Tyrone aiming to make amends in Mayo

“ A SLAP on the back is only six inches from a kick in the ass”, as they say and the vagaries of inter-county management have been underlined for new Tyrone manager Malachy O’Rourke in no uncertain terms just two matches into his reign.

Hyped up as potential front runners for league and championship honours on the back of their opening night victory over Derry in the league, the bouquets quickly morphed into brickbats when the Red Hands were blown away by reigning All-Ireland champions Armagh just a fortnight ago.

As always the truth of the situation probably lies somewhere in between, and Tyrone supporters will have a further opportunity to gauge where the County sits when they travel west this Sunday to tackle still winless Mayo in the third round of the National League in Castlebar.

It has become a perennial meeting these days, with both teams long established in the top flight, and often times it has been the visiting team who has prevailed, whether the venue McHale Park or Healy Park. Tyrone will hope that such a pattern is maintained this weekend.

Malachy O’Rourke stressed from day one that there was no panacea on hand which would guarantee Tyrone’s return to the very top, and hence he wasn’t therefore shocked to suffer defeat against Armagh, albeit the scoreline did threaten to get out of hand at one stage.

“ As I said I was going into the job with my eyes wide open. There is no magic wand so we just have to stick together and continue to improve.

“ I am enjoying working with the lads. They are applying themselves well and responding well. We always realised that things wouldn’t go in a straight line and there would be setbacks along the way. You just have to learn from them, keep the feet on the ground and really work hard. There is no substitute for hard work and sticking together.”

The Tyrone management should have an extended squad to choose from this weekend, with Ulster University now out of the frame in the Sigerson Cup, and the Errigal Ciaran contingent a month on from their club heroics.

O’Rourke warned though that he would still bide his time before re-introducing players, stating that it was important to keep the wider picture in mind.

“ We would hope to have more available to us. The Sigersons lads are now free of their college commitments and the Errigal lads as well have had another fortnight. So we will be phasing them back in over the next couple of weeks.

“ You just have to be careful not to rush them as they didn’t really have an off season and that won’t help them in the long run. They do need a bit of a break so that when they do come back they are fresh and hungry and ready to go. We just have to manage that situation.”