I paid no attention to Tyrone's critics - O'Rourke

O'Rourke expressed pride in his team's efforts [Getty Images]

Tyrone manager Malachy O'Rourke says he had "more to do with his time" than listen to the pre-match criticism of his team going into Sunday's Ulster Senior Football Championship preliminary round tie against Armagh.

The Red Hands had a disappointing league campaign and went to the Athletic Grounds as underdogs on Sunday, but forced extra-time before being edged out by one point.

O'Rourke said outside opinions did not register prior to the game and he had no doubts as to the quality Tyrone possessed, but was nonetheless delighted his players delivered a performance.

"We knew the performances during the year weren't good enough and we weren't happy with it, but it was different factors at play," O'Rourke said.

"We were determined to come here today and put in a big performance as we knew we had to, coming to such a difficult place to play championship football.

"We are pleased with how the boys battled for each other right to the end despite a number of setbacks. I'm just delighted the boys had that response in that as it shows the character of the lads is there.

"It wasn't sitting well with them with some of the criticism. We just have to take it [defeat] on the chin and obviously we're disappointed we didn't get the victory."

Trailing by five midway through the opening half and then losing Darragh Canavan and team captain Brian Kennedy to injury may have rocked Tyrone confidence.

However, they steadied and led in the second period, only for an Oisin O'Neill-inspired Armagh to break for home before Tyrone's Ben McDonnell forced extra-time with a well-taken goal.

O'Rourke's side again battled back when Armagh netted early in the additional period and had their chances to at leas force penalties with Eoin McElholm flashing a shot at goal past the post.

"In hindsight, if he puts it over the bar it makes a difference but if he gets it, then it's a great score so we won't blame him for that," O'Rourke countered.

"[I'm] Disappointed but we couldn't fault the effort of the boys from first whistle to the last.

"Early on when we lost our captain (Brian Kennedy) and vice-captain (Darragh Canavan), it would have been easy fold up the tents and forget about it, but the boys battled through, showed great hunger and great defensive work.

"We did a lot of things right but going forward we missed a lot of chances. Overall, we're disappointed but I've nothing but pride in the boys."