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A LOSS for soccer is most definitely proving to be a big gain for Tyrone GAA as Ethan Jordan continued his rise to prominence with another outstanding performance for the Red Hands in the opening round of the National League on Saturday night.
The talented Eglish star led by example up front in scoring 1-9 ot Tyrone’s 2-16 total despite the draw with Kildare. He has made a massive impact so far, after deciding to opt to focus fully on his GAA commitments after a spell with Armagh City.
Now, the St Patrick’s club player will be aiming to maintain the momentum of his initial performances, and knows only too well that it’s a team game and Tyrone have improvements to make ahead of their round two clash against Derry next weekend.
“It’s great for me to get man of the match, but I’d swap this any day to come away with the two points,” he said afterwards.
“Obviously it’s frustrating to have gone two or three points ahead and then not get over the line. This is the first day out and there’s plenty more days to come. That point could be vital further down the road.
“I got a decent return, but if you look at the boys coming on and they’ll all be fighting for this jersey. There’s lads coming on as well who’ll be knocking on the door. Any day that you score 1-9 is a good day, but nobody’s taking anything for granted.”
Tyrone trailed at half-time by 1-8 to 0-8, before battling back on the resumption. They looked to be in a strong position towards the end of normal time, only to see the visitors from Kildare get the vital points to earn a share of the spoils.
“The first half in general was perhaps our downfall. We went four or five points up and then took the foot of the throttle. The second half performance was much better, but still not enough and it will have to be better going to Celtic Park next weekend,” added Jordan.
“The surface was probably better than it was in the club championship. There’ll be more big days like this in the National League and you have to be ready.
“Last year, I wasn’t involved, but the boys beat Donegal and Dublin and maybe just didn’t perform against Kerry. But now it’s about getting out of Division Two back to Division One because that’s where you want to be playing you’re football at this time of year.
“It’s early in the year and there are things we need to work on for next week. At this time of the year you want the big games. Both teams will be really looking about getting back to Division One and next weekend will be a massive task.
“We have a big weekend of work to do this week. This is a big step-up, and there’s no doubt that the new boys in the team will gain from this. It’s about getting points on the board and we got one tonight.
“Derry are like ourselves with 30 or 35 men with real quality players. That’s the joy of playing at this level.”
