Logan turns his thoughts to the League

TYRONE need to be fully-focused on an ‘ultra-competitive’ National League campaign now that they have two free weeks to prepare for it, joint manager Feargal Logan has stressed.

The Red Hands interest in the McKenna Cup ended abruptly last Wednesday evening when they suffered their second narrow loss in the competition, going down by a point against Armagh at the Athletic Grounds, 1-14 to 2-10.

There was plenty of positives for the management team to glean from the two performances, with a number of rookies taking their opportunity to shine, though with the NFL opener against Roscommon just around the corner, Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher will aim to have a backbone of regular campaigners back in tow.

Logan appreciates how difficult the upcoming Division One programme of games will be and how vital therefore it will be to get off to a positive start. “Division One is always very competitive. We finished up fourth in it last year. We haven’t had the best of starts in the league over this past while but we have stabilised as it goes on and fared rightly. But this year it is ultra-competitive with the Dubs and Derry back in tow so we want to be starting well.”

While an extra competitive match in the McKenna Cup could have helped Tyrone to further trawl the resources at their disposal, Logan also felt there was benefits from being afforded the additional preparation time for the League.

“An extra game would have meant three games in a week and we have young lads developing and picking up knocks so it’s always hard to know what is best. The bottom line is that we now have an opportunity to focus on Roscommon.

“ We have had a few men of high quality step away and other men of high quality carrying injuries so in the meantime we are trying to get a bit of youth out on the pitch. Still it has been a youthful exercise.”

Logan wouldn’t be drawn on the specific timescale for some of the more established players to return to action from injury, but was cautiously optimistic that several would be taking to the field at Healy Park against the Rossies.

“ There is some men who won’t make the Roscommon opener that’s the reality but there is still men who will come back into the fold. We will take stock now that we have a bit of time and let’s see how things shape up in the next few weeks.”

“ We work every day with these men and we get scans through and diagnosis through so I wouldn’t call things at this stage.”