Football

Former Tyrone defender Dermot Carlin joins county’s U20 management team

Former Tyrone star Dermot Carlin 
Former Tyrone star Dermot Carlin  Former Tyrone star Dermot Carlin 

FORMER Tyrone defender Dermot Carlin is to join the county’s U20 management team.

Manager Paul Devlin has also confirmed that Paddy McGuigan will be a member of the backroom set-up in 2018.

The management team is expected to be ratified next week for the first ever U20 Championship, which replaces the U21 series.

Carlin was the youngest member of the Tyrone squad which won the county’s first All-Ireland title in 2003, and after a spell spent travelling, he returned to win a second in Sam Maguire in 2008. 

The Killyclogher clubman also won an All-Ireland MFC medal in 2001.

Following a lengthy struggle with injury, he announced his retirement from inter-county football in 2015.

Collie Holmes, who guided Tyrone to the inaugural All-Ireland U17 title this year, is to manage that team again next season.

Meanwhile, the popular Tyrone Summer Camps are set to cross the Irish Sea and the Atlantic next year, with plans to stage the events in London and New York.

Hundreds of children attend the camps at venues all over Tyrone each year, and now they are to take on an international dimension.

The initiative is a direct spin-off from the recent establishment of branches of the county’s fundraising body, Club Tyrone, in the British and US cities.

“We firmly believe the links with our diaspora must be two-way and that we in turn need to make our contribution to Gaelic life there,” said Mark Conway, chairman of the Tyrone PR and marketing committee. 

“In 2017 we made very significant progress in establishing strong Club Tyrone presences in both New York and London. 

“That progress is essentially down to the relentless work of groups of committed Tyrone gaels in those great cities. Gaelic Tyrone is indebted to them. They don’t forget us and we mustn’t forget them,” he said. 

Conway hailed the dedication of the Club Tyrone representatives who travelled to New York and London at their own expense to work with ex-pats on the establishment of branches of the organisation.

“For me, to have a team who will take significant time off work and then travel to places like New York and London, totally at their own expense, just to progress the Tyrone Gaelic agenda, means we are blessed indeed. 

“Few others in life have the privilege of working with such people.” 

“Club Tyrone does not happen by accident. 

“It thrives because we have a county and people in it who know and appreciate what the GAA is and who are therefore very willing to support it so selflessly.”

Kildress clubman Conway outlined other ambitions plans for 2018.

“Over the next year we hope to renew our emphasis and focus on what is our core business – managing and developing Club Tyrone’s unique planned giving model. 

“It’s something that’s very precious and remains the envy of most others outside Tyrone.”