Tyrone Minors Battle Back To Make Semi Final

Sunday 07.06.2026

Championship Football

Tyrone are through to the All Ireland Minor Semi Final but only after they were made to dig deep by a very talented and determined Galway side at Ashbourne on Saturday afternoon in front of a sizeable attendance.

Galway played wind assisted in the first half and with wing backs Jamie Dillon and Éanna Maher marauding up and down the wings and big midfielder Darragh Kelly taking the direct route to goal the westerners had Tyrone on the back foot from early on.

But as the old saying goes goals win matches and so it proved in Ashbourne as All Ireland champions Tyrone defeated Galway in the quarter final of the Minor championship.

With wind advantage Galway opened the scoring but were pegged back by the tenth minute following points from Vincent Gormley and Tom Gallen. Both sides had early goal chances but neither were taken as Eanna Maher gave Galway the lead at the end of the first quarter. The first of three two pointers in a seven minute spell from midfielder Oisin O’Neachtain had extended the lead to four before a 28th minute Brian Og McGuckin goal had given Tyrone the lead for the first time.

O’Neachtain’s further orange flags late in the half saw the Connacht finalists lead 0-15 1-8 at the break. Tyrone faced a significant challenge but with the wind picking up Red Hand supporters were hoping to make use of the elements.

Galway almost had the perfect restart but Connolly’s shot wide in the opening thirty seconds went narrowly wide. O’Neachtain did extend the lead before Gallen was unlucky to see his effort tipped wide after he linked well with Aodhan Corry.

Tyrone raced back into the contest with a brace of points from Vincent Gormley and further scores from Brian Og McGuckin and Aodhan Corry with Ó Neachtain and Hanrahan responding for the Tribesmen. The Red Hands levelled in the 45th minute when Matthew J Daly started the and finished the move with important roles in the creation by fellow clubmen McGuckin and Daly.

Tyrone were now on top and Conan Canavan and Logan O’Connor kicked scores to leave two between the sides. A free in the 49th minute from Hanrahan his sixth of the afternoon proved to be his side’s final score.

Tyrone finished strongly with McGuckin, Daly and O’Connor on target and despite losing Charlie Meenan to a black card, they still had the final say with once again Brian Óg McGuckin playing a pivotal role. He received Ciaran McKeown’s ball after he intercepted the kick out and he teed up Matthew F Daly to punch to the net for a third goal with all three coming from Eglish players.

Unfortunately Tyrone captain Ciaran McCrystal looks like he picked up a serious leg injury midway through the second half, we wish him well in his recovery.

Tyrone will be back in action in a couple of weeks when they face Kildare. The Leinster champions were too strong for Kerry earlier on Saturday afternoon.