Tyrone boss Mickey Harte says he has no intention of curtailing his players’ involvement in club games, despite the heavy price he has had to pay in terms of injuries picked up on the domestic scene.
Two key players were also sent off in club championship games inside the past fortnight but the manager is hoping that both will be available to play in next week’s Ulster SFC semi-final against Donegal.
Definitely out of that Clones tie, however, are rising stars Tommy McGuigan and Niall Gormley - who suffered broken wrist and broken jaw injuries in club league games last weekend.
Others who have missed vital inter-county games as a result of damage sustained while in action for their clubs are Stephen O’Neill and Brian McGuigan.
O’Neill hopes to be back in action against Donegal after recovering from a hamstring strain but McGuigan, having recovered from a broken leg, is again sidelined indefinitely with serious eye damage.
Harte said: ‘I’m happy to try and work as well as possible with both scenes, and as long as we get sufficient time to prepare for our important games, I would be very open to giving the clubs sufficient time to prepare for their important games.
‘So I think it’s a two-way process. I think it’s important that the county takes consideration of the club scene, and equally, there’s an onus on club players and club structures to appreciate that your county players have to be protected as far as possible, within the rules of the game.
‘We don’t expect to get special or preferential treatment, but we don’t expect the players to get special treatment either of the nasty kind.’
Harte said he has no intention of adopting the approach taken by some counties, where club football is suspended at the height of the inter-county championship campaign: ‘It’s difficult to get the perfect answer to it.
'Some people cut out club football, or cut the county players out of football altogether, which I think is not right.
‘Others, like ourselves, try to accommodate the clubs as much as possible. And if, in the middle of that accommodation, some of your players are targeted unnecessarily, then that’s not very helpful either.’
