Tyrone manager O'Rourke upbeat despite relegation

Conn Kilpatrick congratulates Michael McKernan after he scores Tyrone's second goal in Sunday's win over Dublin

Tyrone's nine-year stay in Division One came to an end in bittersweet fashion in Healy Park on Sunday with even a hugely impressive win over Dublin not enough to save them from relegation.

The Red Hands turned in perhaps their best 35 minutes of football this season in the opening half in Omagh to lead by 1-14 to 1-4 at the break and never looked back, running out convincing 2-20 to 1-16 winners.

Malachy O'Rourke's side will find themselves in Division Two next year despite finishing this campaign with a healthy final total of seven Allianz League points.

"All we could control was the performance and keep our side of the bargain by making sure we won because the rest was out of our hands," admitted Tyrone manager O'Rourke.

"In fairness to the boys they put in a great performance, and it's just disappointing the performance wasn't enough because we have been steadily getting better."

Close games cost Tyrone dearly

Tyrone will look back on the three-point home defeat by Kerry, the two-point loss in Mayo and the draw with Galway as games where they could and should have salvaged another precious league point or two.

They finished strongly with five points from their last six, and that was comforting to O'Rourke as he reflected on a dramatic final day of league action.

"We started off well against Derry and then lost the next three (games against Armagh, Mayo and Kerry)," said O'Rourke.

"The Errigal boys were missing and others were missing with injuries but we felt we had enough to be picking up more points, because we knew a lot of good work was being done behind the scenes and that performances would improve."

Performances and results did indeed improve with Tyrone now seemingly on an upward curve with the likes of Darren McCurry rediscovering his best form after a difficult league campaign by hitting 0-9 against Dublin.

"Maybe it's the first time a team has gone down with seven points and I'm disappointed for the lads and everyone in the county because you want to be in the top division," added O'Rourke.

"We could easily have been in a league final rather than getting relegated - so thin are the margins - but at least we got a good performance and hopefully it will stand to us going forward."

Dublin manager Dessie Farrell and Tyrone boss Malachy O'Rourke have a chat after Sunday's game in Healy Park

Tyrone take on Cavan in the Ulster Championship in three weeks time and that's where the focus turns now for the Red Hands.

And O'Rourke is mindful that spins to Division Two didn't work out too badly last year for Donegal, who went on to reach the All-Ireland semi-final, and Armagh, who won the All-Ireland.

"Armagh and Donegal did well coming out of Division Two last year so that's the situation now for us.

"We have to accept it and hopefully it won't do any damage in the long run."

For Dublin boss Dessie Farrell, he was disappointed with what he saw from his side.

Given his team don't play Wicklow or Longford in the Leinster Championship for three weeks, he insisted they had targeted reaching a league final.

"Definitely, the extra game from our perspective would have been very welcome because we are still trying to blood players who would have benefitted from the experience of an extra game," Farrell said.

"So we're disappointed with the overall level of performance. We didn't bring the intensity that we needed and came up shy on the day."