Roscommon handed Tyrone a fright before finally succumbing to a 1-7 to 0-12 defeat in the All-Ireland qualifiers at Dr. Hyde Park on Saturday night.

Tyrone boss Mickey Harte admitted, “I think back to 2008 when we had a tight, tight match with Westmeath in Omagh when we could have lost the game, but it served us well.  We had a tight game against Mayo in Croke Park in a one-point game in which we had to fight until the end.

“You need games like this to get better, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you will be as good as you’d like to be.  Every game will tell its own tale, but they are good games to win.

“I evoke the memory of ‘08 every time I can and ‘05 and ‘03.  You can look to these things and say there are comparisons here and there, but you cannot be definitive until you make bigger strides than we have done to date.

“All we know is that we have round three coming up, we are still in the Championship.  None of the top teams would be very scared of us. You can have days like that, but it is all about the result, the performance takes second place, and that is how we have to view it.”
 
Big Hurling Win for Clare
Clare hurling boss Davy Fitzgerald was delighted with his team’s ability to take their scores as they finally landed points galore in Saturday’s 1-32 to 0-15 win over Laois in the All-Ireland qualifiers.
The victory in Ennis means Clare now face Wexford in the next round on Saturday with Fitzgerald delighted his forwards found their range.

He said, “We had practiced all week taking long-range scores, we have been scoring quite a lot all year. We have been averaging into the twenties in scores and in the Cork game we had 31 chances and a lot of people seem to forget that.”
 
Derry Tops Down
Revenge was sweet for the Derry footballers as they beat Down by 0-13 to 1-5 in their All-Ireland qualifier clash at Celtic Park on Saturday night.

Down, winners when the sides met in the Ulster quarterfinal, ended with 13 men when Benny McArdle and Kevin McKernan were sent off in the final quarter.

And Derry star Eoin Bradley admitted revenge was a factor for his side.

“Mark Poland said in an interview after the last day that we overran them and were far fitter than them,” Bradley said.

“Well, today we got our own back. That was a bit of motivation for us.”