Tyrone County Football and Hurling

[Mikhailov]

good players but lack the pace for county level
both will have to bide their time before making the Trillick starting 15 even, don't see the Trillick starting personnel changing much from last year and then even missing one of the Garrity's
Devlin has stated many times he wants men playing club senior football

first time I watched the 20s on Sunday as was unable to see the Wed night games
tbh I don't see many making the step up bar the 2 quality fwds that we know off, they were the difference in the end..Kerry dominated alot of the game but couldn't turn possession into scores...

Would we not also be seriously looking at Ben Hughes, Joey Clarke, Callum Daly, Caolan Donnelly and Conor O'Neill on top of McElholm and McCullagh. Maybe not as Senior starting players in 2025 or 2026 but a year or two on the development squad before breaking into the side. We have a Senior team there at the minute that has Hamspey, Meyler, Brennan, McGeary, Burns, Bradley, McCurry, Mattie and Peter Harte now all the wrong side of 30. They can't go on forever.

I don't think it is just as simple as that. Look at the 2022 winning team, 3 years later and really only 3 of them are considered 'possible' starters in Devlin, Daly and Canavan. A few others have been there but decided they needed to step away. Then look at the 2024 winning team. Shea O'Hare, Cassidy and Rafferty are struggling for even selection on match days and only McElholm is getting some minutes.
The step up is huge but the commitment is the bigger issue.
Can these lads go from certain starters at U20/colleges to become squad panel members but still put in a colossal commitment - that is always the question in my mind.
Lads at 19/20 have a bit of 'living' to do and sitting on the bench may not appeal, then as they mature around 22/23 they are maybe more prepared to put in the effort and give it a real go plus another big factor - they are more physically developed and ready for the training and games against seasoned players.
To go up against seasoned players with years of S&C and county training is not easy when you are coming straight from U20's.

[tiempo]

To go up against seasoned players with years of S&C and county training is not easy when you are coming straight from U20's.

100%

O'Hare made mince meat of U20s last year, he was well above the level, hopefully he can bulk up and be a star for the seniors, but a long way to go yet

[ClubScene13]

Agree with that Mikhailov, I think from the county minors changed to U17 the correlation is not really there to a good senior anymore as well. Stating the obvious when you're watching 16 year olds but the S&C levels you need to get to makes it extremely hard to get a good guage on who could make it through, you can see it even in the amount of minors who don't make Tyrone U20's in the following years.

[Onthe40]

totally agree
moving the age to u20 has if anything pushed it more towards minor than senior
4-5 will be asked to join the senior panel id imagine
only 2-3 at most will come through

tbh I thought some of the tyrone players were just ok
the defensive gamethey play is more down to a system, workrate, fitness than anything else, then they have the 2 marquee lads up front who can score from nowhere

[thebigfullforward]

good players but lack the pace for county level
both will have to bide their time before making the Trillick starting 15 even, don't see the Trillick starting personnel changing much from last year and then even missing one of the Garrity's
Devlin has stated many times he wants men playing club senior football

first time I watched the 20s on Sunday as was unable to see the Wed night games
tbh I don't see many making the step up bar the 2 quality fwds that we know off, they were the difference in the end..Kerry dominated alot of the game but couldn't turn possession into scores...

He wants them playing seniors as in that's what he picks them on or as in if they have a chance of playing senior football they should take it? There'd be a few ones there never played senior ball before at least competitively, not sure about challenge games

[Mikhailov]

good players but lack the pace for county level
both will have to bide their time before making the Trillick starting 15 even, don't see the Trillick starting personnel changing much from last year and then even missing one of the Garrity's
Devlin has stated many times he wants men playing club senior football

first time I watched the 20s on Sunday as was unable to see the Wed night games
tbh I don't see many making the step up bar the 2 quality fwds that we know off, they were the difference in the end..Kerry dominated alot of the game but couldn't turn possession into scores...

He wants them playing seniors as in that's what he picks them on or as in if they have a chance of playing senior football they should take it? There'd be a few ones there never played senior ball before at least competitively, not sure about challenge games

Paul Dook wants you playing for your club senior team as a must - that's how he judges and views players. Very little (if any) trial system under him - selection for squad based on club leagues and club championship. If you are not playing, then you will struggle to get near a squad of Dooks

[NotedObserver]

Did tickets come out? Or are they all gone?

