'Pure euphoric feeling' for young Tyrone star McElholm

Eoin McElholm has had a busy few weeks chasing trophies with Tyrone at two different grades.On Saturday, the Loughmacrory talent was with the senior panel as they stormed Ballybofey and beat Ulster champions Donegal to begin their All-Ireland series in the best possible manner.While McElholm came off the bench for the last 15 minutes in Ballybofey, he played a starring role in Armagh on Wednesday evening as the Tyrone Under-20s retained their All-Ireland crown with a thumping 5-16 to 0-17 win over Louth.McElholm hit 2-4 for Paul Devlin's youngsters, eclipsed only by Noah Grimes' 2-6, after hitting 0-7 in last year's final victory over Kerry. "I'm absolutely over the moon, just a pure euphoric feeling," said McElholm, whose sparkling performances attracted interest from the Australian Football League (AFL) last year."Coming back to the 20s for another year and doing back-to-back is absolutely massive."McElholm is now expected to make a swift return to the senior panel for Saturday's Sam Maguire contest against Mayo in Omagh and help Malachy O'Rourke's side tighten their grip at the top of Group One. "It absolutely doesn't [get much better than this," he added."It was a great win against Donegal but it's only two points at the end of the day so now we have to focus on Mayo. "It was an unbelievable night. All the things I dreamt of when I was younger have become reality."Tyrone have now won three All-Ireland U20 titles in the past four years, and with the minors winning the Ulster title on Sunday, the county's conveyor belt of young talent showing no signs of stopping. "There's great footballers in every position," said McElholm. "That's what you need. You need the whole thing flowing in the right direction and it looks like it is."

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