Dooher keeps Tyrone captaincy

Two-time All-Star forward Brian Dooher is to continue in his role as captain of the Tyrone senior football team.

The 2007 season will be the third straight year that Dooher has skippered the Red Hands - he lifted the Sam Maguire Cup in his first season at the helm when Mickey Harte's men swept to All-Ireland glory in 2005.

Dooher, a qualified and practising vet, has been reappointed as captain for next season, but for the upcoming Dr McKenna Cup and the early part of the National League, Tyrone boss Mickey Harte will have to select a stand-in skipper.

The 31-year-old Dooher is still recovering from the cracked kneecap he suffered in a training ground accident in June, and he is likely to be unavailable until February.

Tyrone's new campaign gets underway next Sunday in Omagh as they take on Queen's University in their Dr McKenna Cup Section B opener, and after a disappointing 2006, the county's fortunes look set to change with Dooher, Brian McGuigan, Colin Holmes, Ger Cavlan, Conor Gormley and Stephen O'Neill all making very good progress with their injuries.