'We Never Go Away': Cavanagh Confident As Tyrone Eye First Minor Crown In 15 Years

Former Tyrone gaelic football star Sean Cavanagh is hoping for a double, or even a treble for Tyrone football this year, ahead of the Electric Ireland minor All-Ireland football final on Sunday.

Cavanagh also shared that seeing the success of Derry at minor level in recent years "stokes the fire a little bit" and "gets the juices flowing" for players in Tyrone.

The Red Hands will meet Kerry at Cedral St. Conleth's Park in Newbridge at the weekend where the Ulster champions will be attempting to make it an underage sweep, with the U20's having secured their championship glory with an emphatic win against Louth in late May.

Dalata Hotel Group GAA All-Ireland U20 Championship Final - Full Time

Tír Eoghain 5-16 (31) An Lú 0-17 (17)

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CHAMPIONS OF IRELAND ⚪️🔴#RedHandRising pic.twitter.com/E8PoLQLWnu

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The Tyrone minors have been the class of the competition so far, and beat Roscommon in the semifinal to earn the chance to lift the Tom Markham Cup for the first time since 2010.

They will have to face the Kingdom without Joel Kerr, who scored one of their two goals in the semifinal as well as 1-2 in their Ulster final success, as the young attacker recently signed for Premier League club West Ham and will not be a part of the squad for the final.

READ MORE: Tyrone Star Misses All-Ireland Minor Final On Back Of Premier League Move

Cavanagh, who won the minor championship with Tyrone in 2001, defeating Dublin in a replay, has been thrilled with the progress of the underage system in his county, saying:

"Tyrone has been quite good underage in the last number of years at both minor and under-20 level'.

In Tyrone, we're doing some amazing work at underage, at club level and also at schools level. We've been up there with the best, if not the best, the last five or six years."

The five-time All-Star and three-time senior All- Ireland winner was looking forward to the upcoming final and the idea of more silverware to go along with their U20 championship.

I'm looking forward to that one. We've already got the U20 one in the bag, I think it would be really special if Tyrone were able to back that one up. I'm sure our friends from Kerry will have something to say about that.

Tyrone have had to watch neighbours Derry win each of the last two minor titles until this year, in both the All-Ireland and provincially, a feat Cavanagh can admire but knows it only adds to the rivalry between the two counties.

It's been an amazing season. Derry would have been another county who are very proud, and have an amazing club setup as well. Given the fact they're our near neighbours on one side, that drives you on as well, that little bit of competitiveness, seeing Derry winning. That stokes the fires a little bit, a bit like Armagh winning last year at senior level, I think that'll spur Tyrone on this year.

Seeing your near neighbours do well certainly does no harm, it gets the juices flowing and pulls a little bit more out of yourself as well.

Cavanagh notes the positivity pulsing through Tyrone football at the moment, and despite having lifted the Sam Maguire himself three times, revels in the feeling of being the underdog.

There's just a real good wave of positivity and drive amongst the clubs. That's feeding into the schools.

As well as that, we love our football in Tyrone. That's something that we do, we never go away! The more people write us off, sometimes, we love it that little bit more. There's a real wave of drive across the county at the minute and we're seeing the results at minors and 20s.

The U20's comfortably dispatched Louth in the All-Ireland final 5-16 to 0-17 and with the minor side just one win away from a second All-Ireland of the year for Tyrone, the future is bright for the senior team, who will be meeting Kerry themselves in the All-Ireland semifinal on the 12th July.

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A couple of games against the Kingdom could be all that separates Tyrone football from a truly historic season. Cavanagh was very optimistic for the coming weeks saying "As a person I'm always positive and my heart always goes over my head. As a Tyrone man, I'm hoping we'll do the double of underage at county level and I'm hoping there might be a treble at some stage as well!"

READ ALSO: Tomás Ó Sé Had Typical Kerry Reaction After His County Were Paired With Tyrone