Feargal Logan says Tyrone are facing into “a big week” with Donegal coming to Omagh on Sunday.
Logan maintains Tyrone have to “stay loyal to the cause and keep at it,” after last Sunday’s round one defeat by Roscommon at Hyde Park.
It was the first time Roscommon had beaten Tyrone at senior level for two decades with the Connacht men inflicting defeat on Mickey Harte in his first league game as Red Hand boss back in 2003.
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In the meantime, Tyrone had won six of their seven encounters with Roscommon with one draw
More alarming for Tyrone than the actual defeat though is the way they’re finishing out games despite being near full strength.
In the final 20 minutes of last Sunday’s encounter and the McKenna Cup final defeat by Derry the weekend before, Tyrone conceded a total of 6-6 (24) and managed to score only 0-4.
Roscommon led by three points at half-time last Sunday, but with the breeze to come Tyrone were “reasonably positioned” at the break according to Logan, who saw his side collapse in the final quarter, shipping three goals.
“There was still plenty to play for,” said Logan, who is joint-manager alongside Brian Dooher.
“It wasn’t that we had a bad first half as such. We contained them rightly. They picked off some lovely scores in the first half, but we were well in the game at half-time.
“Then we go out - we get level quickly. Then we go well ahead and it’s almost inexplicable. Everything is analysed nowadays, and there’s always a post-mortem - win, lose or draw.
“So listen, we’ve just got to stay loyal to the cause and keep going at it.
“That’s football, and everybody has lived the ups and the downs, and with this one, we just have to keep going next week.”
Donegal come to Healy Park next Sunday for an Ulster derby buoyed by a opening round win over All-Ireland champions Kerry at Ballybofey over the weekend.
“For everybody in Division One, it has been fairly competitive,” continued Logan.
“That’s the first day of it, and it has been competitive.
“It’s not a great place for Tyrone at the moment, a game in, but we’re just going to have to deal with it. It doesn’t get easy with anybody. There’s no easy things, 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. So listen, it’s going to be a big week.
“It’s critical, we just have to get at it. Players get a chance next Sunday to redeem it, and we all just have to hope that we don’t get in commanding positions again and let it slide.”
Logan continued: “It was possibly one that got away.
“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 (Darren McCurry goal effort), 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.”
Logan says the League is “critically important.”
Tyrone will be anxious to avoid back-to-back defeats as it would leave them with two weeks of training to stew on a bad start to the League ahead of a tough trip to Galway in round three - a fixture they have struggled in over the past two decades.
“You want to be in a position to be in Division One as a starting point, and you would like to be well up there (near the top) as well,” said Logan.
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Roscommon v Tyrone and Donegal v Kerry score recap and result from the Division One matches
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