Ruairi Canavan is thrilled to have the opportunity to represent Tyrone at both under-20 and senior level this season, following a recent change to GAA rules.
Canavan says it's important to him to be able to play with the group of friends he has progressed through the Tyrone academy with and represent the county at U-20.
The Errigal Ciaran youngster, a precocious forward talent, has little to prove in this year’s EirGrid under-20 grade after winning Footballer of the Year at that level last season.
But he is adamant that the buzz of playing games is what drives him on.
"I get the buzz from playing games with boys I have been training with and friends with for years," the younger son of Tyrone great Peter tells RTE Sport.
"I love getting to the pitch with a few footballs to kick about with my brother, cousins and teammates. It is important for me to play Under-20.
"I came up through the ranks with a good lot of coaches and players and it was class last year when we got a bit of a reward but we will push on again now hopefully."
Tyrone meet Down at the end of the month in the Eirgrid U-20 Ulster championship. Soon after Canavan, and brother Darragh, will be in senior provincial action with the county.
The lethal young attacker hit 1-04 from play and 1-07 in total as Paul Devlin's side beat Brian Flanagan’s Kildare in the 2022 All-Ireland final.
A week earlier he hit 0-08 in the semi-final against Kerry. That was in keeping with his general prowess in front of the posts as he accumulated 1-34 across five games in the Ulster and All-Ireland series.
Getting the top young players to play in this competition has not always been simple. Until recently the GAA applied a rule effectively preventing youngsters who had played senior championship from lining out with their under-20 side in the same season.
But backed by fellow dual counties Cork and Galway, Wexford proposed a new seven-day window at the recent GAA Congress and saw it sail through with 82% of the vote , meaning that an U20 player can play for both his under-age and senior county teams - just not within a defined seven-day period, Friday morning to Thursday evening.
And yet difficulties remain in assembling players of this age cohort.
"It is hard to get everyone together at this level all over the country, that is clear to see," Canavan, the team captain, says.
"Even this year, Tyrone has three schools in All-Ireland finals, including the Hogan Cup and we are still waiting on boys to come back from that.
"There are also the Fresher and Sigerson competitions taking players but everyone is the same. It’s not easy to blend everyone together and you just have work with what you have.
"At least boys are playing at a good level and will come back in good shape."
Canavan’s under-20 manager Devlin is now seven seasons in the job as under-20 boss.
"Paul is all about developing players, as are Mugsy (Owen Mulligan) and Dermy (Dermot Carlin) in his backroom. They just want to make us better.
"The end goal is for lads to play with the seniors on big days at Croke Park but if we get success at under-20 level too, we will take that.
"Those lads will take as much satisfaction if a few of us go to play senior football in Croke Park."
Canavan believes that the gap between U-20 and senior is not as wide as people may think.
"There are some differences, you might have that split second on the ball that you won't get at senior level and, physically, there might be elements, but the gap is not as wide as you may imagine."
Speaking of senior level, he says his teammates will take a lot of confidence from their recent win over Kerry in the Allianz League.
"Yeah, it’s a big thing for us, I think so," he said.
"We were getting a wild lot of stick there for a few weeks so it was nice to put in a performance.
"We'd been training hard for weeks but it just wasn’t showing up on the pitch so it was great to get that win. Hopefully we can drive on now."
Canavan will be looking to do that at both levels. He wouldn’t want it any other way.
