Malachy O’Rourke says Tyrone were determined to honour Frank McGuigan’s memory with a big performance against Roscommon.

The Tyrone manager paid tribute to the legendary forward after his side’s 3-16 to 2-18 All-Ireland SFC Round 1 victory over the recently-crowned Connacht champions at Hyde Park.

“We came down here today, really determined to put on a big performance and as well as that, it’s a day when all the Gaels in Tyrone are mourning a legend like Frank McGuigan,” he told the assembled media.

“I think the boys wanted to put on a performance that would make the McGuigan family proud, and I think we achieved that.

“The news came as a bit of a shock. Whereas I didn’t know Frank personally, I knew him to meet off and on, but some of the boys would have been a lot closer to him. He’s obviously a legendary figure in Tyrone for what he did in the past, and over the years as well, so it was a shock to everybody.

“And as I said, it was just a case of trying to go out and put on a performance. You can’t guarantee the win, and I wasn’t going to put that pressure on to say that we had the win for the family.

“But you wanted to go out and put on a performance to be proud of, and I think we achieved that.”

O’Rourke was delighted with the Red Hands’ response to a disappointing Allianz League campaign and their heartbreaking Ulster SFC quarter-final extra-time defeat to Armagh.

“I suppose the way the year has gone for us, what happened in the Armagh game, we could have won, we didn’t.So it takes that wee bit of extra resilience, that wee bit of extra character. I thought the boys showed that in spades, so it’s great to see that,” he added.

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