Tyrone had 'great spirit' in Roscommon win - O'Rourke
· Yahoo Sports
Tyrone manager Malachy O'Rourke said the news of Frank McGuigan's passing made his side "determined to put on a performance that he would be proud of" during their 3-16 to 2-18 win over Roscommon.
It was announced on Sunday that former Tyrone forward McGuigan had died at the age of 71.
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Later in the day, O'Rourke's side won their All-Ireland SFC first round match at Dr Hyde Park thanks to a late free from Ethan Jordan which gives his side two chances to reach the last eight of the competition.
"We knew that the boys were determined to put in a big performance. There's a great spirit among them," O'Rourke told BBC Sport NI.
"We've worked hard and, as well as that, the news this morning that Frank McGuigan, a legend in his own right, had passed away.
"Everyone was determined to put on a performance that he'd be proud of. It's not necessarily winning the game, but as long as you represent the jersey in the right way and I think that's what we did."
McGuigan captained the Red Hands to the 1973 Ulster title in just his second year in the senior panel at the age of 19.
After a spell in the United States, he played a huge part in the 1984 Ulster final win over Armagh in what became known as 'The Frank McGuigan final'.
"I wouldn't remember him as well as some people, but I remember going to see him. I was at the 1984 final when he scored the memorable 11 points," O'Rourke reminisced.
"Five on the left, five on the right and a fisted point. I remember even chatting to fellas who would have played along with him and the one thing they said was, even though he had all the skills, he was a very tough competitor.
"He was also a great teammate. He always had your back and those are the things that you want in every teammate and that's what we were hoping that we'd get today and, in fairness to the boys, they didn't let us down."
It was far from plain sailing for the Red Hands with Paul Carey's two-pointer levelling the game for the home side with less than one minute to play.
However, Tyrone countered up the field and, after Eoin McElholm was fouled, Jordan converted the free to secure the win.
"Ethan's full of confidence," Eoin McElholm told BBC Sport NI.
"He can take on them shots and we know that.
"So, as soon as we got the free at the end, we just knew that he was going to score it and it was about setting up for the next kick-out."
Tyrone have three weeks until their next match with McElholm admitting that it is a "nice feeling", but the side has lots to work on.
"We came here with one thing in our mind and that was to get a performance and then ultimately get a result at the end of it," he continued.
"We're just buzzing and I thought we performed well throughout.
"There's still many improvements to be made, but now I'm definitely happy with the performance and obviously happy with the result."