O'Rourke hopeful on Tyrone injury front for league

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Tyrone manager Malachy O'Roure remains hopeful that some of his walking wounded, including Eoin McElholm and Darragh Canavan, will be ready for the start of the Allianz Football League.

The Red Hands open their Division Two campaign at home to Kildare on Saturday, 24 January and although the pair are yet to feature in the Dr McKenna Cup, O'Rourke says the focus will be on getting them ready for when the league begins.

O'Rourke's side made it two wins from two in the pre-season competition with a 0-18 to 1-11 win over Down on Sunday to top Section A and secure a semi-final on Wednesday against Monaghan.

They may well be without Niall Devlin and Ruairi Canavan who picked up hamstring injuries against the Mornemen, but O'Rourke is hopeful his squad begins to strengthen over the next two weeks.

"We know we have a tight turnaround for Wednesday and have picked up a couple of injuries there and we have a lot of boys away with Sigerson Cup, so we know we will be stretched," the Tyrone manager told BBC Sport NI.

"We'd be happy if we had the full panel, but we know we will be down a lot and that makes things more difficult, but hopefully we will have a strong team and it's an opportunity to look at other fellas.

"Eoin picked up a bit of a knock during the club championship. There are other fellas in the same boat and we just have to manage them because there's no point rushing them back and making things worse.

"They are all very close to be ready to be on the field and hopefully we will see that over the next two weeks. Darragh is in the same boat."

'Jordan impressed on Tyrone debut'

One of the positives from Sunday was the performance of debutant Ethan Jordan who kicked six points in the Tyrone victory.

O'Rourke was happy with that he saw from the Eglish man but accepts he will have decisions to make in the coming weeks when he cuts the widers panel for the start of the league.

"Ethan was great there. He was very sharp and took his scores very well. He has that in his locker and it's great to see. You never know if it will convert into inter-county level, but he's done very well so far.

"We have to cut the panel down before the start of the National League, so they are all fighting for places.

"Unfortunately we can't fit them all, but hopefully we will find a place for them all along the journey."

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