In transition or in development? Assessing where Tyrone are on their journey heading into the 2023 Ulster championship, Feargal Logan feels they are a team in transition – but doesn’t want that to sound like an excuse.
“Excuses don’t get you very far in inter-county football,” jokes the joint-manager.
As Tyrone get set for Sunday’s crunch Ulster championship showdown with Division One rivals Monaghan in Omagh, they will rely heavily on the pedigree of established stars like Peter Harte, Mattie Donnelly, Ronan McNamee, Padraig Hampsey and Darren McCurry.
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They’ll also have a sprinkling of players with a couple of years under their belts like Brian Kennedy, Conn Kilpatrick and Darragh Canavan.
And then there’s the raw talent of the U20 All-Ireland young guns like Ruairi Canavan, Niall Devlin and Michael McGleenan.
So all in all, it looks like a good mix of youth and experience.
“It’s a word that has been in my head for a couple of months but I have not articulated it, the word ‘transition’,” admitted Logan.
“There is not a lot of forgiveness in the world out there and it can sound like excuses and excuses don’t take you very far in most things – and they certainly don’t take you far in county football.
“But we are lucky and blessed in Tyrone that we have a serious club structure, we have a serious school structure and we have last year’s under-20s who won the All-Ireland and I think there was some evidence of that the last day against Armagh.
“They have been bled in during the League, so, listen, whether it is called transition or whether it is called development, the bottom line is football panels are revolving doors.
“And that is right up to before matches and after matches because there are life issues for players, there are things going on.
“The happy situation is that you have everyone available every day of the week but it is not a straight line and I think we managed to get a couple of players bled in this League so let’s see how they go in the summer.”
Logan admits Tyrone “got a couple of humblings” last year accompanied with strong criticism he described as “the surrounding commentary”.
They started this year’s Allianz League campaign in unconvincing fashion with three trips to Connacht resulting in no points. The four-goal hammering by Mayo in Castlebar had tongues wagging yet all the while Logan and Brian Dooher were urging people to judge them after the seven games.
They knew what they were talking about, because the Red Hands finished with three excellent wins against Kerry, Monaghan and Armagh to comfortably survive in Division One.
Their eight-point win over Monaghan at Clones was skewed by two red cards for the home side, but it was a vital result for Tyrone nonetheless as they slowly built up a head of steam.
Logan explained: “Momentum blows confidence into players, it blows confidence into a group.
“That is what you need to stay on and it will be the same for this Ulster championship.
“Every team will be going for broke to build momentum to the next mountain to be climbed after that.”
Logan accepts as defending All-Ireland champions last year, they doubted themselves.
“Well, you would like to think it (confidence) doesn’t go that quickly but, at the end of the day, you are either as good as your last game or your next game.
“I would challenge any player who says it does not knock them when it doesn’t go well for them.
“Of course, we have a bunch of experienced players, who have been out in all weathers in gaelic football – but you still need the confidence to keep them moving forward.
“Because nobody is bullet proof.”
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