NEWS ROUND-UP:FOR ALL the repetition and banality that marks the launch of another football championship, something was amiss in Croke Park yesterday. Tyrone weren't once mentioned as title contenders, and although the bookies make them third favourites after Kerry and Dublin, there is a strong sense that after five years at the top, this is a team in decline.
One of the reasons for that was standing before us. Team captain Brian Dooher - for over a decade now the embodiment of their steely and uncompromising style of football - hasn't played for the county in almost nine months. There's no guarantee he'll play at all this summer, and it goes without saying that a player like Dooher is not easily replaced.
He's the sole survivor of the Tyrone team that lost the 1995 All-Ireland final to Dublin, and although he found redemption in winning the title in 2003 and again in 2005, Dooher wants nothing more now than to play in this his 13th senior championship.
However, two club games in the last two weeks is the only competitive football he's seen since Tyrone fell to Meath in the All-Ireland quarter-final last August 5th. Even before that game, Dooher had been struggling with a groin injury, sustained in the Ulster championship semi-final against Donegal, and despite the extended period of rest, plus surgery, he's still carrying the after effects.
"Bit rusty alright," he said, with obvious understatement. "But hopefully I'll play a bit more over the next two weeks, get more fitness built up, and hope to be ready for the championship.
"It's just a chronic injury, and something you have to watch carefully. I had minor surgery in September, but didn't make much of a difference. It's just slow and monotonous. But the problem is I can't rest anymore. I've rested enough. Six months. I need to get back training, and hopefully I can do that over the next few months. I'm about two or three months behind everyone else, but there's nothing I can do about that now."
What makes the injury all the more frustrating is that it closely followed the shattered knee injury that ruined the best part of his 2006 season. Dooher frequently questioned his chances of making it back, and although he doesn't turn 32 until later this summer, perhaps retirement was the sensible option.
"It crossed my mind a whole lot of times, to be honest. There were days you'd get up in the morning, and wondered was it wiser to be locked up. But you know nothing else to do. That's what you've been doing over the last number of years. Every injury you have is the worst injury. The problem for me is that every injury I've had has taken months, not weeks. I hoped I'd be back earlier, but I just know I'll be ready when I'm ready, and not before it.
"But just when you think you're improving, you're sore again after a couple of days. I feel I'm starting to turn the corner, but I still have to get the fitness built up. That's still a problem. But you just want to get back playing for your county. That's the biggest honour for any footballer. That's enough to drive you on. It's just the pure enjoyment of it. It will be over long enough."
So like the rest of the Tyrone team, he's thinking only about their Ulster championship opener against Down in Omagh on June 8th. And like the rest of the team, he's not looking beyond that. It's impossible to know what ambitions Tyrone really have for this championship, and perhaps they don't really know themselves.
"No, we're not looking past the Down game. The way Ulster is at the minute, it really is a potential minefield for everybody. Every team is capable of beating every other team. We'll just take it one game at a time and see where it takes us. Ulster is definitely at its most competitive in a while. I think Derry have already set a marker for the rest of the year. A lot of Ulster teams had better league campaigns than ourselves. So you can't rule anyone out."
Manager Mickey Harte showed no hesitation in announcing him Tyrone captain for another year, despite his injury problems, and Dooher only has to look towards the return of Brian McGuigan, after nearly two years of injury problems, for inspiration.
"I think the whole country is glad to see Brian back" says Dooher, "never mind the county. For a man that hasn't played football in two years he's done very well since he's come back. And I just hope I can do the same. There's no point in my saying I will be here for the Down game, because I can only take it one week at a time. If I'm good enough then so be it, and if I'm not good enough, I'm not good enough. But I'll do all I can to make sure I'm there or thereabouts."
