By Niall Gartland

TYRONE’S Strength and Conditioning coach Jonny Davis says he has every hope that Mattie Donnelly will recover from injury in time for their Ulster Championship opener against Donegal on May 17.

Donnelly suffered a serious injury in Trillick’s Ulster club defeat by Derrygonnelly back in November when a tendon holding the hamstring to the bone was detached, and he later cautioned that the injury could be career-threatening if not managed properly.

Davis, however, says that the Tyrone skipper is making “great progress” in his rehabilitation and that hopefully it won’t be long before he’s gracing GAA pitches the length and breadth of Ireland again.

“I have a lot of experience dealing with the type of injury Mattie has and the recovery from it.

“I have worked with players who have similar injuries and we have a good rehabilitation programme for him.

“I have the hope that he could play a part against Donegal in the championship and he is making great progress.”

During the off-season the former Ulster Rugby coach replaced Peter Donnelly, who moved in the opposite direction to take up a full-time post at Kingspan.

They’ll cross paths on Sunday as Donnelly is also involved with Seamus McEnaney’s Monaghan, but Davis assures they won’t be throwing shade at each other.

“Peter is an excellent coach and my sister Amy (who works for Ulster Rugby) will look after him up there, he will do well. Yes, he will be with Monaghan, and John Devine is with them as well, but we all have a job to do and it won’t have an impact on the game.”

The sounds emanating from Garvaghey suggest that the Tyrone players have taken to their new Strength and Conditioning coach. Davis says that the feeling is altogether mutal.

“The players have bought into the programme, they are working hard and while it is different to a full-time set up there really is no  difference in terms of the buy-in and commitment of the players.

“There’s still work to be done and we are going through different phases of preparation. We are in phase four of seven and the target is that when we get to the end of phase seven, the Sam Maguire will be in the trophy cabinet.”

While Davis isn’t au fait with the patchwork rivalries that help define the GAA, he has enough knowledge to know that Tyrone’s clash with Monaghan could be a heated affair.

“It’s always interesting when you are neighbours, it was the same in rugby when we had the programme of interpros with Munster and Leinster around Christmas every year. I know that when you face your neighbours there’s a bit more at stake. For me it’s about having the preparation right and we are aiming for the win.”