Tyrone players ‘loyal to the cause’ -Logan

TYRONE joint-manager Feargal Logan has praised his players for staying ‘loyal to the cause’ as the focus now turns to their Ulster Championship quarter-final clash against Monaghan in a fortnight’s time.

The mood music in the county has improved significantly following a strong run of results in the tail-end of the National League, and Logan hopes the players continue where they left off when the Championship commences.

“It was a good finish to it obviously and we had a hard, Championship-type game against Armagh.

“We didn’t help ourselves in the early phase of the League. We were on the road down in Connacht a lot, and we didn’t come up with much out of that, so it left us under a bit of pressure.

“But listen, the players dug in brilliantly, they stayed loyal to the cause and they showed their mettle and their steel over the past three weeks.

“We all know footballers are built on confidence, and no matter how good a player you are, defeats erode that confidence and victories blow confidence into players and into the group at large, and generally allow everybody to bind in.

“So we’re just glad that we got those couple of wins. You have to hand it to the players. The day out against Kerry, they were five points down after ten minutes, and they really dug in that day and dug out a result.”

Monaghan, likewise, will be in confident form heading into the championship after pulling off yet another great escape on the final day of the league.

Generally their matches against Tyrone in the championship have been close-run affairs so it could be one almighty battle at O’Neill’s Healy Park.

“The point about this year’s Ulster Championship is that everybody will feel they can just give it a lash.

“It’s almost stand-alone at this stage, and Monaghan have the benefit of being in deep adversity, and then digging their way out of deep adversity, and there’s nothing like that in football, or generally in life, to bring you on and to bind you together, and to get you ready for the next dark cloud that comes over you.

“So we’ll hope that they don’t put one over on us at Healy Park.”

Underage football is particularly strong in the county at present and a number of the stars of recent minor and U-20 teams made their debut during the league.

“From last year’s U20s, Michael [McGleenan] came in and gave it a good go, Niall Devlin has done well during the League, Cormac Quinn has been excellent.

“Benny [Gallen] stood in for Niall Morgan on Sunday, essentially to get some game time, and Benny did very, very well.

“So we thank the clubs, thank the schools, thank everybody around Tyrone that’s nurturing these guys up the chain, and we’re glad to have them.

“And the bottom line is, you need as many options as possible, you need as many fit and well and available, and the ultimate key in Tyrone is that young lads want to play for Tyrone. So that’s a good mix.”