MICHAEL Cassidy, Ronan O’Neill and Hugh Pat McGeary have decided to step away from the Tyrone panel next year.
All three contributed to their county’s unforgettable season but they struggled to break into the starting line-up or get game-time off a bench brimming with talent during the Red Hands’ march to the Sam Maguire. O’Neill’s single Championship appearance came against Monaghan in the Ulster final at Croke Park while Pomeroy clubman McGeary and Ardboe wing-back Cassidy did not feature at all.
McGeary was on the bench for the All-Ireland final win against Mayo but O’Neill and Cassidy (both substitutes for the 2019 All-Ireland decider against Dublin) did not make the final 26.
Opportunities were limited because throughout last season Tyrone management duo Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher were able to name a remarkably consistent side. A dozen players started all five games and Tiernan McCann and Cathal McShane were sprung off the bench to see the Red Hands home. That consistency was an obvious factor in Tyrone winning the Anglo-Celt Cup, adding a fourth All-Ireland title and subsequently dominating the Allstar awards with eight players - Niall Morgan, Paudie Hampsey, Conor Meyler, Kieran McGeary (Player of the Year), Peter Harte, Brian Kennedy, Niall Sludden and Darren McCurry – featuring. Kennedy was the only player not to start every Championship game last season.
Meanwhile, the exhibition game against Armagh for the Time2Play charity gave Tyrone the opportunity to blood some new talent ahead of next season including Loughmacrory’s former U20 star Conall Grimes who has been called into an extended panel for the McKenna Cup. Dungannon Thomas Clarke’s skipper Paudie McNulty is also expected to feature but with a pre-season trip to Florida imminent for last season’s squad, the panel for 2022 has yet to be finalised.
“It was a good run-out all round,” said Logan after the game against Armagh.
“It was a good entertaining game. Cathal McShane got a full game under his belt and he is looking good and it was good to get Kieran (McGeary) and Paudie (Hampsey) out and Niall Morgan played too.
“It was great to get some of the other lads introduced. We had a couple of U20s in and they all put their hands up. You’d love to give them a full game every time but it’s difficult.”
The Red Hands, the last county to lift the Dr McKenna Cup at the start of 2020, leave for Orlando on a team holiday tomorrow and they will be able to soak up the Florida sunshine until Sunday, January 9.
The McKenna Cup begins under lights on Friday, January 7 and Tyrone have been drawn in Section B along with Armagh and Cavan. The Red Hands will receive a bye for the first game, while the second round of games are fixed for Tuesday, January 11 and the final group games on Saturday, January 15.
Section A sees Donegal, Down and Antrim go toe-to-toe, with Monaghan, Derry and Fermanagh in Section C.
The McKenna Cup semi-finals will take place on Tuesday, January 18, with the final on Saturday, January 22. That will lead counties into the National Football League, which gets under way the following weekend.
