Advertisement League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Still truckin': Peter Harte and Mattie Donnelly. A tale of two warriors: The devotion of Mattie Donnelly and Peter Harte With over 400 appearances for Tyrone between them, the Red Hand county have had few servants such as their veteran duo. 6.01am, 12 Jul 2025 Share options Declan Bogue LET’S GO BACK to December 2023. We are in the sun room of Mattie Donnelly’s home outside Trillick. Himself and Megan are coming to terms with being first-time parents to little Senan which involves the usual rigmarole of no sleep. But when he does go to bed, Donnelly is strapped into a knee brace from his upper thigh to lower shin. It’s cumbersome and bulky and desperately uncomfortable looking. Not conducive to a quick cat-nap or even dozing in front of Netflix. He injured his knee playing for Trillick in the Kilmacud Sevens a few months earlier. Afterwards, he went out for dinner with his brother Richie and brother in law, Paul Courtney. Once dinner was over, he went straight back to the hotel. His recovery had already began. For twelve weeks, he slept in that brace. The injury was a rupture of the Posterior Cruciate Ligament. It required no operation. He researched the injury and found Steve Adams in the NBA, a star for the Memphis Grizzlies that had it. Adams treated it with a mixture of rest and rehab, but the knee developed an instability and he had to go for an operation. Two seasons were wiped out. Donnelly had to make sure that didn’t happen to him. He couldn’t afford it. “After the first few nights in it, I was thinking, ‘there’s no way I will do twelve weeks in this,’” he told us. “For the first twelve weeks I had to sleep in it. 24/7. But you get acclimatised to it. There’s not that much discomfort to it. When you are trying to do stuff in the gym with it on it’s an inconvenience. “The brace from the start was at a certain angle and you could do most things within that range of movement. It’s down to 90 degrees now and we are about to increase that. “You do most things within that range. The only thing you are told to avoid is anything hamstring-related. And that’s down to the mechanics of the thing. Any time you are pulling on the hamstring, you are pulling on the tibia. Advertisement “But I can do most things. Even bike and things like that, which keeps me sane in terms of getting a sweat up. We have a gym at the homeplace and a gym at the pitch. So between the two is where we spend most of our time.” “He’s incredibly driven,” says Mark Bradley now of his Red Hands team mate. “The whole chat at the time was that Mattie might not play again. But the character he is, he is so detailed and you would not have doubted them. “I don’t think any of those men have anything to prove. They have done it for years and continue to do so.” 17 years ago, Bradley was in Hill 16 for the All-Ireland final. Tyrone and Mayo played out a draw in the minor, before Tyrone seniors won their decider against Kerry. A week later, Tyrone became the first Ulster county to nail a senior-minor double in the same year, on a scoreline of 1-20 to 1-15. Kyle Coney was the undoubted star of that game with 0-5. 15,056 were packed into Pearse Park in Longford for the replay, among them was Bradley again. At centre-back was Peter Harte. Lining out in the half-forward line, Mattie Donnelly. Donnelly competing against Paul Galvin in his debut season, 2012.James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO ‘Mattie’ and ‘Petey’ are still trucking, still doing whatever it takes. In the All-Ireland quarter-final win over Dublin, Harte gave all he could and more before being withdrawn for his brother-in-law, Ruairí Canavan. In the final plays, Donnelly was still going hard. He won a break from a kickout to set up Eoin McElholm for a point and later provided an assist for Ben McDonnell to punch over. “They were the ones you looked up to, and you still do,” says Bradley. “You look at the big moments, they continue to step up and lead from the front.” Later this year within three weeks of each other, both will celebrate their 35th birthdays. While the Footballer of the Year last year was won by a 35-year-old Paul Conroy, it takes an insane drive to still play intercounty at this age. It requires total buy-in from everyone around their wider circle. Both come from a heritage that never compromises on that. Donnelly’s father Liam had a career of playing for Tyrone before later managing the county to underage success. His mother Clare is the secretary of their club, Trillick. Harte’s name explains everything. That, and being married to Aine Canavan, daughter of Peter, explains a lot. The numbers, according to former Tyrone PRO Eunan Lindsay, are staggering. Donnelly has played 189 games for Tyrone; 77 in the league. 77 games in championship and 37 times in the Dr McKenna Cup. He will overtake Conor Gormley this Saturday in overall championship appearances and move to fourth in league and championship. He has scored 5-183 in total, with 1-92 in championship. Donnelly and Harte hunt down Eoghan Ban Gallagher of Donegal.James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO Donnelly only arrived in 2012, after turning down Mickey Harte’s request to join a year before in order to prepare his body better. Harte made his debut in 2010 and immediately took on a leadership role. He has been the freetaker and he has played a great deal of his football in the half-back line. There are few more creative than him in the game. He has played a mind-boggling 222 times for Tyrone; 84 championship, 93 league, and 45 times he hauled himself out to play in the muck and gutters of the Dr McKenna Cup. Only Sean Cavanagh has played more for Tyrone, but Harte has scored 36-285 altogether with 14-119 in championship, making him the record goal scorer for Tyrone. Of those goals, there are some, as they might say in Tyrone, absolute clinkers. Related Reads Tyrone take major step, dominant Donegal, Monaghan's second-half struggles Dessie Farrell steps down as manager of Dublin footballers 'What a goal. That is one of the great goals we’ve seen in Croke Park. Magic, magic Mulligan!' Gaa 4 Life / YouTube Both players have proved themselves in many facets of the game. There are few that can match Donnelly’s power or Harte’s inventiveness though. For present selector, Colm McCullagh, he sees similarities with the two veterans and a fellow selector in Chris Lawn, and the example that everyone in Tyrone reaches for when the quality of leadership is mentioned; Brian Dooher. “You’d have to give those boys serious credit for how they look after themselves in the off seasons – if they get any off seasons. Because those boys are involved in clubs that are going to the later ends of championships and winning championships,” he says. The key to it all though, is that they love football in a way that most mortals could not comprehend. Bradley recalls a Saturday night when Tyrone played Galway a few years back. It wasn’t until well past midnight when the bus rolled back into the county. While everyone else was talking about a lazy Sunday ahead, perhaps a round of golf and a dip in the pool, Peter Harte had other plans. He was out first thing in the morning to coach the Errigal Ciarán U8 girls team. 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