O'Rourke looks to assemble squad for 2026 season

TYRONE manager Malachy O’Rourke has begun the process of assembling a squad for the 2026 season as the first step towards making an immediate return to Division One of the Allianz League.

The Red Hands were relegated earlier this year, and face a tough schedule against quality opposition in the second tier.

A number of their opponents will be managed by Tyrone men, with Ciaran Meenagh in charge of Ulster rivals Derry, Gavin Devlin guiding Louth’s fortunes and Mickey Harte involved with Offaly.

O’Rourke has been busy over the past two months attending club championship games in his search for emerging talent, while he also has a pool of quality players available to him from Tyrone’s back-to-back All-Ireland winning U20 teams.

He has reached out to a number of potential recruits ahead of the official return to collective training for county squads on November 21.

“I don’t want to be naming names, we’re going to have to sit down to look at exactly what is out there,” said the Red Hand boss.

“There has been some really good competitive games and there’s plenty of fellows there who have put up their hands.

“So it will be a matter first of all of seeing are interested and are they prepared to put in the commitment that’s required at that level, and hopefully then get them in to the training panel.

“Once we get the go-ahead to start training again, we will be down to work and hopefully we will have a few additions.”

But there will be a few absentees, with attacker Mark Bradley having opted out of the squad for the 2026 season, while former Footballer of the Year Kieran McGeary will miss the first few rounds of the Allianz League.

Bradley, who returned to the set-up at the end of last year following a three-season absence, plans to spend the year travelling the world, while McGeary has also embarked on an extended world tour.

O’Rourke is unsure of McGeary’s estimated return date, but hopes he will be back to play some part in the Red Hands’ Division Two league campaign.

“The important thing for us is that he wasn’t writing off the year by any means,” he said.

“We’re hoping that he’ll be back during the National League. I don’t know the exact date when he’s coming back, I don’t know if he knows himself.

“He’s in good shape, he’s keen to do the work when he’s away, and the earlier he’ll be back, the better for us.

“We’re hopeful that he’s going to be involved, and he’ll be working away while he’s away.”

Experienced duo Mattie Donnelly and Peter Harte are very much in O’Rourke’s plans, and he has received no indications of retirement from either, who will both be 35 as the 2025 season develops.

“Going from last year, going by their performances, it’s obvious that they have loads to offer on the field, their leadership, their experience, their ability to guide the other lads in the group, and for the other lads to watch the way they apply themselves and what they do around the camp.

“The way they’re playing at the minute, they’re both playing at a really high level, and they’re well work their place in the panel and the team.

“It’s very important the work the boys have put in over the year, the role models that they are, the experience is so vital when there’s so many younger lads coming through in the panel.

“I would be hopeful that they’ll all be back, there’s nobody who has said they won’t be back. Hopefully we’ll have the full squad.”

But one man who will not be involved in 2026 is AFL star Conor McKenna.

The Eglish clubman turned out for his club in the latter stages of this season’s Tyrone Intermediate Championship, making substitute appearances in the semi-final win over Moy and in the defeat to Clonoe in the final.

His contract with Brisbane Lions had expired, leading to intense speculation that he may be planning to remain at home, and to answer the Red Hand call.

But he has decided to sign a new one-year deal with the Aussie Rules club, and is set to return to his professional career down under.

He did take a year out in 2021, when he helped Tyrone to an All-Ireland title, but returned to Australia shortly afterwards

McKenna became only the second Irishman to win an AFL title and an All-Ireland SFC medal when he was part of the Brisbane Lions team that beat Sydney Swans in the 2024 Grand Final.

The Lions retained their title this year, beating Geelong in last month’s Grand Final but the 29-year-old did not feature in the matchday squad. He has been troubled with a hamstring injury this year and only made five appearances for the club.

Speaking on the Brisbane Lions official website McKenna said: “It’s great to re-sign for 2026 and I’m really looking to another big season.

“I’ve loved my three years at the club so far, both on and off the field, which made it an easy decision to stay on.

“I’ve also been lucky enough to play in a premiership with the club, which was one of the main reasons I wanted to come to the Lions to begin with, and hopefully we can experience further success.”

O’Rourke’s first season in charge of Tyrone in 2025 was a slow burner.

The early stages of the league saw a number of disappointing results, as the players took some time to adapt to the new manager’s ideas, while the absence of the Errigal Ciaran players weakened the squad, as they chased their All-Ireland dream.

A strong finish to the Division One campaign came too late to save the team from relegation in a campaign of fine margins, which saw them finish just a point behind Mayo, who qualified for the Division One final.

“In many ways we left ourselves too much to do. We had a good start against Derry and then we hit a bit of a dip. We got more players back and got more work done on the training ground,” said O’Rourke. “We knew we were improving, but unfortunately we just didn’t get enough points to stay up.”

And they continued to progress in the Championship, reaching the All-Ireland semi-final, where they lost out to eventual champions Kerry.

“We had some good performances, some mixed performances as well.

“We know, looking back on the league that we have a lot to improve on, and that’s the aim for the New Year.