MALACHY O’Rourke has given permission for his adopted club Errigal Ciaran to put his name forward for the vacant Tyrone job, The Irish News understands.
Sources close to the club have confirmed that the former Fermanagh and Monaghan boss has given permission for the club to nominate him to replace Brian Dooher and Feargal Logan, who stepped down earlier this week after four years in charge.
O’Rourke is currently in charge of reigning All-Ireland club champions Glen, with whom he has won three Derry titles and two Ulster crowns, reaching two All-Ireland finals and winning the most recent of them in January this year.
He is the heavy favourite to take over in Tyrone, a job with which he has been linked for several years.
He has also been nominated for the Derry job but the fact that nominations closed more than a month ago on July 25 has suggests that the link has cooled.
O’Rourke has lived in Ballygawley since the 1990s and won Tyrone titles with Errigal Ciaran as a player in 1997 and then as manager in a one-year stint in 2006.
The Derrylin native went on to manage Fermanagh to an Ulster final where they took Armagh to a replay before guiding Monaghan to two Ulster titles in a seven-year spell.
If O’Rourke does take over in Tyrone, he would follow in the footsteps of John Donnelly, a Fermanagh native who became a rare outside manager for the Red Hands when he was appointed in 1989.
If Tyrone can snare O’Rourke they will also deal a blow to their neighbours Derry, who still harbour hopes of his interest and have courted his services on several occasions in recent years.
There is no guarantee that he will take either job and the decision to accept a nomination is only an indication that he’s willing to speak to Tyrone about the position.
He has spoken to several counties about vacant positions in recent years, including Derry last year and Donegal two seasons ago, but has yet to be tempted back into inter-county football.