Mickey Harte has thrown his weight behind Tyrone’s All-Ireland U20 title bid by releasing rising stars Darragh Canavan and Matthew Murnaghan from his senior squad.
The pair will be free to devote all their attentions to preparations for the semi-final clash with Dublin on the weekend of October 17/18.
And they won’t return to the senior set-up until after the All-Ireland final, should the Red Hands get the better of the Leinster champions.
U20 boss Paul Devlin is delighted to have his entire squad fully focused on a single objective when they return to collective training in September.
“They’re with ourselves until the U20 competition is over for us. Hopefully we’ll get over Dublin, and after the final the following week, they’ll be ready to go back into the senior set-up,” he said.
“And all club football will be finished up too by that stage, so they (the seniors) will have a straight run right through the whole thing.”
It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement and part of Tyrone’s conveyor belt system, with under-age teams providing a supply line for the senior squad.
“At the end of the day, our job is to get lads through, get them an experience of county football, of the time they have to put into it,” said Harte.
“And whatever they’re doing now, the next step up to senior level is ten times more, commitment-wise, and that’s part and parcel of it.
“We want to develop lads for the senior set-up and if we can get three or four lads coming forward, pushing and knocking on the door for Mickey every year, then that’s great for the county set-up.
“A lot of counties are bringing more lads in at an early stage, whereas Tyrone are giving them time to develop and bringing them through at the right time.
“And any lad that hasn’t broken through, I keep telling them, get out to the club football, keep working hard and the county senior set-up will always be looking out for players.”
Canavan and Murnaghan, who were first called up by senior manager Harte last year, have been hampered by injury, but returned to full fitness towards the latter stages of the Ulster U20 series.
“Mattie and Darragh were coming back from injury, and Darragh wouldn’t have been playing in the first game against Armagh, if it hadn’t been called off, so he came in the second day.
“We managed him and slowly worked him in, and Mattie has been carrying injuries as well.
“The break has given those lads with long-term-injuries a chance to get them cleared up well, give it a bit of time rather than rush it.”
Tyrone turned in a string of solid performances to win a second successive Ulster U20 title, mixing grit with style and adapting to a mix of challenging weather conditions.
With a settled team and an abundance of options on the bench, manager Devlin has assembled a formidable force, but he’s still on the look-out for undiscovered talent which could strengthen his hand.
Last year, Sean Og McAleer, who had never represented the county at any level, burst upon the scene in a late call-up and emerged as the outstanding performer in Tyrone’s provincial triumph.
“We’ll be getting around club games, see how lads are performing and how they’re getting on. And there could be some other lads pop up when we’re looking around.
“Yes, we’re going forward now with this group of lads, but there’s an opportunity for us to see if there’s any other talent about there.
“I found out from my time involved that this is the best time of year for finding lads, when you have club play-offs and championships.
“You take the likes of James McCann, Neil Kilpatrick, Aidy Clarke, boys who haven’t played for Tyrone at any level, and then there’s Sean Og McAleer from last year.
“That’s how we have seen them, playing for their clubs, with people here and there dropping a hint to take a look at them.
“We have unearthed a lot of lads there that hadn’t featured, and it was the club that got them there.”
