TYRONE's senior football management will have extra reason to cheer on the county's U20s against Kerry this weekend as that will probably mean no involvement in club games for seniors ahead of the All-Ireland qualifiers.
It's understood that the club league programme in the O'Neill County, originally set to begin this weekend, will now not commence until after the U20s All-Ireland campaign ends, with that final scheduled for the middle of this month.
Even if there's no preliminary round required for the All-Ireland SFC qualifiers, Tyrone would be unlikely to have members of their inter-county panel involved in club action ahead of the qualifiers first round on the first weekend in June.
However, if the young Red Hands lose to the Kingdom cubs in Portlaoise this Sunday then there may be more debate about Tyrone clubs getting access to their county players.
A qualifiers preliminary round will only have to take place on the last weekend of May if more than eight counties are eligible for the SFC qualifiers.
Tyrone are among five teams in that category already, along with Armagh, Clare, Louth, and Mayo, and will definitely be joined by Derry or Monaghan, Cork or Kerry, and Dublin or Meath, to make a minimum of eight participants in the qualifiers.
That total would only go above eight if at least one of the following three outcomes occurs: Donegal lose this weekend's first Ulster SFC semi-final to Cavan; Limerick are beaten in their Munster semi against Tipperary; or Kildare lose their Leinster last four meeting with Westmeath.
Cavan, Tipperary, and Westmeath can only earn a place in the All-Ireland series if they reach their respective provincial finals, as they will all be Division Three teams next year.
Three-time All-Ireland senior football winner Ciaran Gourley, now part of the Tyrone Minor management set-up under boss Gerard Donnelly, would have advocated some of the Red Hands squad featuring for their clubs after Sunday's stunning defeat by Derry - but the U20 factor probably rules that out, in his opinion:
"Even when I was involved we had these conversations with the management too and it was never easy to get something that suited everybody.
"I know in other counties they have an element of letting some players, who aren't maybe playing much [inter-county] football, to get an opportunity to play with their clubs.
"Personally, I think there's a window to play a few games, but in Tyrone here we're going to have difficulty because they've made a decision not to start league fixtures until the U20s' involvement is over.
"So, say the U20s get to their All-Ireland Final, then the first [Tyrone] league fixture will be scheduled for the 20th of May [a Friday].
"Then it would be highly unlikely that the senior management is going to allow anyone to play a match that close to the qualifiers."
That would certainly not happen if Tyrone happened to be drawn in a qualifier preliminary round, because that's scheduled for the last weekend of May.
With the original date for the start of the Tyrone leagues being this Friday, May 6, there would have been much debate over whether or not county players should participate.
Gourley would have backed that happening: "Had that still been the case, there'd have been an opportunity there to say 'OK' to a few of the players, I'd nearly have said all the players. At the end of the day you run the risk of getting injured in training as much as you do in a club situation.
"I know when a county player steps out on a pitch for his club, he does get a bit more attention, gets targeted a bit more. But that's a given, you take that on board and get on with it.
"Look, if county training is at a high level and competitive, injuries can happen as well."
In the new time-frame, though, there's much less chance of county players lining out for their clubs this month, to Gourley's regret:
"It would have been good, maybe the first two matches of the league, then back in and focus [with Tyrone]. Unfortunately it's a long period now from Sunday [past] until they play the qualifier.
"It might have been given them the opportunity to step back from that environment, re-focus, enjoy a bit of football with their club, and then come back in again re-invigorated for the qualifiers.
"We'll be sore for a few days, so we will. We'll reflect on it and say 'What do we have to do to improve?'…
"Ulster stood to Tyrone last year, but Tyrone now have an opportunity to see 'Can we go a different path? Can we re-focus?' We have done that, obviously, in years before, when I was involved.
"I hope that Tyrone can use the time they have to look at that game, reflect on it, and gradually get themselves built up…
"Depending on who they draw in that it could be a big task, but hopefully it will kick-start their season and hopefully they'll have a fuller hand to pick from."
