Roscommon a 'full force' for Tyrone - Logan
Former Tyrone joint-boss Feargal Logan says he hopes the Red Hands will "turn up big" in Sunday's All-Ireland opener against Roscommon. Malachy O'Rourke's side will return to action at Dr Hyde Park [14:00 BST], over a month on from their Ulster Championship preliminary round exit at the hands of eventual winners Armagh. They face a Roscommon side who won the Connacht title this month and Logan, who won the Sam Maguire as a player and manager, believes the Rossies will provide stern opposition, even if Tyrone come in fresher.
"It's a big one for Tyrone, everyone is on the starting line this weekend and next in the hunt for Sam. Tyrone will hopefully turn up big this Sunday," he told BBC Sport NI. "Roscommon have always had superb forwards, they have added to their supporting cast, around their back and their keeper has been well tightened up, so Roscommon are a full force and ought to be challenging around semi-finals and finals of the All-Ireland stage.
"Sometimes sitting back and watching others empty themselves out, [in latter rounds of the provincial championships] all the injuries and suspensions and stuff comes with it is good, but momentum is still key in sport. " The All-Ireland series will have a new format in 2026, with the group stage ditched. There will instead be a qualifier series with an initial round of eight games.
The winners will move into round 2A and the four winners of those games will advance into the All-Ireland quarter-finals. The first round losers will play in round 2B and those four winners will meet the losers of 2A to decide the remaining four quarter-final slots and Logan hopes it will bring greater jeopardy into the early stages of the competition. "It'll be interesting to see how it goes.
The round robin has been a bit tedious the last number of years so one default backdoor system, it will be an exciting couple of weeks coming up. "