Tyrone boss Malachy O'Rourke hails Red Hands' fighting spirit in slender Armagh defeat: ‘We wanted the boys to go for it'
Not that any of the players will want to hear it right now, but Tyrone's performance in the Semi-Final is the first concrete indication that things are back on the right track in the O'Neill County.
Since lifting the All-Ireland in 2021, the side have struggled to get any form of consistency and couldn't even string more than two wins together before capitulating again.
They would have games where flashes of brilliance and potential raise your hopes and make you dare to believe in them once more only to then watch them falter at the next hurdle.
Under new management, things initially didn't look like they were getting better – consecutive defeats to Mayo, Armagh and Kerry in the League dampened the mood around this team and fans started to think that 2025 will be the same old story once again.
What followed was an impressive draw against last year's All-Ireland Finalists Galway and then three brilliant wins against Donegal, Dublin and Cavan in quick succession.
With the All-Ireland champions waiting for them in Ulster, now was the time to show if they really were contenders or not – and they proved that they were.
Tyrone manager Malachy O'Rourke couldn't hide his disappointment after the match, but he also couldn't hide his satisfaction after watching his team leave everything on the pitch.
'Yeah, that's what we wanted. We wanted the boys to go for it, not to be passive and not to be sort of afraid to lose,' explained the Ballygawley man.
'We wanted to go and attack the game. Probably in the first-half, we were a wee bit passive. 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 their 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.
'That's the Ulster Championship gone, but we have a go at the All-Ireland series and we look forward to that.'
There are a lot of reasons for O'Rourke to be positive, even just with the amount of talent that is returning to the squad.
Darragh Canavan was only back from a hamstring injury and clearly struggling but still managed to score four points, while Darren McCurry was exceptional, kicking an unbelievable 10 points, including some individual pieces of magic.
Eoin McElholm caught everybody's eye on Wednesday when he starred for the Under-20 team against Derry, scoring a solo goal that saw him beat some defenders twice before hammering it home.
His introduction as a substitute immediately lit a fire in the Red Hand attack, and when you consider that Mattie Donnelly didn't even feature on Saturday because of a bug, you can see how this team can be even better.
Former county captain Padraig Hampsey made his long-awaited return to the team, coming off the bench to make his first appearance in 2025, and the white and red defence instantly looked more formidable with his presence behind them.
None of this will make defeat any easier to take, but it will turn the dimmer light up for the future because if they can continue to reach that level of performance and get all of their star men back in action, then nobody will want to face Tyrone.
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