Time will tell if Tyrone build momentum after pipping Rossies, says O’Rourke

PRESSURE BALL: Dáire Cregg of Roscommon gets a shot away under pressure from Cormac Quinn of Tyrone during the All-Ireland SFC Round 1 match at King & Moffatt Dr Hyde Park. Pic: James Lawlor/Inpho

Tyrone 3-16 (3-1-14) Roscommon 2-18 (2-3-12) 

Malachy O’Rourke warned that “time will tell” if Tyrone’s one-point win would kickstart their season after Ethan Jordan’s 69th-minute free deflated high-flying Roscommon at King and Moffatt Dr Hyde Park.

Substitute Paul Carey’s two-pointer looked like sending another thrilling contest in sweltering heat to extra time but Tyrone won the next kickout and, when player of the match Eoin McElholm was upended by Senan Lambe, Jordan held his nerve to seemingly get Tyrone’s season back on track.

But O’Rourke felt that there was still a lot of football to be played before Tyrone reached the business end of the championship.

“Time will tell. Looking at all the teams that are left, it’s a very competitive championship,” he said.

“You see one team lose and then they bounce back. We lost against Armagh, we were determined to bounce back today, and we did that. But we’ll see what the draw throws up.

“It’s going to be a big chance wherever it is but we just have to keep the heads down and keep working.”

The Tyrone manager also highlighted the players’ determination to produce a big performance in memory of former county star Frank McGuigan, who passed away over the weekend.

“I think the boys wanted to put on a performance that would make the McGuigan family proud, and I think we achieved that.

“I didn’t know Frank personally. I knew him to meet off and on but some of the boys would have been a lot closer to him. He’s obviously a legendary figure in Tyrone for what he did in the past, so it was a shock to everybody.

“As I said, it was just a case of trying to go out and put on a performance. You can’t guarantee the win and I wasn’t going to put that pressure on to say that we had to win for the [McGuigan] family. But we wanted to go out and put on a performance to be proud of,” he added.

Tyrone were excellent during the opening half as error-ridden Roscommon played in fits and starts.

Peter Teague and the impressive Jordan opened the scoring for the visitors before Darragh Heneghan lit up the Hyde with his fifth championship goal of the season after five minutes.

But the visitors’ feathers weren’t ruffled as their midfield dominance was rooted in the home side losing four out of their first five kickouts, although Conor Carroll’s re-starts improved after that. Conn Kilpatrick, McElholm — a late change for Darren McCurry — Ciarán Daly, and Niall Devlin kept the scoreboard ticking over for the visitors.

But scores from Daire Cregg, Dylan Ruane, and Diarmuid Murtagh (free) left the Connacht champions level by the 21st minute, 1-4 to 0-7.

However, Tyrone turned the screw with well-worked goals from McElholm and Ronan Cassidy, albeit the Roscommon defending was poor, turning the tide in their side’s favour.

A two-pointer from Diarmuid Murtagh raised the home side’s hopes but Mark Dowd’s side were making too many unforced errors and a turnover by Daire Cregg on the stroke of half time allowed Tyrone to counter-attack, leading to Jordan, who had hit one of the points of the afternoon five minutes earlier, landing a two-pointer to bring his tally to 0-4 for the half and give the Red Hand County a deserved 2-11 to 1-9 advantage at the interval.

Both sides emptied themselves in the second half, with both goalkeepers — Carroll and Niall Morgan — making terrific saves.

Tyrone were keeping the Rossies at arm’s length but, when two points from substitute Conor Hand left just a point in it, the large home contingent in the 16,181 attendance began to sense they could get something from the game.

That expectation was further nourished when, in the 53rd minute, Enda Smith found himself with only Morgan to beat after latching on to a long ball, and the 2023 All-Star didn’t disappoint with a calm finish to catapult his side a point clear — an advantage that was doubled soon afterwards when Murtagh split the posts.

But in a game of fine margins, the pendulum swung back in Tyrone’s favour when Ciarán Daly picked off a kickout from Conor Carroll and seconds later the net rippled after Mattie Donnelly’s emphatic finish.

McElholm and Jordan (free) added to Tyrone’s tally, while Murtagh (free) replied for Roscommon.

With only a couple of minutes remaining, Carey looked to have brought the game to extra time but, when Lambe fouled McElholm in Tyrone’s next attack, Jordan didn’t need a second invitation to get his side’s season back on track.

Scorers for Tyrone: E Jordan 0-7 (tp, 3f, 1 ’45), E McElholm 1-3, M Donnelly, 1-1, R Cassidy 1-0, P Teague, N Devlin, C Kilpatrick, S O’Donnell, C Daly 0-1 each.

Scorers for Roscommon: D Murtagh 0-8 (1tp, 4f), E Smith 1-1, D Heneghan 1-0, C Carroll (1 tpf), D Cregg, C Hand, P Carey (1tp) 0-2 each, D Ruane 0-1.

TYRONE: N Morgan; C Quinn, P Teague, J Clarke; M McKernan, N Devlin, K McGeary; B Kennedy, C Kilpatrick; S O’Donnell, R Cassidy, C Daly; E McElholm, M Donnelly, E Jordan.

Subs: D McCurry for Cassidy (53), F Burns for McGeary (53), C Bogue for Daly (62), R McHugh for Kennedy (67).

ROSCOMMON: C Carroll; C Neary, C Keogh, E McCormack; R Fallon, R Daly, S Lambe; K Doyle, C Ryan; D Ruane, E Smith, D Heneghan; D Murtagh, D Cregg, R Heneghan.

Subs: C Hand for R Heneghan (44), S Cunnane for Ryan (51), P Carey for Ruane (53), B Stack for Fallon (54), C McKeon for Cregg (60).

Referee: D Gough (Meath).