Students Inflict Second Defeat for Red Hands

Saturday 05.01.2019

County

Ulster GAA Conor McGurk Cup
Ulster University 1-21 Tyrone 0-12

It may be early in the season for the Hurlers of Tyrone but Mattie Lennon will have left the Dub last night knowing that there is work to do ahead of the upcoming Allianz League 3A campaign.  To be fair to Tyrone they were going up against a UU side containing a number of Antrim players including Dunloy man Conal Cunning who finished the game with nine points.

UU raced into a 0-7 to 0-0 lead inside the opening quarter of an hour thanks to a 65 from James O’Connell and points from Conal Cunning, Shea Shannon and Peter McCallin. Damian Casey hit the opening free for the Red Hands but it wasn’t long until the students extended the lead to eight points by the half time whistle. 0-12 to 0-4.

A second half goal from Daithi Sands punctured Tyrone’s hopes of staging any type of comeback although Tyrone did register points via Chris Cross, Damian Casey, John McGurk and Sean Muldoon. UU’s superiority was rubberstamped by points from Conal Cunning, Kevin Rice and Donal McKernan.

UU now go up against Down in the final of the competition while Tyrone prepare for a trip to Lancashire on Saturday 26th January in the opening round of the National League.

Ulster University: P Carlin, D Rush, T Burns, J Hopkins, M Fisher, R McGarry, D McKernan (0-1), A Orchin, C McHugh (0-1), K Rice (0-1), P McCallin (0-3), L Dunphy, S Shannon (0-4), C Cunning (0-9), D Sands (1-0) Subs: N Crossan for D Rush (35), J O’Connell (0-2) for C McHugh (31), R Elliott for P Carlin (31), C McBride for L Dunphy (44), C Hanna for S Shannon (47)

Tyrone: C McElhatton, D Rafferty, M Winters, J Kerr, S Muldoon (0-1), D Begley, C Cairns, C Cross (0-1), R McKernan, J McGurk (0-1), T Morgan, C Lagan (0-2), M Mulgrew, D Casey (0-7), B Gormley. Subs: J Fox for M Mulgrew (31), L O’Donnghaile for J Kerr (41), C McNally for M Winters (47), M Mulgrew for D Rafferty (62 mins)

Referee: Fionntan McCotter (Sarsfields)