IT’S back to square one for Tyrone’s find of the season.
Niall Sludden feels he will have to start all over again and prove himself worthy of a place in the Red Hand starting 15. Sludden had a spectacular debut season in 2016, posting a series of stunning performances, which earned him an Allstar nomination.
But he’s feeling the pressure and won’t be taking anything for granted due to the quality within the squad: “I have to get back in because there’s serious competition for places," Sludden said.
"I suppose I made a good enough mark last year. I came in and settled in well to the team. I got my chance and I suppose I grabbed it, but I’ll have to do the same thing again next year.
“It’s back again to square one. I’m going to go back to training and I’m going to work very hard to try and get my place in the team. There’ll be serious competition for places and I’m looking forward to trying to get my grasp on it as well. If I don’t get my place in the team, I’ll continue to work hard because I know there’s a real battle for places, but I’m really looking forward to 2017.”
Several emerging players who enjoyed game time over the past year will be looking to take it to the next level, while a new wave of fresh talent has been identified by manager Mickey Harte, who has called up six new faces.
They include two players who were on the All-Ireland winning U21 team last year - Michael Cassidy of Ardboe and Cookstown’s Ruairí Mullan. Also included are Harry Loughran (Moy), Cahir McCullagh, who was in sparkling scoring form this year for Greencastle, Declan McClure, a midfielder powerhouse in Clonoe’s championship run, and Aghyaran’s prolific finisher Ronan McHugh.
“You have some of the new boys coming in there are adding a wee bit of freshness to it,” said Sludden.
“And you add in the older blend as well, so I can’t wait to get back to training, can’t wait to push myself on and hopefully build on last year again.”
Sludden had an extended season with Dromore, which only ended last weekend and is unlikely to feature in Sunday’s Ó Fiaich Cup semi-final against Louth, but he regards the pre-season competition run by the Crossmaglen club as a valuable asset in terms of preparation for 2017.
"Definitely, especially for the new boys coming in there wanting to get a bit of extra time to build up. And let’s be honest, the McKenna Cup is just around the corner as well, the National League is going to be starting soon," he said.
"It goes very quick and, if you can go in and get your jersey and stake a claim under Mickey, he’s definitely going to play you.”
Tyrone are going for a sixth successive Dr McKenna Cup title, but face a tough defence in January, having been drawn in the same group as Donegal, Cavan and UU.
“It’s a very tough group, but we’ll be looking forward to that challenge," Sludden added.
“There’s some tough games there, but we’ll just take it one game at a time and keep building on it. There’ll be a number of people getting a chance there and we’ll see if they can stand up because there’ll be serious intensity to those games as well.
“It’s all about integrating them into the team and becoming used to the style of play that we play as well. So it’s very important for the new boys and for everyone else as well. We treat it the same as any other competition, we want to go out and win it, but we’ll focus on our performance.”
Tyrone’s return to Division One of the National Football League will see them face the country’s top teams, another prospect that excites the Dromore club-man.
“It’s a massive step up. That’s the level you want to be playing at. If we want to push on from last year and keep working on it, we have to be testing ourselves against these teams," he said.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge of going to the top-tier teams and seeing how we can perform against them.”
