Byline: MICHEAL CLIFFORD
TYRONE manager Mickey Harte insisted yesterday that veteran defender Philip Jordan had not retired -- but the player failed to attend training last night.
Harte maintained that Jordan is available to play a part in Sunday's crunch final-round league game against Meath after hosing down speculation that the three-time All-Ireland winner had intimated a desire to retire.
However, after Jordan's training no-show, sources close to the Tyrone camp told Sportsmail last night that he has quit the intercounty scene and Tyrone are now left hoping captain Brian Dooher can arrange a face-to-face meeting to talk him round.
Jordan made his first appearance of the season as a sub in last Sunday's NFL win over Kildare but Harte said of reports that had circulated over the previous 24 hours: 'That's not true. It's an internet thing at the minute. There is no other story to it.'
Harte insisted the player would travel to Navan this weekend for a game which, if Tyrone win, could see them return to the top flight.
'He's fit and ready to go next weekend,' added Harte.
Ironically, Dooher, 35, also came off the bench last sunday in Dungannon for his first appearance of the season, with both players receiving huge ovations from the 5,000-plus crowd.
And Jordan, who could not be contacted yesterday, played for just over 15 minutes of Sunday's game but is believed to have raised concerns afterwards about being up to the 'pace'.
While outsiders will be stunned that the four-time All-Star should be on the brink of quitting the inter-county game, those close to the camp were fearful prior to the start of last year's Championship that the player might call time on his career.
He has been dogged by hip and groin problems, as well as having a double hernia operation, in the past five years and Tyrone came perilously close to losing his services last season.
It is believed that Jordan had intimated to Harte that he did not want to continue playing but was eventually persuaded by his manager to come back for another season.
His decision was more than justified when he returned. He was arguably Tyrone's best player as the Red Hands lifted the Ulster title, and his season was capped when he was named on the team of the year for a fourth time, having previously won All-Star gongs in 2003, 05 and 08.
Harte's ability to talk players out of retirement is unrivalled in the modern game.
In 2008, stephen o'neill came out of the retirement that he had announced that January, to play in their All-Ireland final win over Kerry.
The following year, forward Colm McCullagh left the inter-county game and was talked back, while last year Enda McGinley took a 'break' from the county panel after his form was sabotaged by injury, but returned.
The success of last year was expected to lure Jordan back for another season and there were no alarm bells ringing when he did not join up with the squad until the end of last month.
It has become commonplace in recent seasons for the Moy man to opt out of the panel for the early stages of the season, and last week in an interview he revealed that his body was no longer capable of holding up to the demands of playing a full season of intercounty football.
'I was struggling the whole way through to get nine months of football done. But this way, concentrating on five months rather than nine has me fresher towards the end of the season,' said Jordan in the build-up to last Sunday's game against Kildare.
'Hopefully, if we're still in the Championship come August or September, I'll be just as fit and ready again.'
CAPTION(S):
Seasoned: Philip Jordan in action for Tyrone last year before defeat by Dublin saw him consoled by Eamon Fennell (below)
SPORTSFILE
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