Improved showing in Galway draw pleases O’Rourke

BULLISH Tyrone manager Malachy O’Rourke remains upbeat about their survival prospects despite seeing another victory snatched from their grasp at Tuam Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

A ‘two point’ free from Shane Walsh with the last kick of the contest rescued a draw for hosts Galway in an exciting contest, which ultimately ended in stalemate at 1-18 apiece.

The result leaves Tyrone sitting one spot from bottom in the Division One table, with just two matches remaining against Donegal (a) and Dublin (h), and in all reality they will require a maximum four point haul from those fixtures if they are to stave off relegation.

However on the back of their most encouraging performance of the season to date against table toppers Galway, O’Rourke believes that Tyrone’s graph is heading in an upwards direction.

“There were parts of other games where we played very well but it was for much longer today. The boys have been working hard and keeping the heads down.

“There is a lot happening under the surface that people don’t see but having said that we knew we had to perform better and be more efficient up front.

“At the end of the day we knew it would come right down to the wire. We were just hoping to get over the line but unfortunately we didn’t. But that’s life in Division One.”

Tyrone saw a three point lead wiped out when Walsh tucked away a penalty goal with ten minutes remaining, but with full-back Peter Teague black carded for conceding the spot kick, they stuck doggedly to their task down the home straight, something which pleased the boss.

“We had to carry the ball into the wind so we knew it wasn’t going to be easy but we still did enough to get ourselves ahead again.

“I would need to see the penalty back to see if if was the right decision.

“But we absorbed that setback and got in front again. It was just a sickening way to be denied the victory at the end with the free being moved out for a two pointer. But I was very pleased with the performance at the same time.”

Galway were handed that chance to equalise when Tyrone dropped too many men into their own half for that last attack from the Tribesmen. O’Rourke though felt the infringement was a by-product of the earlier Teague sin-binning.

“Pete was only on again in that last minute. That probably confused the lads as during his black card we only had to keep two up. Some of the boys weren’t even aware and it’s very hard to get the message across as you can’t get boys running onto the field. We tried to make lads aware we had to keep three up but it was too late by the time we got their attention on it.”

The Tyrone manager was pleased overall with the solid display produced by his defence against a much vaunted Galway attack, which can shoot the lights out on their day.

“You have to be smart. A team like Galway want to shoot from further out to get those two pointers. We had to be mindful of that and set up our defence a bit different.

“Galway are a very experienced and physically strong team. They were able to get their hands on ball and they were good at carrying it. They kept possession and worked a couple of good scores.

” You need control of the ball to create scoring chances for yourself.

“The biggest thing in the second half was that we absorbed setbacks and still came back really strong. A bit like last week we thought we had the game won and with ten minutes to go were in a really good position but it was definitely an improvement and something to work on.

“There is a number of lads who have come back into the panel after being away for a couple of years and a few of the under-20s have been introduced, while the Errigal lads are only back so really you can’t expect it to be a real cohesive unit after a couple of games.

“We think we are getting better. That was probably our best performance to date but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to get the win. But we will keep going.”

Looking ahead O’Rourke feels that Tyrone much reproduce the same level of performance when they head to Letterkenny in a fortnight’s time to tackle a red hot Donegal side.

“It’s hard to know what way it will work out. At the end of the day we have two really tough games left and we have to go out and try and improve our own performance. If that is good enough to get the wins that will be great but there is no guarantees.

“There is no point coming down here and putting in a good performance but not backing it up. Donegal the next day will be a really tricky assignment but that’s the challenge. We will get down to work this week and prepare well for it.”