Freak accident ruled Tyrone's O'Neill out
Tyrone manager Mickey Harte has revealed that a freak accident in the warm-up prior to today's Football League Division 1 final ruled Stephen O'Neill out of the Croke Park encounter.
The Tyrone captain was a late withdrawal from this afternoon's tie against Dublin after sustaining an ankle injury in the warm-up. He tripped over a football just minutes before the throw-in.
O'Neill was Tyrone's leading scorer coming into to the league decider with 3-19, including four points against Kildare in the semi-final last time out.
"He was very unfortunate. It was a freak accident," said Harte. "It reminded me of a few years ago when we were doing a warm-up inside and Sean (Cavanagh) stepped on a bottle accidentally and went over on his ankle.
"It caused us a lot of consternation at that stage. I think he recovered enough to play a bit in that game.
"Stephen was just doing the warm-up and accidentally stepped back on top of a football and went over on his ankle. He just wasn't going to be able to play. Just between himself and the physio he knew it wasn't going to work today."
Long term though, Harte does not expect it will sideline his skipper for their Ulster Senior Football Championship clash with Donegal on Sunday, May 26.
"Early indications are that it wasn't a serious injury, just enough to keep him out of today's game. It would have been a retrograde step to put him into the game today because he probably would have done more damage," he added.
