Tyrone Are Ulster U17 Champions

Sunday 11.06.2017

Academy Football

Tyrone 3-14 Cavan 0-6

Tyrone won the inaugural Ulster U17 championship title when they produced a polished display to comfortably get the better of Cavan at Kingspan Breffni Park on Sunday afternoon.

The young Red Hands made light of the poor weather conditions with a power packed display with their ball handling and ability to take scores particularly impressive. Playing against the wind in the first period they laid the foundations for their victory with Tomas Hoy’s goal with the last kick of the half giving them a commanding 2-5 to 0-3 advantage. It was all one way traffic in the second half as Tyrone piled on the scores to run out seventeen point winners in the end as they advanced to the All-Ireland semi-final.

Cavan midfielder Dylan Molloy opened the scoring after only eleven seconds but that proved to be the only time that they would have their noses in front. Darragh Canavan levelled matters before Tomas Hoy hoisted over a fine score. In the 4^th minute though Tyrone had keeper Lorcan Quinn to thank for a superb save to deny Shane Hanley a goal. Seanie Keogan and Hoy exchanged points before Ethan Jordan did the spade work for Cormac Donaghy to palm in a 12^th minute goal.

Ben Smith responded with a Cavan point but that was cancelled out by a Jordan free before keeper Quinn knocked over a “45”. On the stroke of halftime good work from Cormac Donnelly saw him find Daniel Millar who offloaded for Killeeshil teammate Hoy to finish in style to the bottom left hand corner of the net.

Donaghy and Patrick Lynch exchanged points on the restart before Tyrone corner back Antoin Fox joined the attack to land an inspirational score. Donaghy then hit two brilliant scores in the space of sixty seconds as Tyrone turned the screw. Midfielder Matthew Murnaghan then got his name on the scoresheet before substitute Michael Conroy hammered the ball to the roof of the net in the 23^rd minute seconds after coming on. Lynch and Conroy then traded points with substitute Nathan Connolly also registering for Tyrone. The winners then closed the game out in style with eye catching points from Canavan and Conroy.

Tyrone – Lorcan Quinn, Antoin Fox, Matthew McCusker, Conor Ward, Tarlach Quinn, Cormac Monroe, Ruairi Slane, Matthew Murnaghan, Joe Oguz, Cormac Donaghy, Darragh Canavan, Daniel Millar, Ethan Jordan, Cormac Donnelly, Tomas Hoy. Subs – Mark Hayes for Donnelly, Caolan Slevin for Miller, Oisin McHugh for Ward, Nathan Connolly for Jordan, Michael Conroy for Hoy, Kevin Barker for Murnaghan

Cavan – Stephen Lovett, Kelan Smyth, Philip Nulty, Killian Brady, DJ Cassidy, Kent Fadoju, Gavin Brady, Ben Smith, Dylan Molloy, Cian McGovern, Shane Hanley, Callum Lynch, Sean Martin, Patrick Lynch, Seanie Keogan. Subs – Gareth Mannion for Gavin Brady, Peter Smith for Hanley (black card), Kyle Tyler for Keogan, Seanie Keogan for McGovern, Cian Shekleton for Smith, Kevin Curtis Molloy

Tyrone scorers – Cormac Donaghy 1-3, Tomas Hoy 1-2, Michael Conroy 1-2, Darragh Canavan 0-2, Lorcan Quinn 0-1, Ethan Jordan 0-1, Antoin Fox 0-1, Matthew Murnaghan 0-1, Nathan Connolly 0-1

Cavan scorers – Patrick Lynch 0-3, Ben Smith 0-1, Dylan Molloy 0-1, Seanie Keogan 0-1

Referee – Ciaran Mooney, Down