Football

Roscommon's late flurry denies Tyrone opening round win at Dr Hyde Park

Allianz Football League Division One: Roscommon 3-11 Tyrone 1-12

From Andy Watters at Dr Hyde Park

COULD have, should have… By the looks of it Tyrone haven’t quite shrugged off last season’s malaise just yet and they could live to regret missing out on victory at ‘The Hyde’ yesterday.

To win away games like this one, you have to be clinical and Tyrone weren’t. They shot six first half wides against the wind and, after Kieran McGeary’s goal sent them three ahead midway through the second half, Darren McCurry had a chance that would surely have sealed victory.

But McCurry, who scored three excellent points, slipped and the opportunity went abegging and the Rossies scored three goals from there to the finish to win by five points.

“It was possibly one that got away,” said joint-manager Feargal Logan afterwards.

“At a time in the second half we thought we were in a commanding position but, in fairness, Roscommon picked it up from there.

“We had a great chance and that might have sealed it possibly but that’s football – one swing in momentum and then things just leave you. We struggled towards the end and it’s a game we certainly could have won but credit to Roscommon, they won it.

“Enda Smith came in and he’s a quality footballer. He got things shook-up a bit coming up the field for Roscommon and we just didn’t manage to keep on it.

“We thought we were well set up, we thought we were dealing with their kick-outs well, we had the press on them in the second half but we just needed more scores. Obviously we didn’t get them and we paid the price in the end.”

It’s early days of course but Tyrone are bottom of the table now on scoring difference and Donegal come to Healy Park next weekend after beating All-Ireland champions Kerry. With League performance now linked to Championship seeding, Tyrone need to get back to winning ways quickly.

“For everybody Division One has been fairly competitive,” said Logan.

“That’s the first round of it and it has been competitive. It’s not a great place for Tyrone at the moment but we’re just going to have to deal with it.

“There’s no easy games, so we just have to steady our ship and get at it again next Sunday. It’s a big game next week, we need two points to get on the board. The players get a chance next Sunday to redeem it and we all have to just hope that we don’t get in commanding positions again and let them slide.”

Roscommon also host Armagh (round three), Mayo (round five) and Donegal (round seven) on home soil and manager Davy Burke says he wants to turn Dr Hyde Park into a fortress.

“You have to be absolutely targeting your home games,” he said.

“There’s eight points available to us here in ‘The Hyde’ and it’s hugely, hugely important that we go out and make this place a fortress. We want to make this a tough place to come to. I don’t think anyone will want to run into Conor Hussey too often!”

Burke stressed that he would not allow his players to rest on their laurels after beating the 2021 All-Ireland champions. He expects to see “hair and skin flying” when training resumes tomorrow night.

“We’re targeting to go out and win every game,” he said.

“It’s a really good start, a really positive start but there needs to be hair and skin flying in training because that’s how it works. If that’s not happening it won’t work.”