Tyrone Beat Dublin By One

Saturday 16.03.2013

Club

Tyrone came away from Croke Park on Saturday night with a one point win over Dublin on a scoreline of 0-18 to 1-14. The Red Hands rode their luck at times but a couple of fabulous Plunkett Kane points at key times in the second half helped edge them home by the narrowest of margins. Dublin played without Bernard Brogan but his absence did not seem to affect the team too much as the light blues created chance after chance and could have reached the break with at least three goals to their name. However Niall Morgan and his defenders worked miracles to deny Dublin space and time with some fine saves and goal line clearances. Tyrone kept plugging away and working hard and in spite of ten first half wides they reached the break leading by one. Stevie O’Neill and Sean Cavanagh found their shooting boots and Tyrone shook off their early nervousness to register some fine scores. The recalled Mark Donnelly showed his worth once again with two super points late in the first half which helped ensure that the Red Hands reached the break in front.
Defensively Tyrone showed considerable improvement on last week’s showing against Cork. Conor Gormley rolled back the years with a masterful display at the heart of the defence where his positioning and reading of the game ensured he was in the right place at the right time just when he was needed. Cathal Mc Carron and Aidan Mc Crory battled hard throughout and denied the Dublin attackers with some timely interventions and strong runs from the back.
The second half saw more of the same industry and endeavour from the Red Hands. Sean Cavanagh and Peter Harte got on much more of the ball and as the spaces began to open up in the Dublin defence Tyrone showed they had the players capable of capitalising. A four point salvo in the space of five minutes, two from Kane and one each from Peter Harte and Paddy Mc Neice put Tyrone three ahead and although they failed to score in the remaining ten minutes they did create several great chances to add to their total. Indeed Plunkett Kane was inches away from a goal with a delightful flick as he chased a long pass towards the Dublin goal.
Dublin did create several chances late in the game but Tyrone held on to deservedly win and make it three wins from three away fixtures in this year’s competition. Next up for the Red Hands will be another away day fixture against Kildare. Hopefully both Colm Cavanagh, who worked hard throughout the game and Justy Mc Mahon will have recovered from the knocks they picked up against Dublin and will be back in contention for the trip to Newbridge.