By Irishexaminer.com,Paul Keane

Copyright irishexaminer

Topping their All-Ireland SFC group and then beating Dublin marked solid progress having previously won just six of their 15 Championship games between 2022 and 2024.

Three-time All-Ireland winner Gormley reckons the 2021 Sam Maguire Cup winners are still missing at least one top end forward alongside Darren McCurry and Darragh Canavan.

“Probably one of the things for them is can they find another forward to help the likes of Darragh and Darren?” said Gormley. “Can they find another forward within Tyrone to really help? That’s a challenge for Malachy I think.

“If they could find another forward or two to cause other teams problems, that would be the key. Because yes, Darragh and Darren are there, they’re taking up the opposition’s main man markers. But can Tyrone now find another forward that those two boys could be opening up space for?

“That would be the challenge for Tyrone this year I would imagine.”

Eoin McElholm lit up this year’s All-Ireland U-20 championship, scoring 2-4 in the final and he took the Player of the Year award. Noah Grimes excelled in the final defeat of Louth too, slotting 2-6 in that game alone.

“Those boys are young yet,” cautioned Gormley, who captained Tyrone to a five-in-a-row of All-Ireland Masters titles last weekend. “That step up can be massive. We have a lad from our club in Carrickmore, Lorcan McGarrity, and he’s there a couple of years.

“He’s in the panel but he’s just not making match squads, or he’s just about making them. It’s that sort of thing and it can be difficult sometimes to break into that senior squad. It can take a while at times. Underage success doesn’t guarantee you anything at senior level, it doesn’t guarantee you that senior start.”

Tyrone can still celebrate a landmark year with their minors and U-20s both claiming All-Ireland titles, along with the strong senior form and the Masters success.

“The conveyor belt is going well,” said former centre-back Gormley. “It’s the end product that you want now. You want your senior team doing well ultimately. Yes, you have your underage teams going well and I think the U-16s won the Buncrana Cup as well, so it’s all going well. The schools system is going well too, the CBS in Omagh have won two Hogan Cups but it’s trying to push on and get that end product of a senior team that is successful. They got to the last four this year but can we push on now and get to Croke Park on the last day of the Championship? That’s the challenge.

“But anything can happen, particularly with the new rules. We’re always optimistic in Tyrone. Whatever happens, we’ll always back our Tyrone teams to the hilt to be there.”