O'Rourke wants veterans to stay on

Malachy O’Rourke is hoping that Tyrone’s veteran campaigners will give it another year.

Mattie Donnelly and Peter Harte are among those who may be considering their futures in the wake of last Saturday’s All-Ireland SFC semi-final loss to Kerry. O’Rourke made it clear afterwards that he wants them to stay on and help the next generation of Red Hands to find their feet at senior level.

“Yeah, you'd love it if they would,” the Tyrone manager told the media in Croke Park.

“You know, those lads are brilliant ambassadors for Tyrone and the effort they put in, the work they put in, the example they showed all the rest of the boys is second none.

“They’ll be no talk of retirements or anything like that. I would love that they would be there to help guide. . . there’s a big vacuum there between U20s and seniors, it is a big gap. It just doesn’t happen overnight.

“It is not just a case of people stepping up. There’s a lot of work to be done. There’s a big transition to be made.

“The more experienced fellas that have been about to guide them, so much the better.”