Harte laments O’Neill’s ‘criminal’ bad luck

Injury plagued Tyrone forward Stephen O’Neill’s latest setback has been described as “criminal” by boss Mickey Harte.

Ex-Footballer of the Year O’Neill has emerged as a serious doubt for the Red Hands’ qualifier tie with Offaly on Saturday.

The Clann na Gael man hasn’t trained for a week after suffering an Achilles injury that Harte described as a major concern.

The attacker, who cut short his career for a spell in 2008 due to knee trouble, had maintained a clean bill of health throughout the league and regained top form. But he suffered a freak accident in the warm-up for the final against Dublin, tripping over a football and missing the game.

Harte admitted at last night’s Dublin launch of the Michaela summer camps for girls, that the three-time All-Ireland medallist was nursing a knee injury before the latest Achilles problem.

It’s a major blow for Tyrone’s hopes of a strong start to the back door series as goalkeeper Niall Morgan is out for the season, Dermot Carlin is definitely out with a broken nose while Joe (ankle) and Justin McMahon (hamstring) are doubtful with fresh knocks. Harte admitted he felt for O’Neill in particular.

“It is criminal, because he was so good up until the league final and then had this freak accident,” said Harte. “That counted him out and he’s never really got a run since. He’s had one or other niggle since and lost vital training time so it’s very unfortunate considering the form he was in.”