Tyrone Ladies Gain First Win Of The Season

Tuesday 18.02.2014

Club

Donegal 1-8 Tyrone 4-6

It was a day of delight for Tyrone at Castlefin on Sunday as they finally got off the mark in the Tesco Homegrown national league. It all came good for a new look side whose management once again reshuffled things after a big loss to Mayo. The changes worked and Tyrone impressed all over the park.

While Former All-Star Gemma Begley was the tormentor in chief there were plenty of other scoring threats. Begley hit 4-2 and on another day could have doubled that. Christiane Hunter went close on three occasions and was fouled for a penalty that was duly converted. Cathy Donnelly and Sarah Louise McLaughlin had chances while defensively the threat of Geraldine McLaughlin was snuffed out. A day then of redemption for Tyrone who will now attempt to build on that result as they attempt to avoid the drop.

Donegal lacked the sparkle and the vigour in their play that saw them run All-Ireland champions Cork to nine points in their last outing. They too will admit it could have been a whole lot worse for them as Tyrone threatened at times to cut loose.

Tyrone played into the strong wind in the first half but led 3-2 to 1-3 at half-time. Begley lashed in her first goal two minutes in, Hunter added a point before the Omagh girl was upended in the box as she was about to pull the trigger and Begley beat Mailey with the spot kick.

Donegal kept on the coat tails of Tyrone with a McLaughlin free, a Murphy point and another pointed free from Guthrie before Aisling Cunningham’s goal on twenty minutes left just a point between the sides.

Tyrone full back Clare Muldoon and Eimear Teague kept things under controll at the back but Donegal’s frustrations became clear when Guthrie hauled down the impressive Neamh Woods. The Drumragh ace was pulled round the neck and Guthrie was sin binned, lucky perhaps to just get a yellow card. Woods recovered and from the resultant free Begley once again collected, turned the defender inside out before hitting the net to put Tyrone back into a commanding lead.

Tyrone should have been out of sight at this stage though, Begley, Cathy Donnelly and Aishling O’Kane saw efforts sail wide in the blustery conditions while Hunter, Conwell and Begley all had  goal bound efforts were saved by Mailey.

Into the second half and with Donegal down to 14 players for the opening seven minutes of the second period, Tyrone were very much in the driving seat. However they failed to make their chances count. Lorraine Conwell went close and O’Kane recovered possession only to see an effort go wide.

Both teams traded early points as Donegal ace Mc Laughlin hit a long range free while impressive Tyrone midfielder Emma Hegarty launched a super long range point. That score was duly cancelled out by Ward’s pointed free after a strong Tori McLaughlin challenge.

Tyrone had further chances to add to their tally before Begley found the net again pouncing on a shot that rebounded off the keeper making no mistake at the second time of asking.

Donegal missed a glorious chance to close the gap again when they were awarded a spot kick of their own but Mc Laughlin’s effort failed to trouble Shannon Lynch as it went well wide. Moments later another move saw an effort crack the crossbar and the Donegal threat was over.  Ward and McLaughlin did post late Donegal points and they had a goal ruled out for square ball

Cathy Donnelly’s well taken point after a great run kept the scoreboard ticking over as Tyrone closed out the game with some stout defending before Begley wrapped up the scoring with her second point, aptly the final score of the game.

This was a much improved showing from Tyrone with good performances from Kilpatrick, Hegarty, Woods, McLaughlin, Dooher, Teague, Hunter, O’Kane, Donnelly and player of the match Begley.

It was a small step in the right direction for Tyrone but there are some mammoth tests ahead in the remainder of this league campaign.

Donegal: Niamh Mailey; Emer Gallagher, Nicole McLaughlin, Kaneshia McKinney; Therese McCafferty, Katie Herron, Doreen McGee; Kate Keaney, Niamh Carr (0-1); Lucy Murphy (0-1), Geraldine McLaughlin (0-3,3f), Karen Guthrie (0-1, 1f); Eilish Ward (0-2,1f), Aisling Cunningham (1-0), Roisin Friel. Subs: Orla Carr for D McGee (10); Kelly Wilson for K McKinney (17); Rose Boyle for R Friel (35); Emma McCroary for L Murphy (50).

Tyrone: Shannon Lynch; Eiemer Teague, Clare Muldoon, Karen Quinn; Tori McLaughlin, Neamh Woods, Carol Dooher; Laura Kilpatrick, Emma Hegarty ((0-1); Christiane Hunter (0-1), Aishling O’Kane (0-1), Cathy Donnelly (0-1); Sarah Louise McLaughlin, Lorraine Conwell, Gemma Begley (4-2). Subs: Emma Mulgrew for McLaughlin(57).