Red Hand hurlers relishing tough opener against old rivals

EACH of the trio of home matches that the Tyrone hurlers will play during their 2026 National League Division Three campaign are to take place the county’s GAA Centre at Garvaghey in what represents a new development for the team.

The Red Hands are due to take on Donegal at the venue in their opening game this Sunday at 2pm. This will then be followed by their clashes against Wicklow in round three on Sunday February 8, and then the derby clash with Armagh in the final match on Sunday March 7.

Aidy Kelly from Carrickmore will captain the team for this year, and team manager Stephen McGarry is looking forward to seeing the side being competitive as they bid for promotion back to Division Two alongside some strong teams.

“The decision to play the home matches at Garvaghey has been taken by choice. It’s a ground that the players are comfortable with, they are used to playing on the pitch there and hopefully will do well in the games scheduled,” he said.

“We are training there each night of the week. There have been matches played there before and the feedback from the players has been good.”

Tyrone renew acquaintances with Donegal in the opening round on Sunday. The teams met in the Conor McGurk Cup a few weeks ago, a match that saw Tyrone lose out on penalties at Garvaghey. But they will be hoping and aiming for better fortunes on this occasion.

“They were good value for both their wins in the past couple of matches. In both matches, we were disappointed with our performances,” he said.

“The Conor McGurk match was probably a bit of shadow boxing from both camps. But it was a tremendous game because there is always going to be that bit of rivalry between the two teams. Both teams probably really needed that outing.”

Tyrone lost out on two occasions two Donegal in 2025 in the National League and Christy Ring Cup.

Now, with Louth, Wicklow, Fermanagh, Roscommon and Armagh all coming up during this league campaign, both McGarry and the players are well aware of the fact that there are no guarantees in terms of results or a possible promotion.

“It’s a level at which we should be competitive. We will enter each game with the aim of being competitive, but there are no guarantees about winning or getting promotion. The players and ourselves as managers will take each match as it comes,” added the Antrim native.

“Last year was a tough campaign because most of the teams had experience of playing in the Joe McDonagh Cup. But I feel that the players have learned from those matches. It would be easy to blank out what happened in 2025 and say that there were a couple of heavy losses.

“Every player has to learn and that’s the aim now. I suppose last year’s experience of playing at the higher level probably just came a wee bit too soon with such a young panel. We also started the year with a lot of significant injuries, but definitely the experience will help for this year.”

According to McGarry, Carrickmore’s success in winning the Ulster Intermediate title also represents a boost for the team. The members of the panel from the Eire Ógs will be lining out with the county throughout this six-game schedule.

“We have given the players from Carrickmore their own time to return to training with the county,” he added.

“They have been knocking on the door and we’re absolutely delighted with their win. For the Tyrone senior hurlers to be in a good place, then you need the club scene to be thriving. In the last few years, Carrickmore have been doing well on the back of a very competitive county final.

“It shows that the club scene is thriving and the county’s hurlers will reap the benefits of that.”

The manager has also welcomed the appointment of Eire Ógs star Kelly as captain of the team for the forthcoming season. He has praised his leadership both on and off the field over a long career with the team, concluding that the new captain is a tremendous hurler who has all the attributes for his new role.