"He's Getting Close" - Key Tyrone Stars Nearing Return Ahead Of Relegation Fight Says O'Rourke

The National League got off to the perfect start for Tyrone and Malachy O'Rourke as they beat Derry in the opening round, and still had lots of players to return.

However, three consecutive defeats since then means that the red Hand county are now facing a relegation battle, and there is a sudden urgency to get key men back into the team.

Before their last game against Kerry, a cohort of players yet to be seen this season such as Errigal Ciaran star Joe Oguz were out on the field doing what looked like a full training session.

Former county captain Padraig Hampsey was also involved in parts of the warm-up, as he continues his recovery from an operation on his shoulder.

Cormac Quinn, Conall Devlin, Lorcan McGarrity, Nathan McCarron and Conor Meyler are yet to feature in the 2025 season so far, and speaking after the Kerry game, O'Rourke provided some updates on the injuries.

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“Well we don’t know, we have to see how they are during the week, they obviously haven’t done much over the last few weeks, we just have to be very careful that we are not rushing fellows back in and they start picking up injuries.

“Paudie won’t be back for a while yet, but he is getting close, and he’s doing a serious bit of work, but it will be a few weeks yet.”

The positive side to Tyrone's defeat against Kerry was that they actually produced one of their best performances yet, and more importantly, Errigal Ciaran trio Peter Harte, and the Canavan brothers made their return.

Darragh Canavan was unleashed from the bench just 20 minutes into the game, and managed to score 1-04, but it still wasn't enough to get the win.

“It was great to have the lads back, and the other fellows are in there as well, so it’s about getting them up to speed.

“There is nothing easy there, we would be pleased with a lot of things, with the way the boys dug in there, and against a fairly strong wind in the second half, we played some good football, but overall - just not being able to finish the game off, losing control of it in the last 10 minutes, different aspects of play, it isn’t good enough if we want to be beating the top teams, so we have a lot of work to do."

Tyrone visit Galway this weekend, and the teams are in polar opposite situations as the Tribesmen are undefeated so far in the league, sitting pretty at the top, while the Ulster outfit are flirting dangerously with the relegation zone, so they will need to bring their very best.