By Niall Gartland

TYRONE’S new senior intercounty football manager could be officially unveiled next Tuesday evening following a scheduled meeting of the County Commitee.

Clubs were invited to nominate a potential successor to Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher, who recently stepped aside after four years in charge, with interviews scheduled to take place this week.

Runaway favourite Malachy O’Rourke was nominated by his club Errigal Ciaran to go forward for interview and it would be a considerable surprise if he isn’t announced next week as new manager of the senior intercounty footballers.

Speaking at an official engagement last Saturday evening, Tyrone Chairperson Martin Sludden said that the County Committee ‘hope to be in a position to announce a new manager’ next Tuesday evening (September 10).

A number of names have been linked to the role, including Tyrone U-20 manager Paul Devlin, who steered the county to two of the last three All-Ireland titles, but the frontrunner for the position is Malachy O’Rourke.

O’Rourke, a native of Derrylin in Fermanagh, has resided in Ballygawley since the 1990s and won Tyrone titles with Errigal Ciaran as a player in 1997 and then as manager in 2006.

He led Monaghan to two Ulster titles In 2013 and 2015 and has been at the helm Derry club Watty Graham’s since October 2020, steering the team in that period to three Derry SFC titles, two provincial successes and last season’s All-Ireland SFC title.