COUNTY | Tyrone Lift O’Fiaich Cup

Sunday 20.12.2015

Club

It might well count for very little in terms of the bigger picture but you know by now what to expect when Mickey Harte’s teams enter any competition.  The O’Fiaich Cup was no different this time around.  Tyrone backed up last weekends eleven point win over Derry with an even more comprehensive victory over Louth in this afternoon’s final.

The opening half did little to warm up the patrons that brazed the blustery conditions to attend the game.  Tyrone opened the scoring in the third minute when Ronan O’Neill split the posts for the first of ?? points from the Omagh club man.  A further fourteen minutes passed before the next score which came from the boot of Louth man Jim McEneaney.  Tyrone responded with a score from Lee Brennan but it was the ‘Wee County’ that led by the 26th minute 0-3 to 0-2 with scores from Declan Byrne and Gerard McSorley.

That sparked the Red Hands into action and inside the next ten minutes they hit five points in a row via Lee Brennan (2), a super long range point from Ciaran McGeary, Conal McCann and Ronan O’Neill.  The lead was further enhanced when Tiernan McCann managed to turn the ball into the Louth net in the third minute of injury time.  Half time Tyrone 1-7 Louth 0-3

Mickey Harte made six changes at the break as Tyrone turned to face a stiffening breeze.  Louth hit the first two scores of the second half through Gerard McSorley and Michael Rafferty.  Tyrone responded with another five point blitz as Connor McAliskey, Lee Brennan (2), and Mark Bradley all added scores and Niall Sludden hit his first point for the senior side.  With twenty minutes left to go Connor McAliskey found the Louth net to put the result way beyond doubt.

Inside the last twenty minutes Tyrone scored only twice more through Cathal McShane and Lee Brennan while points from Jim McEneaney (2) and fine score from Gerard McSorley from way out on the right helped the Louth men post their eighth point of the contest.  Final Score Tyrone 2-15 Louth 0-8

Tyrone : Mickey O’Neill, Aidan McCrory, Padraig Hampsey, Hugh Pat McGeary, Tiernan McCann 1-0, Conor Clarke, Kieran McGeary 0-1, Harry Og Conlon, Richard Donnelly 0-1, Conal McCann 0-1, Ronan O’Neill 0-2, Niall Sludden 0-1, Patrick Quinn, Lee Brennan 0-6 (4 frees), David Mulgrew

Subs : Niall Morgan for Mickey O’Neill, Mark Bradley 0-1 for Patrick Quinn, Barry Tierney for Conal McCann, Connor McAliskey 1-1 for David Mulgrew, Peter Harte for Kieran McGeary, Padraig McNulty for Harry Og Conlon, Cathal McShane 0-1 for Ronan O’Neill, Conal McCann for Richard Donnelly.

Louth : Neill Gallagher, Padraig Rath, Patrick Reilly, Kurt Murphy, Eoghan Lafferty, Darren McMahon, Derek Maguire, Tommy Durnin, Dan O’Connell, Adrian Reid, Michael Rafferty 0-1, Delan Byrne 0-1, Gerard McSorley 0-3, Barry Flanagan, Jim McEneaney 0-3

Subs: Leith McLoughlin for Derek Maguire, David Quigley for Patrick Reilly, Tagdh McEneaney for Barry Flanagan, Jame Califf for Michael Rafferty, Conor Lenihan for Kurt Murphy.