By Cian O’Connell

For Lorcan Devlin the memories and moments matter. That medals were accumulated too means something, but it has been a harrowing year for Tyrone hurlers.

The death of Damian Casey, prolific and inspiring in equal measure, meant significant obstacles had to be overcome. Tyrone hurlers are still trying to clear them. That is just the way it is.

Lorcan Devlin played with Casey for Eoghan Ruadh and Tyrone. Even now, nearly a year on, different challenges are faced.

“It is very hard, not only that I'm speaking here in a county context,” Devlin says at Croke Park. “We were with each other all year until the Nickey Rackard final, then Damien passes three weeks later.

“You aren't with the county team anymore, you are with your club team at that stage. All your effort is with the club. You address it with the club, the first training back maybe a month after his passing.

“The first training was strange, you had maybe 40 lads training. It was a really relaxed club training, we just did a warm up and an in house game. It was not structured, it was really relaxed, just trying to get back into the swing of things.

“There were boys hurling out of their skins, they hadn't lifted a hurl in four weeks. In terms of the county we didn't meet up again until November.

“It was weird from the highest of highs, lowest of lows, park that - go with the club for a while. You aren't back with the lads that you were with in May of last year until November.

“So then you had to address it again. You had to do it twice - with the club and county. It brought up emotions and feelings you had in May again in November.”

Casey’s ability and contribution will never be forgotten. The Allianz Hurling League Division 2B opener against London in February counted for so much. A lot of ingredients mixed together. It was Tyrone’s first competitive encounter without Casey, the game staged at his home pitch in Dungannon.

“When you needed somebody to win a ball or win a free to see the game out, it was him,” Devlin acknowledges. “You are losing that figure on a team, not only that you are losing that character within a dressing room. He would have been a great leader without having to say too much.

“When he did speak everybody listened. So it was difficult. A lot of honest conversations in the group, a lot of honesty. It brought us closer together having that thing to focus on, but that London game was massive for us.

“It helped us to work towards something instead of just trying to get over the passing of him. We had that date from November, whenever the fixtures came out, it was class to have that tunnel vision for the first game.

“To do it justice, to get a win in the way we did, conceding three goals and clawing back the game in injury time was massive. It felt like a game we couldn't lose, no matter how bad we played.”

It is the type of resilience Tyrone continue to demonstrate. Sunday’s Christy Ring Cup draw with Derry at O’Neill’s Healy Park provided further encouragement. Now a weekend trip to Ruislip beckons for a demanding test against London.

During the past couple of years Tyrone have captured silverware and enjoyed encouraging days on the field of play.

“I can only see it getting better, hopefully I'm right,” Devlin replies. “We talk about it as a group, trying to give a platform for young lads to look up to.

“I know Tyrone is a massive footballing county, but for Tyrone hurling to continue the way it is going we need young lads to want to play hurling, instead of feeling it is a duty or you have to do it because you played hurling as a youth player.

“There is Mickey Little, he can hit frees or there is Dermot Begley, I want to be in that environment, that is a competitive environment where boys take hurling seriously and they are successful instead of focusing on club football or do something else.

“Our responsibility as a team is to give them role models. It helps to have days like this here - the press and stuff, I hate it and don't like doing it, but I know it gives them something to look at and it is necessary because it isn't as high profile as the football.”

Such a passion and willingness to improve is vital for Tyrone. Considering all that has happened the first four and a half months of 2023 has provided nuggets of hope according to Devlin.

“It has probably been pretty successful,” he says. “I think in this day and age a lot of people just think success is how many matches you won or where you finished in the league. Success isn't always linear. It is not always did you win or did you lose? Is there progress? Is there improvement? So pretty successful.

“Obviously staying up in Division 2B was a massive thing for us. We probably were aiming for a league final, a league semi-final, to try to get promoted, but after the league is over we didn't get that.

“Looking back I'm happy enough with us staying in Division 2B. After getting promoted we had to earn our place for next year and we have done that. So it has been pretty successful.”

At the launch of the Christy Ring Cup Devlin looked out from the Hogan Stand at the Croke Park pitch.

“Even just being here, looking out on the pitch, thinking I was standing beside him, is difficult,” Devlin says.

“Doing the photo shoots was difficult. Against Roscommon we played out of our skin. A lot of people were shocked - me included, probably - about how good we played. Two weeks before that Roscommon turned us over in Roscommon, they beat us by maybe 12 points.

“We turned around to beat them by 11 here, I'm not sure if the numbers are right, but similar. From the high of highs, winning the 3A in the League, winning the Nickey Rackard in the style that we did, it was just class.

“We had the craic after it, the celebrations, you were on top of the world. About three weeks later you have the lowest of lows. The difference was difficult to come to terms with.”

That process continues. Devlin and his Tyrone colleagues will forever cherish Casey.