Tyrone star Stephen O'Neill will be out of action for up to three months after dislocating his elbow in Saturday night's McKenna Cup final defeat by holders Donegal at Brewster Park in Enniskillen.
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Interview: Kevin Cassidy
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Interview: Mickey Harte
Donegal 1-11 Tyrone 0-13
O'Neill fell awkwardly in the 45th minute and the game was held up as he received treatment from a medical crew who arrived on the pitch in an ambulance.
"It was just one of those things - a freak accident in which Stephen's elbow connected with his leg but it's obviously a big blow for us," said Tyrone manager Mickey Harte.
"I think it had a bearing on the game as well as we were four points up at that stage and the delay didn't help."
On the plus side Harte revealed that former All-Ireland winning captain Brian Dooher will be available for the National League campaign which begins with next Sunday's game with Derry at Celtic Park.
Triumphant Donegal captain Kevin Cassidy admitted that O'Neill's enforced absence might have had an impact on the result.
"It certainly didn't help them losing a player of his calibre and they were on top when he had to go off," he said.
"No one likes to see something like that happen and we all wish Stephen a speedy recovery."
"From our point of view it was good to get the win and it sets us up nicely for the League campaign."
Both teams served up an exciting game although it was the closeness of the scoring rather than the standard of play which contributed to the occasion as the sub-zero temperatures weren't conducive to flowing football.
The sides were level on no fewer than eight occasions and Tyrone led 0-9 to 0-7 at half time after late points from Tommy McGuigan and Kyle Cooney put them two ahead.
They stretched the margin to four after Martin Penrose and O'Neill sent the ball over the bar in the opening minutes of the second half.
But after O'Neill went off, Donegal scored four unanswered points to draw level with two minutes of normal time remaining.
Tyrone sub Niall Gormley scored a delightful point eight minutes into the 10 which were added for O'Neill's injury to make it 0-12 to 0-11.
But following a free just inside the Tyrone half the ball broke to David Walsh and he clinched victory with the only goal of the game with just over a minute remaining.
Tyrone had a couple of chances near the end but when Aidan Cassidy's shot went over the bar for what was only a consolation score the referee blew for full time and Donegal had retained the trophy.
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