Malachy O'Rourke insists Tyrone will bounce back after dramatic Ulster SFC semi-final defeat to Armagh
The Red Hands looked dead and buried when
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Tyrone came up on the wrong end of an Ulster GAA Football Senior Championship semi-final cracker against Armagh at St Tiernach's Park in Clones
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Tyrone manager Malachy O'Rourke insisted his side will bounce back after the defeat
But O'Rourke's men produced a stunning surge of 0-7 in a row to go ahead on the hour mark thanks to Eoin McElholm and two-pointers from Peter Harte and Darren McCurry.
Armagh showed their experience as All-Ireland champions and turned the game again when Jarly Óg Burns and Stefan Campbell scored before Rory Grugan's last-gasp free after the hooter sounded.
O'Rourke knows Tyrone were flat for large spells as stopper Niall Morgan was nullified and they were heavily reliant on 10-point hero McCurry for scores.
But the Fermanagh native hailed their spirit ahead of the All-Ireland SFC group stages next month, despite missing out on a first Ulster final since 2021.
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He said: 'The most pleasing thing about it was that when we went five or six down, we didn't throw in the towel, there was a good fight there.
'There was good character shown and that's what our number one aim, is to have that, first of all – that we'll fight right to the final whistle.
'We got that but we're just obviously disappointed the quality of our play wasn't what we would have liked. We struggled on both kick-outs a lot of times.
'So, there's a lot of things that we need to get much better but at the same time, we got ourselves into a great position to win the game. We're just disappointed we didn't quite end it.
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'I thought in the second half, at that period when we went behind, we did start to really go at Armagh. In fairness to them, they showed the quality, they showed why they're All-Ireland champions over the way they finished the game.
'We may be a wee bit disappointed in that. But, you know, at least that's the good thing – we live to fight another day.
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"That's the Ulster championship gone but we have a go at the All-Ireland Series, and we look forward to that.'
But O'Rourke cursed some of the calls that went Armagh's way. The Tyrone fans fumed when ref David Gough waved play on after Orchard stopper Ethan Rafferty appeared to foul Darragh Canavan in the middle of their comeback.
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He also questioned Grugan's free when Peter Harte was penalised for a foul on Conor Turbitt just as the hooter went and the game was heading for extra-time.
Gough was criticised by Armagh gaffer
He said: 'I'd say that the boys felt that the last free wasn't a foul. But there's no point me saying from the angle I was in.
'I could say something here and then see it clearly in the video later on that it was a foul.
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"But there was a couple of ones that were a bit controversial and we felt at times, we could have got the rub of the green but that's all part of it, I suppose.
'There were a couple of very strange ones there. I thought Ethan Rafferty seemed to roll and touched it on the ground.
'So, there were a couple of controversial calls there alright but I suppose it went for both teams and we're not going to use that as an excuse.
'We got ourselves in a good position without playing our best, and we're just disappointed we didn't finish it off.'
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ARMAGH 0-23
TYRONE 0-22
ARMAGH: E Rafferty 0-1; P Burns, B McCambridge, T McCormack; R McQuillan 0-2, G McCabe, J Óg Burns 0-2; C O'Neill 0-3, B Crealey 0-1; D McMullan, O Conaty 0-4, P McGrane; R Grugan 0-3, 2f, A Murnin 0-2, O O'Neill 0-3, 1tp.
Subs: C Turbitt 0-1 for O'Neill 52mins; J Hall for Crealey 54, C McConville for McMullan 60, S Campbell 0-1 for Murnin 64, S McPartlan for McGrane 67
TYRONE: N Morgan; C Quinn, P Teague, N Devlin; M McKernan 0-2, 1tp, R Brennan, K McGeary; B Kennedy, C Kilpatrick 0-2, 1tp; A Donaghy, J Oguz, C Daly; D McCurry 0-10, 4f, 1tpf, R Canavan, D Canavan 0-4, 2f.
Subs: S O'Donnell for Donaghy 42mins; B McDonnell for Oguz 47, E McElholm 0-2 for R Canavan 47, P Harte 0-2, 1tp for Daly 54, P Hampsey for Quinn 58 (blood)
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REFEREE: D Gough (Meath)
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Armagh face DONEGAL/DOWN in the Ulster final on May 10/11.
Tyrone will be third seeds in the All-Ireland SFC group stages next month.
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