Tyrone Make Hard Work Of Defeating Students

Sunday 11.01.2015

Club

Tyrone defeated St Mary’s on a score-line of 1-12 to 0-3 in their second round Dr Mc Kenna Cup fixture on Sunday afternoon. Mickey Harte’s side showed one change from the listed team following Colm Cavanagh’s last minute inclusion. The big midfielder slotted into the middle of the field along with Padraig Mc Nulty in a move which saw Cathal Mc Shane take over at centre half forward.

The home side played into the breeze in the first half controlling the game for long periods. However in spite of their territorial dominance and monopoly of possession Tyrone failed to make it show on the scoreboard. The students were forced to defend deep as they found Tyrone’s greater physicality and the strong running of Colm Cavanagh, Padraig Mc Nulty, Cathal Mc Shane and Peter Harte hard to cope with. Mc Shane seemed to come in for some special attention from the students but showed enough to suggest he will make it at this level.

In spite of their profligacy Tyrone reached the break 0-5 to 0-2 in front with their scores coming from Conor Mc Aliskey (0-3), Colm Cavanagh and Patrick Quinn.  St Mary’s hopes of a second half comeback were not helped by the dismissal of their wingback James Morgan just before the break.

The expected second half onslaught failed to materialise as St Mary’s sat deep in defence denying Tyrone time and space. Indeed “The Ranch” had a great chance to bring themselves back into the game when they were awarded a penalty in the forty second minute. However Micky O’Neill atoned for his foul on Conall Mc Cann when he made a brilliant save to maintain his team’s lead and Tyrone punished the students further when Patrick Quinn flicked the ball to the net in Tyrone’s next attack.

That goal was followed by seven further second half points as The Red Hands eased to their second victory of the competition. Next up for Tyrone is a home match with Antrim on Wednesday.

Tyrone – M O’Neill, A McCrory, R McNamee, C McCarron, R Brennan [0-1], D Quinn, P Harte [0-1], P McNulty, C Cavanagh [0-1], M Donnelly, C McShane [0-1], P Kane, P Quinn [1-1], C McAliskey [0-3], S McGuigan. Subs – T McCann for McCarron, S Cavanagh [0-2, 2f] for McGuigan, P Hughes [0-1] for Donnelly, J McMahon for McNulty, K Coney [0-1, 1f] for Quinn, B Tierney for McCrory

St.Marys – J Deeney, A Beattie, B Og McGilligan, C McCoey, J Morgan, A Forker, H Loughran, C McCann, E Bradley [0-1], P McBride, K McGeary, T Canavan, B O’Hagan [0-1, 1f], J Johnston, R Johnston [0-1]. Subs – R Burns for Bradley, T McCaffrey for Canavan, R Wilson for Beattie, C Quinn for McBride

Referee – R Barry, Down