McRory told the Tyrone county board on Tuesday evening that he was stepping down from the position for "personal reasons".

He took the decision less than a month after he and McKenna had been re-appointed to the Tyrone management.

Following McRory's decision, the Tyrone county board released a statement saying that the management role was now vacant.

The release of the statement has annoyed McKenna.

"I would be disappointed that no-one in the county board thought it necessary to spend 10p and ring Art or myself in advance to tell us about the statement," said McKenna.

The Augher man also pointed out that the Tyrone statement had "not afforded Art the dignity of even spelling his name correctly".

Despite McKenna's annoyance, there is a possibility that he now could take on the Tyrone role on his own although he refused to be drawn on this on Wednesday evening.

McKenna said that McRory had been advised by doctors to take a complete break until Christmas.

"I had a long talk with Art a couple of weeks ago and I knew that he was suffering from a long-standing viral complaint which appeared intermittently over the summer and during the spring," said McKenna.

Tyrone officials have said that they will be setting up a working group to help find a new boss.

Mickey Harte, who along with Father Gerard McAleer has guided the county to All-Ireland minor and U21 titles in recent years, will be among the favourites for the role.

Martin McHugh's name will inevitably be mentioned but Tyrone officials, indicated before the re-appointment of McCrory and McKenna earlier this month, that they would prefer to stay within the county.