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Belfast Telegraph
27-05-2025
- Sport
- Belfast Telegraph
Tyrone Minors could lose Ulster Final hero to Premier League club for All-Ireland bid
Tyrone may be without their ace marksman Joel Kerr in their bid to capture the All-Ireland Minor Football Championship title. Kerr, who lifted the Man of the Match accolade following Tyrone's Ulster Minor Final win over Cavan at the weekend, is set to join Premier League side West Ham United this summer. In scoring 1-2 against Cavan, as well as proving the architect of other scores, Kerr left an indelible imprint on the game and will be viewed as a big loss to the Tyrone Minor side just now. Manager Gerrard Donnelly acknowledges the fact that Kerr's skills could take him down a different sporting avenue but it remains to be seen just what path his career takes. His marksmanship underpinned Tyrone's win over Cavan but it was the manner in which he created one of Tyrone's two goals that underlined his sublime creativity and skills. In the early stages of the second-half, Kerr led a counter-attack from close to his own team's posts in which he carried the ball the full length of the pitch before slipping a pass to Cathal Farey, who fired in the team's second goal. With the Ulster Minor and Under-20 titles now under their belts, Tyrone are setting their sights on even more success. Manager Paul Devlin, who gave outstanding service to the Red Hands as a senior player, has overseen the county's recent dominance of the Under-20 sector at provincial level and believes that several current under-age players have the potential to achieve success at the top level.
Belfast Telegraph
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Belfast Telegraph
Tyrone keen to make another Minor title statement with more Ulster success
Both teams were extended in reaching the decider with Cavan managing to get the better of Donegal by 1-17 to 0-15 in their Semi-Final while in the other last-four clash Gerard Donnelly's Tyrone overcame Monaghan by 2-20 to 3-12. The Red Hands won the title in 2021 and 2022 and clearly relish the prospect of landing another coup. While Cavan can look to players such as Jake Brady, Mark Reilly, Caolan Graham and Nathan Quigley to keep them fired up, Tyrone are not as likely to concede too much in this outing. In allowing Monaghan passages of freedom at the Semi-Final stage, they made things difficult for themselves. The Red Hands, though, can look to players such as James Meenan, Eoin Long and Joel Kerry to spark their challenge but they may encounter difficulty in coping with Cavan's pace. James Daly and Peter Colton are other Tyrone players who are capable of pulling the strings within their side. Indeed, Monaghan kept Tyrone in check during the first half of their Semi-Final with the sides pegged at 1-10 to 2-7 at half-time before the Red Hands managed to pull clear. Meanwhile, in the All-Ireland Minor Football Championship on Saturday, Monaghan and Meath will cross swords at Carrickmacross (11.30am), Derry will face Donegal at Celtic Park (12.00pm) and Armagh will host Dublin at Crossmaglen (12.00pm). There is no doubt that the All-Ireland series is engaging a higher gear with Derry looking particularly strong. Their meeting with neighbours Donegal could prove particularly interesting given that both sides see Tyrone as a major obstacle to the coveted All-Ireland title. The fact that Armagh have home advantage against Dublin at Crossmaglen might well add to their prospects of coming out on top given their recent form.
