Football

Tyrone minor bosses Gallagher and Devlin ready to sow seeds

GUIDING HANDS: Tyrone minors joint-manager Iggy Gallagher (above) and his counterpart Paul Devlin will be aiming to win silverware over the next two years, but ensuring a steady conveyor belt of talent into the senior ranks is their overriding &nbsp;brief, according to Devlin, as they begin their tenure <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">			</span>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
GUIDING HANDS: Tyrone minors joint-manager Iggy Gallagher (above) and his counterpart Paul Devlin will be aiming to win silverware over the next two years, but ensuring a steady conveyor belt of talent into the senior ranks is their overriding  brief GUIDING HANDS: Tyrone minors joint-manager Iggy Gallagher (above) and his counterpart Paul Devlin will be aiming to win silverware over the next two years, but ensuring a steady conveyor belt of talent into the senior ranks is their overriding  brief, according to Devlin, as they begin their tenure            

TYRONE’s new minor football managers say they have taken on a heavy responsibility for the future success of the county at senior level.

Paul Devlin and Iggy Gallagher will send their teams out to win trophies over the next two years, but feel their legacy will be measured in terms of the development of players who can continue to represent the Red Hands in years to come.

The two men, based at either side of the county, are perfectly placed to monitor and capture all the available talent, Devlin from Moortown on the shore of Lough Neagh and Gallagher from Trillick on the Fermanagh border.

“The whole goal is bringing them forward to U21 and senior football, getting lads developed,” said Devlin.

“Surely you want silverware for the lads. That’s their objective. But at the end of the day, once you have pulled the Tyrone jersey over your back, going out to play senior championship football, that’s when you have made it as a Tyrone footballer.

“Lads playing minor football have to realise that this is part of the process going through.”

The former Tyrone and Ulster defender stressed that all their efforts will be geared towards winning trophies, and providing the players with a platform of success from which to bring their careers to a higher level.

“Nothing brings the development on quicker than success, so the quicker lads can buy in to what we’re doing, what we’re going to be putting in place, the better it is for them,” he added.

“The fellows that buy into it will be the ones that will reap the rewards, all being well. My philosophy is, get out and do it, don’t talk about doing it.”

Devlin and Gallagher have worked together as development squad coaches, and both have extensive coaching experience on the club scene.

“Iggy Gallagher has a senior championship medal with Trillick, and he had a bad injury when he was just starting out with Tyrone,” said Devlin.

“He has come through a bunch of fellows with Trillick in the eighties, was a member of successful teams, and he brings that to the table. 

“When I think of Iggy Gallagher, I think of Trillick, and I think of Trillick as winners. They carry themselves with pride and you have to surround yourself with people like that.”

Devlin, who played at corner-back on Tyrone teams for 12 years, winning an All-Ireland U21 medal and playing in the All-Ireland SFC final of 1995, added: “Tyrone have always been good to me and we’re handing back to the county what was given to us down the years.”