By Niall Gartland

NEW Naomh Eoghan manager Sean Murtagh says the panel has a fresh look this year and is optimistic about their overall prospects as they begin their season in earnest against Tattyreagh on Friday night.

While stalwarts like Kevin Gallagher are ready and available, a few others have left but Eglish native Murtagh is confident about the young players who have been drafted into the panel.

They’ve a tough run of fixtures over the course of the next month with games against the likes of Gortin and Kildress in the pipeline, but they’ll want to pick up points before the non-starred fixtures with county stars like Darren McCurry, Conor McKenna and Kieran McGeary set to play Division Two football this season.

Murtagh said: “There definitely is a lot of potential in the club. There’s been a few retirements and the age profile has come down, but thankfully they’ve had good youth teams coming through with a few lads on Tyrone minor panels and development squads.

“Last year they’d a very strong start to the season and the split came at the wrong time for them. You can go a long time without much football, so it’s about keeping the fitness topped up.

“The fixtures list is a big thing as well, you could be meeting top Tyrone players in the non-starred section and that could have a big impact on how things go.”

For the uninitiated, Murtagh teaches in Coleraine and has spent the last four years coaching in Derry. He was former Derry footballer Joe Cassidy’s right-hand man at Bellaghy and Greenlough and he says it was a great experience.

“Greenlough would be the equivalent of an Edendork or Eglish. We won the Intermediate championship in 2020 and last year we were beaten in the final by Steelstown, who went on to win the All-Ireland. It was brilliant working with Joe, I would say very confidently we’ll work together again at some stage.”

It’s been a long wait for the league to start and Murtagh admits it’s hard to assess their progress until the action gets undereway.

“We had an idea it would start at the beginning of May and it was pushed back a few weeks. It has felt like a long lead-in but we’ve keep the boys ticking over with gym work and challenge matches. It’s good we’ll be playing in the summer months as the fields are in better conditions.

“I’m excited to get started because challenge games will only bring you so far. We’ll only know where we’re at when we get stuck into the real games.”