By Niall Gartland

HAVING excelled himself in Errigal Ciaran’s memorable run to the biggest day in club football with a series of eye-catching performances in the middle of the park, Ben McDonnell was duly drafted into the Tyrone Senior set-up by Malachy O’Rourke for his second crack at county football.

Ben had been absent from county colours a number of years after playing his part in Tyrone’s fourth ever All-Ireland triumph in 2021, but his standards never dipped, collecting county medals in 2022 and 2024 with Errigal Ciaran, not to mention their subsequent provincial triumph over Kilcoo and run to the All-Ireland final.

Now he’s back in Tyrone colours and making a positive impression, having made his first competitive appearance of the year against Armagh in the Ulster Senior Championship semi-final, before another substitute appearance in last weekend’s big win over Donegal.

He lofted over an important point against Donegal and helped ensure that they stayed afloat in the middle sector after the departure of team captain Brian Kennedy, though Ben was actually critical of his own personal contribution. In our eyes, he did very well though.

“I was probably extremely disappointed myself in my own performance, but you always have to be ready, you never know what’s going to happen.”

McDonnell was more than glad to get his chance, but at the same time acknowledged it was just a pity that it was in the circumstances of Brian Kennedy’s injury.

The Derrylaughan titan shipped a heavy knock early doors against Michael Langan and left the action permanently at half-time, with McDonnell coming on as his direct replacement.

“Big Brian’s such a leader for us, and it was probably disappointing for the team going off, and it wasn’t easy probably trying to have big boots to fill there.”

Tyrone looked like they were on the ropes when Paddy McBrearty nudged Donegal into a two-point lead heading into the closing stages, but they responded to the challenge magnificently.

A two-pointer from Peter Harte sent Tyrone on their merry way, setting the scene for the insurance score by another Errigal man, Cormac Quinn.

Ben also name-checked the contribution of Peter Teague, who outfielded Donegal talisman Michael Murphy on a number of occasions.

“Petey had a big point there too, just when we needed it, just when Donegal had gone ahead.

“It really got us kick-started again, and Pete Teague was brilliant, I think he caught three or four kick-outs there probably in the second half, so that gave us a platform I suppose just to get ahead again.”

Asked about his decision to give intercounty football another shot, Ben said he’s “really enjoying” working with the new management team spearheaded by Malachy O’Rourke.

“I’m really enjoying it, being back in here with Malachy and Ryan and Leo and the new team, so it’s different and it’s interesting to be involved with those boys.”

Tyrone don’t really have time to savour their memorable win in Ballybofey as they have another hugely important game coming down the tracks, that being Saturday’s round two clash against Mayo. Another victory would do very nicely indeed though.

“The Donegal win probably gives us a bit more confidence that we can take on anybody.

“It’s a tough group, anybody can take points against anybody, you’ve seen what happened Mayo when they played Cavan.

“You don’t know who’s going to win any day.”

The Connacht side are the metaphorical wounded animal after their surprise defeat at the hands of Cavan a fortnight ago, and they haven’t become a bad team overnight – they made the Division One final and were pipped at the post by Galway in their provincial showdown.

“They’ll be hurting surely and they’ll be wanting to bounce back, so we’ll get a look at them here and take it from there just.

“We’ll not take them for granted, we’ll just get the video work done on them.”

Check out this week’s Gaelic Lives podcast with Seanie Johnston and Kevin McKernan looking ahead to the weekend of All-Ireland SFC action.