O’Rourke proud of Tyrone’s ‘fight and spirit’ against Armagh

By Alan Rodgers

A DETERMINED display when many had been forecasting a comprehensive defeat for Tyrone in yesterday’s Ulster Championship opener at the Athletic Grounds has brought hope for the Red Hands despite the disappointment of a narrow loss.

Few gave Malachy O’Rourke and the players much chance following a shaky start to the season. But all that was changed dramatically before an attendance of 16,091 as they came close to defying the odds with their best performance of 2026 to date.

Defeat by 1-17 to 1-16 is hard to take was hard to take from a Tyrone perspective, but the focus will now switch to the All-Ireland qualifiers and a chance to make serious progress in the race for the Sam Maguire.

The team manager was in emboldened mood following the final hooter. Nevertheless, there’s an awareness that improvements will still be required as they prepare to challenge strongly to reach the deciding knock-out stages of this year’s championship.

“We’re disappointed for the boys because of the way that they played from the first whistle to the last, and the loss of Brian Kennedy and Darragh Canavan so early in the match. They could have folded up the tent at that stage, but kept going,” said O’Rourke.

“In fairness to the boys they battled for each other right the way through, they showed great hunger and did a lot of things right. We missed a lot of chances and we’re all obviously disappointed, but I have nothing but pride in the team in the way that they played for each other on the field.

“We knew that the players were training hard, there was a good spirit among them and we knew that the performances so far weren’t good enough and we weren’t happy with them. I suppose factors played into that and there was a determination to come here today and produce a performance.”

After a National League campaign of mixed fortunes, this was exactly what the Red Hands required. It was a display which showed that they shouldn’t be written off, and coming so close to gaining the victory highlighted their determination.

All that, though, will count for little if they don’t repeat this type of fluency, energy and commitment when their championship campaign resumes next month. Their opponents won’t be known for a while, but there’s no doubting the aims of the Tyrone management and players now.

They were hurt by the criticism in recent weeks, and know well that more of the same will be demanded as the 2026 season gathers pace.

“It was never going to be easy coming to the Athletic Grounds and getting a result. We were pleased with the way the boys battled right to the end, we had a number of setbacks during the game and showed the resilience to bounce back each time,” added the manager.

“A lot of people outside were critical of a lot of things in the camp. But there was fight and spirit in this result. This was an important performance and to get one. That’s what we wanted, and we knew we had to get that.

“I’m just delighted that the boys had that performance in them. It was sitting well with them, but we had to take things on the chin and move on. It was annoying for the lads involved who were putting in a serious commitment in training.

“At the end of the day, it was up to us to answer that as best we could and the effort of application shown means that we couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

There were moments in the game which Tyrone will reflect back on, but the manner of their consistency and ability to bounce back will be seen as a major positive from the clash.

“The first thing we have to do is see what way the injury list is and that’s a big setback for us,” added Malachy O’Rourke.

“There is a lot of quality in this team and the most important thing is the pride that was shown in the jersey. That’s something which we’ll aim to build on when we get back to training this week.”