Tyrone sweating on the fitness of key duo

TYRONE are sweating on the fitness of two key players ahead of the opening match in defence of their Ulster and All-Ireland Senior Championship titles next week, with doubts over the availability of Mattie Donnelly and Peter Harte.

The Red Hands face rank outsiders Fermanagh in the preliminary round of the provincial series on Easter Saturday (April 16^th) at Brewster Park.

While the holders are raging hot favourites to prevail, they will still be hoping to be able to call upon two of their most experienced campaigners for what could be a potential banana-skin in Enniskillen.

Both Donnelly (hamstring) and Harte (appendix) face a race against time to be declared fir for the tie with the Ernesiders, though joint manager Feargal Logan is cautiously optimistic.

“ Mattie has a hamstring injury but as you would expect knowing his style he’s rehabing and working as hard as he can to get everything sorted out. We’ll let Fermanagh find that out in due course.”

Speaking ahead of training on Thursday night, Logan was also unable to confirm whether Harte would be able to play a role on Saturday week.

“ He should be about here tonight. We are going to have to see where he is medically. He had his appendix removed last week but Peter is okay.”

On a more positive note, Logan stated that two other pivotal figures in last year’s All-Ireland run, Brian Kennedy and Michael O’Neill, should receive the green light for potential selection.

“ Brian had a minor enough niggle and he was unlucky. He had a gash which required a few stitches so we would be hopeful he will be back in flying form.

“ Michael is very close. He is back up and at it at full training and ready to play. It’s a matter of competition for places but Michael is back.”