Two veterans of Tyrone's All-Ireland winning teams, Stephen O'Neill and Martin Penrose, have both announced their retirement from inter-county football.
O'Neill, who won two All-Stars in 2001 and 2005, was one of the key forwards at a time when Tyrone transformed themselves from perennial nearly men to into cool and composed winners in the Mickey Harte era.
2005 was possibly his peak, as he won the Footballer of the Year award. He was injured for most of 2008, the year of Tyrone's last All-Ireland triumph, but returned in time to be sprung from the bench in the final shortly before half-time.
Penrose played on the 2005 and 2008 All-Ireland winning squads and according to Colm Keys in the Irish Independent had informed Mickey Harte of his intention to retire before pre-season training resumed. Neither player featured heavily in 2014.
Here's some of the reaction online to the announcement.
Sad news to hear that Stephen O Neill has retired from County football. What a player. What memories. Simply a class apart.
— Adrian Logan (@OurLogie) November 14, 2014
Stephen O'Neill & Martin Penrose were massive players for Tyrone.Unlikely to have a huge impact though, 3 starts between them in 2014. #GAA
— Niall McCoy (@McCoyNiall) November 14, 2014
Steven O'Neill retired from County football. Some servant and what a player. An All-Star before Tyrone were successful. Unmarkable at a time
— Break for Ball (@breakforball) November 14, 2014
