FEARGAL LOGAN is planning to get down to work immediately following his reappointment as Tyrone U21 football manager.
Logan has been handed a two-year term, with Peter Canavan and Brian Dooher also back on board as part of a management team that guided the Red Hands to the All-Ireland title this year. With league and championship football building to an exciting climax within the county, Logan will take in as many games as possible as he scouts for talent, as well as keeping a watchful eye on the progress of players through the Academy system.
“There’s plenty of football to view at the moment and there’s work to be done with some of these guys in U20 Academy transition. We’ll be keeping our eyes open,” he said.
“And we have Peter Donnelly in the county, who will be working with these young men in terms of strength and conditioning.”
With a dozen members of the 2015 squad eligible again next year, Tyrone have a strong base. Six members of the starting team, including three who have progressed to the senior squad – Cathal McShane, Seán Fox and Lee Brennan – will play again in 2016, along with midfielder Frank Burns and attackers Mark Kavanagh and Ruairí McGlone.
“There’s a good core of last year’s team still available, but they need to be in the right mindset, the fight form to try and repeat the dose," Logan added.
“But it all needs to flow in together. The beauty of last year was that it all came together, the boys were very hungry and they did their work. We’ll give it our best and give it a go to win trophies and to build character and footballing ability in these men and get them out for senior football.”
Logan accepts that, as Ulster and All-Ireland champions, Tyrone will be viewed as a big scalp and must live with all the pressures that go with the defence of a major title.
“You become the benchmark and you also become the target, so we’ll just have to live with that, see how the draw works out and see if we can keep progressing," he said.
“And as I always say, we want to keep building a platform for the senior team going forward, so build as many good young footballers in Tyrone as we can and, if we get the benefit of a run in that competition, all the better.”
And in a sudden death environment, they can’t afford any slip-ups. The Red Hand management team plans to leave no stone unturned in their efforts to repeat this year’s success.
“We had a god run at it, it’s a unique competition and we’ll take another run at it this year, and just hope that things work out as well," he added.
“But there’s no guarantees in football, so we’ll just give it our best shot, Peter, Brian and myself. We’ll give it our best go.”
The county executive made a double appointment at Garvaghey on Tuesday night, handing Mickey Harte a new two-year term as senior manager and Logan welcomed the stability that now exists in the running of the county’s teams.
“Mickey has shown an immense appetite for Tyrone football and, of course, stability is always a good sign," he said.
“There’s a cut and thrust in football and there’s a cut and thrust in the boardroom, so now that that has all been sorted out and put to bed, let’s get back to the cut and thrust of football and get on with it to try and keep Tyrone moving forward.”
