FEARGAL Logan has admitted he felt the pain that was inflicted by a humbling defeat in front of a home crowd as Derry shocked the All-Ireland champions to book an Ulster SFC semi-final spot.
Tyrone are heading for the Qualifiers, and their joint manager is hoping the players can find form and consistency after they have processed the implications of an 11-point loss to their neighbours at O’Neills Healy Park.
“You don’t want it in front of a packed house in Healy Park here in Omagh, it’s not very good, and it’s a very painful experience,” he said.
“But listen, we have ambitious and good footballers, and they’ll be sore with this defeat, as the whole group will, and we’ll just have to go at it again.
“Sometimes there’s days like that when everybody goes off beam in football, and it just doesn’t work out.”
Tough challenges lie ahead along a back door route which will afford little room for error, with the so-called weaker teams from NFL Divisions Three and Four largely consigned to the second tier Taiteann Cup.
Now it’s a case of working hard at Garvaghey and waiting anxiously for the draw for the first round of the Qualifiers.
“There’s no easy rehabilitation in the back door now, and everybody is aware of that, with the teams that are now in it.”
“There’s nothing straightforward about that, we have to get the calendars out, we have to study these draws and when the provincial semi-finals and finals happen.
“We just have to do what you do in football, set your calendar out, aim for the next day out, and it’s a pity that it’s a long gap for us, and we’re going to have to live with this one for a number of weeks at least.”
Logan accepted that there was no surprise element to Derry’s fearless and fiery performance in Omagh last Sunday, and no excuses for the Red Hands’ failure to handle the battle that was brought to them.
“We shouldn’t have been caught too unawares, because we watched them through the League too, and they watched us.
“But it’s a difficult path to walk when you are out there in front and everybody is gunning for you.
“But all we can do is commend Derry and say well done to them, and that’s life, that’s football, and we have got to live with our defeat now and get on with it.”
There were previous warning signs at Brewster Park, where Fermanagh got in for late goals, and while Tyrone survived that preliminary round scare, Oak Leaf boss Gallagher was able to pinpoint areas of vulnerability that he could target and exploit.
“You’re always hoping it’s a wake-up call, and we had a wake-up call against Fermanagh, which obviously didn’t jag us as hard as it needed to,” Logan said.
“But there are days when things go off kilter, and then you lose a man, and it leaves the whole thing very difficult.
“All we can do is commend Derry, and say full credit to Derry, and we’ll just have to get on with it now.”
Logan dismissed suggestions that his squad is lacking in the necessary depth as a result of the departure of seven members of last year’s All-Ireland winning panel.
“I wouldn’t be of that view. I think everybody in the group just needs to look at their own position and look at their overall ambition and see where we can get back up and get the heads up again and get on with it.”
