Ball to stay as Tyrone manager

Danny Ball is staying on as manager of the Tyrone footballers. Sunday's spirited, if unavailing, tussle with Down has improved morale within the county after a difficult few weeks had stripped the team of more than one third of its likely starters.

"The easy thing to do in situations like these is to walk away. I wouldn't even contemplate doing that and I hope to give it another year," he says.

Tyrone County Board secretary Dominic McCaughey confirmed that Ball would be taking the team next year. "It's a three-year appointment and Danny has another year to go. That's the basis on which the job is always offered. You couldn't criticise yesterday's (Sunday's) performance."

It has been a trying two years for Ball who took over a team which had won the two previous Ulster championships. The two subsequent years have been ones of decline for the team although the players available are all young enough to have further achievements in them.

Most precipitously, the form of Peter Canavan had fallen. In the words of one observer of the Tyrone scene: "Art (McRory) and Eugene (McKenna, Ball's predecessors) had the services of the best footballer in the country. By the time Danny took over that was no longer true."

The period has also been marked by recent reports of dissension in the dressingroom and some unpleasant incidents at club level which have caused controversy and hardly made the county manager's task any easier. The most recent of these caused Peter Canavan's absence from the Omagh match last Sunday; a broken jaw received during a fracas in a club match leaving him hors de combat.

Ball believes that the media focus on Tyrone is exaggerated. "The disharmony between players and management has been blown out of all proportion. We might have lost yesterday (Sunday) but disharmony had nothing to do with it.

"There's been one outbreak (of club violence) this year. If you read the national press, you'd think that there was an incident every week. One is one too many. It's unfortunate. But most players regret it immediately. There's plenty of time to sort it out now. It doesn't make any manager's job easier."

Ball denied that the Tyrone fans' low expectations of victory over Down had any impact on the team. "After that, they (the players) can look anyone in the eye. A lot of people felt that we didn't come out on the right side of the result and that we deserved a draw. We made four or five mistakes which they punished with scores and a couple of (refereeing) decisions went against us, he said.

"I thought we should have had a penalty and that Brian Dooher's goal should have been allowed, but that sounds like sour grapes. Down will be difficult to beat.

"Now I'll try and get in the odd game of golf but I won't be far away from football. I'm a football man and that's it."

Meanwhile, McCaughey has expressed frustration at the county board's attempts to investigate what happened during the challenge match between Errigal Ciarain and Dungannon Clarkes which left Peter Canavan's jaw broken and an opposing player slumped unconscious in the dressingroom showers.

"There's no point in dealing with a case where one player says one thing and another, another. It's difficult to prove anything unless there's an open admission which hasn't been forthcoming."

One difficulty facing the investigators is that there were no neutrals present at the match. A Dungannon member refereed (there was no county official available) and the occasion was so low-key that no non-partisans were present.

"We initiated the investigation last week but didn't really make progress. Individuals invited along were advised not to say anything because of the threat of legal proceedings. We've adjourned the investigation until next month.

"Unfortunately we're in a no-win situation, particularly when a high-profile player is involved. The accusation will be that nothing is being done because of who's involved."