Tyrone suffer massive blow as key forward ruled out for the season

Defending their Ulster crown just got a little more difficult.

Last year was a season of real progress for Tyrone. They won promotion to the top flight of the Allianz League by claiming the Division 2 title, they reclaimed the Ulster title in six years and Mickey Harte developed further a new fast-moving, counter-attacking gameplan that brought the Red Hand within a point of Mayo in the All-Ireland quarter-finals. Much like Mayo, you could argue that Tyrone are possibly one top class forward short of challenging Dublin, which makes the loss of Connor McAliskey al the more galling. The Clonoe Rahilly's man ruptured his cruciate ligament in the McKenna Cup defeat to Cavan at the weekend and has been ruled out of action for the entirety of 2017.   The 26-year-old discovered he required surgery following scans at the Belfast Clinic, according to RTÉ. McAliskey was a key free-taker for Harte's side last summer and, along with Ronan O'Neill, constituted Tyrone's primary inside threat. Tyrone begin their Allianz League campaign against Roscommon on February 5th.