as well in defence. I watched their game against Galway at the weekend and everything seemed fluid, they were nearly getting a score every attack.

“They seem to have players to slot in everywhere and the older heads like (Ciarán) Kilkenny and (Stephen) Cluxton coming in to keep the whole thing grounded and a bit of routine in it. But they’re serious athletes and hopefully we can get them closed out on Sunday.”

Of course, this season’s league campaign has been dominated by the FRC’s rule enhancements and while much of the focus has been on the ever-changing remit of goalkeepers, midfield maestros like Kennedy haven’t escaped the state of flux with kick-outs battles now resembling bumper cars with teams going longer more regularly.

“I think the majority of them are good, and they have added to the game,” Kennedy said of the
changes.

“Speaking from a midfield point of view, it’s fairly turned the volume up – every kick out is going long and being contested, so it’s about developing that part of your game, break ball or clean possession is a massive platform for getting scores in games.

“Most of the kick out stats are 50-50 down the middle so if a team can get a good foothold in that position, it sort of gives them a good footing going forward in the game.”

Retirement means that he won’t have to battle with one of his favourite ever players – Brian Fenton – this Sunday in Omagh, but whoever wears the sky blue is sure to bring the fire given Dublin maintain thoughts of a league final.

For new captain Kennedy, it’s the sort of challenge he loves to take on.