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Tyrone’s Brian Dooher: ‘I don’t think it’s sustainable. The top players are not getting a break any more’

Tyrone’s joint manager calls for more of a ‘down period’ to lighten the physical and mental demands on players

Tyrone's Brian Dooher said some of his county's players have been playing almost continuously for two years. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho
Tyrone's Brian Dooher said some of his county's players have been playing almost continuously for two years. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho
Paul Keane
Wed Dec 27 2023 - 06:00

Brian Dooher has claimed that the split-season model isn’t sustainable for top players, noting that some could be playing up to 35 games a year with little or no break.

The joint Tyrone manager, who guided the Red Hands to All-Ireland success in 2021, pointed out that his county’s Division 1 league competition only ended on December 10th.

Trillick beat Carrickmore in that decider having previously won the county championship in late October before going on an Ulster club run that took them up to November 26th.

For their county players – Trillick trio Mattie Donnelly, Richie Donnelly and Sean O’Donnell were on Tyrone’s panel for July’s All-Ireland quarter-final loss to Kerry – it’ll be a short turnaround to the January 7th Bank of Ireland McKenna Cup opener against Donegal.

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“I don’t think it’s sustainable from a player point of view, not from what I have seen so far, just the volume of games,” said Dooher of the current split season set-up. “Maybe it’s Tyrone being Tyrone, with a very competitive league and a competitive championship.

“But we have players coming back now who played in a club league final recently. The same team [Trillick] played in a league final last year. They have been going two years solid.

“That’s just an example. A lot of other clubs are not far away from that. It’s hard for those players. Nobody thinks about them. The top players are not getting a break any more, or the break is minimal.

Mattie Donnelly of Trillick and Tyrone. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho
Mattie Donnelly of Trillick and Tyrone. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho

“From a longevity point of view, I think it’s going to have a long-term impact should it continue that way.”

Dooher stopped short of suggesting any alternative format and shrugged at the idea of cutting back on National League games.

“I’m not saying what it should be but if you are going to play 20-odd games intercounty for a National League and Championship, and you are going to step into a club season then, you are going to maybe play something similar club-wise again in Tyrone,” he continued.

“The top players are going to get 35 games. When you think about it and you add up all their training on top of it, we have players that will come back into Tyrone now and you can see their down time is fairly minimal.

“From a physical and probably mental point of view, there needs to be a bit of a down period in the middle of this somewhere for the player.

“I think we could be doing better. I am not saying the system is not fit for purpose. I think it might need to be tweaked a wee bit to make it better for the players.”

Donnelly, a two-time All-Star, has his own personal battle to overcome following a serious leg injury while playing for his club at the Kilmacud Crokes Sevens tournament. The 33-year-old damaged his posterior cruciate ligament and broke a tibia bone and had a big call to make at that stage about whether to return to intercounty activity for 2024.

“Mattie is getting there,” said Dooher, confirming that the versatile forward will be back. “He is working away. It’ll probably be the middle of the league hopefully.”

Tyrone's Ronan McNamee is congratulated by Mattie Donnelly after scoring a point against Armagh in March. Photograph: Lorcan Doherty/Inpho
Tyrone's Ronan McNamee is congratulated by Mattie Donnelly after scoring a point against Armagh in March. Photograph: Lorcan Doherty/Inpho

Definitely out for the new season is full-back Ronan McNamee who has retired from county duty.

It is a big year coming for the Red Hands who, Dooher acknowledged, have been well off the pace since winning the All-Ireland in 2021. They have played nine Championship games across 2022 and 2023, winning just three. In the National League and Championship, they have contested 23 matches in that period and won just 10.

From Dooher’s perspective, it is about managing the “onslaught” of games better under the new condensed format.

“It’s making sure you have that bit of resilience and that bit of strength in depth that we need to look at and get that more developed as the year goes on,” he said. “[It’s] Probably one of the things that we haven’t been well equipped to handle, that sequence of matches that’s come at us thick and hard, the few injuries and things like that.

“It’s definitely the big thing about the split season, that you get a lot of games very quickly.”