Tyrone U21 Hurlers Heartbreaking Loss.

Monday 27.07.2015

Club

All Ireland Under 21 C Final

Tyrone 0-11

Donegal 1-11

Tyrone under 21 hurlers were left gutted at the end of an enthralling all Ireland under 21 C final in Derry on Sunday evening. Level with Donegal on eight occasions the crucial score came at the death when Donegal’s Eddie Lynch went for broke from a placed ball and found the Tyrone net. With the scores tied at 0-11 each and the clock turning to injury time Bernard Lafferty was fouled. Taking the resultant free from the twenty metre line, Lynch stepped up and went for goal, to his relief the ball slipped under the stick of a Tyrone defender and just about crept over the line.

That left Donegal three points to the good and despite Tyrone throwing everything into attack in the final minutes Donegal managed to hold on to take the Andrew O’Neill Cup, much to the disappointment of Tyrone boss Mattie Lennon who was left bewildered by fixture planners again.

“We had a handful of lads there today in the starting 15 that played for the minors in the all Ireland C competition on Saturday. The lads qualified for the final and that’s a great boost for everyone in Tyrone hurling but it was clear there today that they were starting to run on empty in the closing stages at a time when we could have pushed on. I knew that the minor fixture was going to take its toll on us and sadly that’s the way it panned out. Why do they fix games like that, do they never think?”

Tyrone opened the scoring in difficult conditions when Peadar Daly landed a fine score. Donegal came back to lead before Tyrone hit their stride. Mattie Mulgrew from all of 65 metres dropped over a stunning point and Tyrone added 0-4 without reply with Ryan McKiernan and Duibhir Marshall firing over two quick points with Mulgrew and Marshall again adding further scores to put The O’Neill County very much in the driving seat as the half entered the closing minutes. Donegal though responded in an assured manner and by the break it was six apiece.

Both teams exchanged points throughout the second period. Marshall, who finished the day with 0-6, went close for a goal but with time ticking down Lynch scored what turned out to be the winner at the other end. It was heartbreak for Lennon and Tyrone but taking the positives from this loss the fact is that with Mattie Lennon and his backroom team Tyrone hurling’s in safe hands.

Tyrone:  Duibhir Marshall 0-6, Matthew Mulgrew 0-3, Ryan McKiernan 0-1, Peadar Daly 0-1

Tyrone: Aaron Devine, Andrew Byrne, Ruairi Devlin, Mark Mc Crory, Damhlaic Rush, Sean Muldoon, Lorcan Devlin, Ryan Mc Kernan, Dean Rafferty, Josh Ferguson, Duibhir Marshall, Ricky Kelly, Peader Daly, Matthew Mulgrew, Ciaran McCrudden.

Subs Paul Conway For Rush, Brannan Molloy For Mc Crudden