Owen Mulligan says, Tyrone calls the U20s for a senior team after leaving

Former star Owen Mulligan says Tyrone Feargal directors, Logan and Brian Duher, intend to recruit a youth army from the country’s under-20 squad to fill some of the gaps left by the player’s transition.

Seven members of the first-team squad have left the team this year and with injuries further affecting the numbers dropping, the Irish champions are facing a crisis.

Paul Donahue last week became the latest member of Sam Maguire’s cup-winning squad to leave Mark Bradley, Ronan O’Neill, Lee Brennan, Ternan McCain, Hugh Pat McGherry and Michael Cassidy.

Matt Donnelly is currently suffering from a thigh injury in the opening game of the Ulster Championships with Fermanagh in just over a week, as Inclusion McNult’s season ended with a league break against Donegal in the league.

Irish tribe owner Mulligan, who is a member of the Red Hand U20 coaching team, believes steps are being taken to promote up to four players to the upper ranks.

“I don’t give names,” he said, “but there are three or four at all.”

“I firmly believe that if we just keep going and win Ulster, there will be four out of five guys who will climb to the top.

“There is a great group here and who would say they can’t make it to the first team, there are a lot of missing players.”

Asked if there were any approaches from the senior executives, Mulligan said: “I would say that Paul (Devlin, director of U20) and Derm (Carlyn, senior assistant at U20) spoke to Logan and Dohr.

Tyrone U20 is still in contention and will face Donegal in the Ulster semi-final on Friday night, but the fast sprint means they will be there if they reach the Irish final. It will be available to senior management by the middle of next month.

“It’s a short season, five weeks, so we hope to see them.”

Mulligan, winner of the 2003, 05 and 2008 Sam Maguire Cup and All-Stars in 2005, said the decision of the deceased players must be respected.

“Disrespecting school leavers is their job.

“It’s a big hit, but look, we don’t know what’s going on in people’s personal lives.

“Compared to today, this is a full-time, semi-professional job with a hammer and pliers.

“If the players want to leave…that’s not my personal advantage. I think you have to fight for the jersey. All those other people are who they are, so good luck to them.”

But such a dramatic drop in team depth couldn’t be sustained by Cookstown’s man Father Rocks.

“Of course not, but we see that there are men who can go on.”

Tyrone’s league performance was precarious, relegation was an almost constant threat until the last round of matches, but the lessons of last year, when they came out of nowhere to beat Ireland, showed they couldn’t lose in the fight for Sam. .

This appears to be Tyrone’s mantle. Last year they didn’t give anyone a chance and Kerry’s game replaced that.

“People will cancel Tyrone, but only when they are at their best.

“These guys are experienced activists, and they know what to expect.”