'Hard for players to commit to 11-month cycle': Tyrone's McElholm on demands of GAA calendar

NO PANIC: Tyrone's Eoin McElholm isn't worried about his county's current form. Pic: Ben Brady/Inpho

Both the Monaghan and Tyrone football panels made a Sunday pitstop at the Four Seasons Hotel in Farney Country.

Monaghan were making the short spin over to Clones for their welcoming of Mayo last weekend, Tyrone were en route to Ardee to face Louth. In close proximity at the front of the hotel but firmly attached to opposing camps was Tryone forward Eoin McElholm and his dad, and Monaghan coach, John.

“I'm getting out of the Tyrone bus, in my full Tyrone kit, and I look over and he's getting out of the car in the Monaghan kit. A few Tyrone boys were slagging me about it. I thought it was a funny moment,” Eoin explained of the interesting and unusual dynamic playing out in the McElholm household this year.

Neither Tyrone nor Monaghan enjoyed a winning Sunday. Neither Tyrone nor Monaghan are enjoying a decent spring. Tyrone’s five-point defeat to Louth has dealt a near fatal blow to their bid to secure an immediate return to the League’s top flight.

With just three points accumulated from their opening four games in Division 2, Tyrone require victory in their last three outings to stand a chance of promotion, but even a final total of nine points may not be sufficient. And even getting to nine points will be a stretch given their final two games are against the teams - Cork and Meath - who currently occupy the promotion spots.

“Obviously results-wise it hasn't been great. Performance-wise, we haven't played to the potential that we know we can,” McElholm acknowledged ahead of Saturday's clash at home to pointless Offaly.

“It's early doors yet, we're only four games into the League. We just need to tighten up. It's on us, start performing well, getting wins, getting results.” The confidence resides within the collective, he insisted, to move the dial on their current form.

Defeat to Louth on Sunday was another kick in the teeth for Tyrone. Pic: Grace Halton/Inpho

“It's been a tough pre-season for Tyrone because of the amount of injuries that there was. So boys are just coming back in and trying to get match fit.

“No panic stations at all. I feel like this could nearly help us and give us an eye-opener in terms of what standards we need to achieve and what performance levels we need to get to, basically.

“And it's not entirely getting promoted that's the goal, it's just focus on the next three games. Take one game at a time and if you win all three, and if you get promoted, happy days. But if you don't, it's not the end of the world. It's just about building momentum before the Championship.” 

Last Sunday’s defeat to Louth marked Darragh Canavan’s final outing before heading off to Australia for a month-long mid-season sabbatical. McElholm, a two-time U20 All-Ireland winner with the county, expects the trend of players taking time off in-season to become the norm, such are the demands of the GAA calendar.

“It can be hard for an inter-county player to commit to 11 months a year because your inter-county ends and then you're straight in with your club and then whenever your club ends you're straight back in with inter-county. It's kind of like an ongoing cycle.

“I think you'll probably find it happening more often, boys going away for a while. Obviously, you want him there for the games, but he's only going away for a month. I think it's going to be fairly beneficial towards him.”