COUNTY| 14th Title For Tyrone

Sunday 17.07.2016

Club

Tyrone’s wait for the return of the Anglo Celt Cup ended at Clones on Sunday afternoon when they produced a display laced with character and will to win to come from behind in injury time to beat Donegal 0-13 to 0-11.

Having lost on the previous four occasions in the championship to their neighbours this was a much needed victory for the Red Hands and no doubt it will do wonders for their confidence moving forward. Niall Morgan and Cathal McShane put Tyrone into a two point lead by the tenth minute but then Donegal responded. Odhran MacNiallais, Mickey Murphy and Paddy McBrearty all notched points with the inform Ryan McHugh weighing in with a trio of superb scores as they led 0-7 to 0-4 at the break. Niall Sludden and Cathal McCarron the other Tyrone marksmen.

Having lost Mattie Donnelly and McShane to black cards late in the first half when McBrearty edged Donegal four clear inside thirteen seconds of the restart Tyrone had it all to do. They showed what they are made of though with Rory Brennan, Peter Harte and Sean Cavanagh all weighing in with fine efforts from play while Morgan nailed a monster free to level matters. Three times  Donegal retook the lead through MacNiallais, Murphy and substitute Christy Toye but this Tyrone side came of age.

Cavanagh had already levelled once but he then hit a wonder point to leave it 0-11 each with two of the allotted six minutes of injury time played. A replay look the best bet at this stage but Tyrone had other ideas with an outstanding 48m metre Peter Harte point putting them in front before substitute Kieran McGeary sealed the silverware with another beauty. A great afternoon in Clones as this Tyrone side come of age and we all look forward to returning to Croke Park next month.

Tyrone – Niall Morgan, Aidan McCrory, Ronan McNamee, Cathal McCarron, Tiernan McCann, Justin McMahon, Ronan McNabb, Colm Cavanagh, Mattie Donnelly, Cathal McShane, Niall Sludden, Peter Harte, Connor McAliskey, Sean Cavanagh, Ronan O’Neill. Subs – Rory Brennan for Donnelly [black card], Mark Bradley for McShane [black card], Johnny Munroe for O’Neill, Darren McCurry for McAliskey, Kieran McGeary for McMahon

Scorers – Sean Cavanagh 0-3, Peter Harte 0-2, Niall Morgan 0-2, Cathal McCarron 0-1, Cathal McShane 0-1, Niall Sludden 0-1, Rory Brennan 0-1, Darren McCurry 0-1, Kieran McGeary 0-1