by Orla Bannon

Mickey Harte declared the 2017 McKenna Cup draw as "the toughest we have ever had" after Tyrone were paired alongside fellow Division One teams Donegal and Cavan plus UUJ.

Armagh are paired with Down, Derry and Queens in Section A while Monaghan are drawn alongside Fermanagh, Antrim and St Mary's in Section B. 

The Red Hands will be chasing a six-in-a-row of pre-season competition wins from Section C.

"I like to be playing competitive football right up the start of the league and to do that, you have to top your group and win your semi-final," said Harte.

"We endeavour to do that every year and it will be the same this year.

"But if you were trying to pull out a harder group there, you'd have trouble doing it."

Harte hinted there will be negotiation with the colleges over the use of some of his county players.

The Tyrone boss used to prefer all his players to be available for county selection in January, but there has been more cross-over between the panels in recent seasons.

"A few things have to be decided upon but I would say at this stage for instance that Conor (Meyler) would be going to St Mary's," he confirmed.

"There would be a few players that we will negotiate over and I don't know the precise details of that just yet.

"I think now that we are in a position where we can say that some players can go this way and some may stay with us, depending on how we see the need for that."

The McKenna Cup starts on January 8. The semi-finals sees the winners of Section A against Section B, with the winners of Section C playing the best runners-up. Those games are on January 22, with the final on Saturday January 28.

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