By Alan Rodgers

YET another highly acclaimed individual display in last Saturday’s Nickey Rackard Cup final has once again showcased the immense hurling talents of Tyrone’s top scorer, Damian Casey.

The Dungannon Eoghan Ruadh player has been ever-present for the Red Hands since his senior inter-county career began. He was also on the team which won the title in 2014, but this latest Croke Park triumph felt even more special.

As Tyrone now progress to the higher level, Casey’s undoubted abilities are certain to continue playing a crucial role in the fortunes of his county. It’s a challenge that he’s certainly looking forward to.

“This is a sweet victory. The whole year has been brilliant. This is my tenth year on the county side and being promoted after we had narrowly missed during a few years,” he said.

“We got that promotion which was probably our number one aim. Then the morale in the whole set-up was really good and we just decided to go on and give the Nickey Rackard as good a rattle as we could.

“The first three games were one, and then Roscommon beat us a fortnight ago. But we picked ourselves up against Donegal with a great performance and we knew that we needed the same again if not better in the final and thank God got it.”

A brilliant start climaxed by the Sean Óg Grogan goal saw Tyrone lead by 11 points at one stage. Roscommon’s revival at the end of the first and start of the second half reduced the deficit to just five at one stage, before Tyrone regained control to emerge comprehensive winners.

It was due reward for their efforts and Damian Casey for one was never really concerned that they would be capable of upping the tempo sufficiently to see off the challenge of the Connacht side.

“You’re never going to dominate a team like them for the full 70 minutes and we did alright in limiting them. We got the scores at the right time to keep them at bay and there was a nice lead going into the last 10 or 15 minutes,” he added.

“What a year it has been for us and it’s going to be our first time in the Christy Ring. It’s a massive win for us. A lot of the players have been knocking around a few years and we won this in 2014 and never got promoted.

“So, this is brilliant for the whole of Tyrone. For the younger lads who came down here, this is a shop window and they can see a route to Croke Park hopefully.

“We’ll enjoy the celebrations, go back to the clubs and then get back at it.

“This success gives a boost to hurling. The county footballers are rightly in the shop window all the time.

“We’re not competing with them, but this is a football dominated county and these big wins mean a massive amount for our own clubs and those clubs that are just getting going.

“Winning the All-Ireland definitely means a lot to us as players and I’d like to think gives those promoting the game at underage level the onus to push on and produce more hurlers.”