Tyrone football supremo Mickey Harte has all but resigned himself to being without ace attacker Stephen O'Neill as the attacker faces up to the prospect of knee surgery.
O'Neill has been troubled by knee problems for the past number of months and surgery now seems inevitable.
"Stephen probably needs surgery and that will possibly happen in the forseeable future," said Harte.
"I understand that the recovery time will be six to seven months and it is likely Stephen will miss the most of next season's National League.
"The primary wim at the moment is to get the problem with his knee fixed and after that the target will be to hopefully be fully recovered and ready for next year's championship, all being well.
"He has had the tendonitis condition for a while. There is a bit of a tear behind the kneecap and that's caused Stephen great problems.
"In trying to compensate for it to play football, the condition has caused other problems with his hamstring and it looks at the moment that he will ahve surgery to sort out the problem in the near future."
i find this a bit strange.. why was o'neill not in for the operation straight after the championship its now about a month and a half since tyrone went out and only now are they talking about an operation it would be better for the player and tyrone if he had it as soon as possible.. it would enable him to get match practice ahead of the chmpionship rather than missing the whole nfl... when you think about it he has more or less missed 2 years of football except for brief appearences here and there..
O'Neill has been troubled by knee problems for the past number of months and surgery now seems inevitable.
"Stephen probably needs surgery and that will possibly happen in the forseeable future," said Harte.
"I understand that the recovery time will be six to seven months and it is likely Stephen will miss the most of next season's National League.
"The primary wim at the moment is to get the problem with his knee fixed and after that the target will be to hopefully be fully recovered and ready for next year's championship, all being well.
"He has had the tendonitis condition for a while. There is a bit of a tear behind the kneecap and that's caused Stephen great problems.
"In trying to compensate for it to play football, the condition has caused other problems with his hamstring and it looks at the moment that he will ahve surgery to sort out the problem in the near future."
i find this a bit strange.. why was o'neill not in for the operation straight after the championship its now about a month and a half since tyrone went out and only now are they talking about an operation it would be better for the player and tyrone if he had it as soon as possible.. it would enable him to get match practice ahead of the chmpionship rather than missing the whole nfl... when you think about it he has more or less missed 2 years of football except for brief appearences here and there..
?