[Goals_Will_Come]

good players but lack the pace for county level
both will have to bide their time before making the Trillick starting 15 even, don't see the Trillick starting personnel changing much from last year and then even missing one of the Garrity's
Devlin has stated many times he wants men playing club senior football

first time I watched the 20s on Sunday as was unable to see the Wed night games
tbh I don't see many making the step up bar the 2 quality fwds that we know off, they were the difference in the end..Kerry dominated alot of the game but couldn't turn possession into scores...

He wants them playing seniors as in that's what he picks them on or as in if they have a chance of playing senior football they should take it? There'd be a few ones there never played senior ball before at least competitively, not sure about challenge games

Paul Dook wants you playing for your club senior team as a must - that's how he judges and views players. Very little (if any) trial system under him - selection for squad based on club leagues and club championship. If you are not playing, then you will struggle to get near a squad of Dooks

Arguments can be made about whether that approach is right or wrong. The two Trillick lads mentioned for example would likely be starring for Beragh or Eglish but because they play for Trillick senior chances have been limited. Donnelly for example was good enough to play for Jordanstown freshers team at midfield, is he really any worse than some of the 34 players who fill out the squad?
But it is also good to reward players for how they are getting on at club level when they maybe previously were overlooked on development squads or schools teams - the Senior team could really benefit from this approach, number of good club players running around in Intermediate and Junior could be useful to the seniors - even after a time on the development squad, doing S+C etc - Thinking Liam Nugent, Shane Murphy, Ciaran Bogue, Conroy, Coleman, Tony Devine, Conor Owens - players of that mould. Very few established seniors are ready at 23/24 but more so towards 26/27 but we have loads of players dropping off the squad within their first year or two before they've developed to this stage.

[tiempo]

Anything to be said for an All-Ireland B county competition, only players from Junior clubs eligible, straight knockout old 90s format, All-Ireland to finish on senior provincial final weekends, no GPA grant funding

[HokeyPokey]

It's funny how brilliant players can come through the same teams or how some brilliant minor teams don't  produce any players. The 97/98 and 2008 minor vintages come to mind or the 2015 U21 team. 2010 had Sludden who was great, but also Ronan O'Neill and Richie Donnelly, though them not fulfilling their promise can be attributed to injuries and/or the playing style and management.

[Goals_Will_Come]

It's funny how brilliant players can come through the same teams or how some brilliant minor teams don't  produce any players. The 97/98 and 2008 minor vintages come to mind or the 2015 U21 team. 2010 had Sludden who was great, but also Ronan O'Neill and Richie Donnelly, though them not fulfilling their promise can be attributed to injuries and/or the playing style and management.

2009 Minor/2012 U21 vintage gave us Tiernan McCann, Niall Morgan and Ronan McNamee. Just shows the success of a team doesn't always attribute to quality coming through.

[ClubScene13]

Is the U20 final dependent on who wins the other semi final? Did I read somewhere if its Mayo then its 31st May / 1st June but if its Louth it will be the week after?

[NotedObserver]

Any news on how things going with the senior team? Is the development squad stopped due to leagues starting up?

[Easttyrone23]

It's funny how brilliant players can come through the same teams or how some brilliant minor teams don't  produce any players. The 97/98 and 2008 minor vintages come to mind or the 2015 U21 team. 2010 had Sludden who was great, but also Ronan O'Neill and Richie Donnelly, though them not fulfilling their promise can be attributed to injuries and/or the playing style and management.

Both Donnelly and O'neill played for Tyrone for about a decade each. Both have all Ireland medals and Ulster titles. There's no doubt they may have been affected by injuries and management/playing style but it's very harsh to say they didn't fulfill their potential when they have had a career most inter county footballers could only dream about.

Also I'm near sure Mccurry was in that 2010 minor team.

[nrico2006]

It's funny how brilliant players can come through the same teams or how some brilliant minor teams don't  produce any players. The 97/98 and 2008 minor vintages come to mind or the 2015 U21 team. 2010 had Sludden who was great, but also Ronan O'Neill and Richie Donnelly, though them not fulfilling their promise can be attributed to injuries and/or the playing style and management.

Both Donnelly and O'neill played for Tyrone for about a decade each. Both have all Ireland medals and Ulster titles. There's no doubt they may have been affected by injuries and management/playing style but it's very harsh to say they didn't fulfill their potential when they have had a career most inter county footballers could only dream about.

Also I'm near sure Mccurry was in that 2010 minor team.

Richard Donnelly was never really expected to be great and he didn't have a great inter county career at senior level.

Ronan O'Neill and Conan Grugan were the stars of the 2010 minor team and neither fulfilled their potential either.