by Mickey Ferry
WHILE celebrations following the Tyrone senior team's momentous All-Ireland victory over Kerry on Sunday are set to continue throughout the county for the foreseeable future, Tyrone minors still have unfinished business with Mayo minors, after both teams finished deadlocked at 14 points each in the All-Ireland Minors Final on Sunday.
With the replay scheduled for Saturday afternoon at Pearse Park in Longford, word from insiders close to the Tyrone minor camp is that the team has pulled together as a unit and are determined to seal a Tyrone senior and minor 'double' at the weekend. Speaking to the Chronicle on Tuesday, an insider stressed that despite the draw on Sunday, the players are still fully focused on the task ahead of them.
"Obviously the players are disappointed not to have finished the job off at the weekend. It would be fair to say that the defence played a vital role in keeping the team in the game on Sunday. A few injuries were picked up also and sadly it looks like captain Ryan Pickering will miss the replay after breaking his collar bone. The players had been accustomed to playing their Championship games with smaller numbers in attendance on the terraces. There was a wall of noise at Croke Park on Sunday that they weren't used to, and they had difficulty passing instructions to each other clearly as a result. At minor level, this is all part of the learning process. ," he said.
With the Tyrone seniors returning home with 'Sam' for the third time on Monday evening, the minors side, which includes 18-year-old forward and local lad Diarmaid Mc Nulty, are hoping to savour similar glory, according to the insider.
"They are not looking on the senior victory as more pressure on them. In fact, the one thing they did take from the senior's win was witnessing all that followed for the seniors when the full-time whistle blew on Sunday - the celebrations, the ecstasy of victory and the feeling of accomplishment. The minors have now seen what waits for them and it's something they want to savour for themselves.
"They don't feel pressure. Their body language said it all on Sunday. As the full-time whistle blew the Tyrone players were still on a high whereas the Mayo players were on the ground. Confidence is one thing you can't teach and the Tyrone players have it in abundance.
"There's a determination in spirit with this squad and they look on themselves as a collective unit. Whether it's Croke Park, Longford or anywhere else, it's two sets posts on a field and there is a winning mentality within the squad that refuses to look on defeat as an option. With Ryan Pickering now out injured the team are even more driven, believing that they now owe it to Ryan to bring the Tom Markham Cup back to Tyrone," he concluded.
