Tyrone club delegates last night rejected Mickey Harte's request for a one-year extension to his term as senior football manager.

Last year saw Harte agree a new two-year term with the Red Hands but last month he requested that the board grant him an extension that would keep him at the helm until the end of 2018.

The county executive was expected to ratify the extension at last night's board meeting in Garvaghey, but in a surprise twist, they decided to maintain the status quo.

This past season the Errigal Ciarán man guided Tyrone to their first Ulster SFC title since 2010 and the team had been unbeaten through the 2016 campaign until last month's one-point All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Mayo.

Having taken over the reins of the O'Neill County in 2002, Harte is the longest serving inter-county football manager in the country, winning his county's first Sam Maguire Cup the following year and adding two more in 2005 and 2008.

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