Brian Kennedy believes it’s time for renewal, and an injection of fresh talent is crucial to Tyrone’s chances of returning to supremacy.
The Red Hands have suffered an alarming slump since winning the All-Ireland title in 2021, and have lost key players from that triumphant side.
The recent retirements of Ronan McNamee and Niall Sludden have been compounded by Mattie Donnelly’s serious knee injury, while Conor McKenna is back in Australia, having resumed his AFL career.
Nine players were handed debuts in Sunday’s Dr McKenna Cup defeat to Donegal, and more could make their bow in the midweek clash with Armagh.
“It’s about bringing in these young lads and giving them game-time and that’s the future of this team,” said the former Allstar midfielder.
“It’s a development squad and hopefully we can build on each performance throughout the season and turn the thing around.”
Kennedy admitted that despite intense scrutiny and deep reflection, no-one within the group has been able to come up with an explanation for Tyrone’s failure to back up All-Ireland success with a solid defence off the title, followed by another season of struggle.
“Yeah it’s hard to put the finger on it, we’re training as hard as ever and doing all the same things.
“It sometimes doesn’t glue together, you just don’t get the rub of the green but we’re still working hard.”
The return of managers Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher for a second three-year term is evidence of the pair’s belief that Tyrone can regain their elite status and compete with the likes of Dublin and Kerry, according to Kennedy.
The joint bosses, who struck gold with Sam Maguire Cup triumph in their first year in charge, will guide the fortunes of the Red Hands until the end of the 2026 season.
“The shift those two men put into this set up is second to none. You can’t fault them, the same goes with all the players.
“If we didn’t feel we couldn’t win an All-Ireland we wouldn’t be here either. There’s a serious belief within the squad and those two men instil that in us, that every game we have to go out and perform and do our best.
“It’s one game at a time and hopefully we can do the business again.”
Donegal’s 0-15 to 1-10 victory at O’Neills Healy Park on Sunday sent them into the McKenna Cup semi-finals as group winners, and Tyrone must defeat Armagh at the Box-It Athletic Grounds on Wednesday evening to have any chance of going through as best runners-up.
Kennedy, one of just a handful of regulars who featured at the weekend, is keen to get at least one extra competitive game ahead of the Allianz League Division One opener against Roscommon on January 29.
“It’ll be another step up again, I’m sure they’ll have a few more of their regular players back again and it’ll be another test for us. One we’ll hope to do better in, and get a win.
“These games in the McKenna Cup are vital, to not leave you running in cold to the first round of the league.
“So it’d be good to get the win over Armagh and get into the semi-final to run in nicely to the League. All the top teams are in there this year, it’s a very tough division one, you need to get off to a flying start and get points on the board early.”
Tyrone trailed by six points at one stage of a difficult first half on Sunday, and were fortunate not to concede a handful of goals to a wasteful Donegal side.
But they recovered strongly, and a goal from debutant Ciaran Daly had them in front, before Oisin Gallen led the visitors’ strong finish.
“Every game we go out to play in, we want to win so it was a bit disappointing.
“We thought we left that one behind us, being in the driving seat maybe with ten or 15 minutes to go in the second half and we let it slip away from us. We rued a few goal opportunities and missed a few points but hopefully we can rectify that and get a win.”