McNabb in full Tyrone training but Derry game will come too soon

Ronan McNabb will play no part in Tyrone’s Ulster Football Championship opener against Derry on Sunday week.
McNabb is back in full training after almost a year out with a cruciate knee ligament injury, but manager Mickey Harte last night (Thurs) ruled the Dromore man out of the Celtic Park clash.
“It is too early to ask him to go from no competitive football, or 20 minutes competitive club football, after being out with a cruciate, to go in to be ready at that level,” said Harte.
“I think it is too much to ask him, but I think he has made wonderful progress, he has really worked so hard to get himself into the condition that he’s in, and I think it’s a great credit to him that he didn’t let he whole escapade let him down. He really went to town on getting ready as fast as he could.
“He is back as fast as you could be from that kind of problem, and I think it’s to his credit that he is.”
Serious doubts also surround the availability of Omagh pair Conor Meyler and Conor Clarke, who have hamstring and ankle problems, but there’s more positive news on former All-Star full-back Justin McMahon, whose hamstring strain is not as serious as initially feared when he pulled up during a club game last weekend.
“The two Conors would probably have more to do that Justy. Justy would have regular injury problems in terms of muscle strains and that, so we’d be hoping that it’s something that we can manage over the next couple of days. But we’ll know more precisely after the weekend.
“There’s always a few injuries when you’re working with a squad of 30-plus players, and when they’re playing rounds of league football, there’s always some niggles that come into play.
“The exact extent of how serious that is, you really don’t know at this stage. We’ll only know as the week goes on whether the players are fit to train as much as you would like them to.”