Tyrone Win Cracking McKenna Cup Tie

Wednesday 08.01.2020

County

Armagh 3-15 Tyrone 3-18

Tyrone will play Down this Sunday for a place in the Bank Of Ireland McKenna Cup final after winning a high scoring and hugely entertaining tussle with neighbours Armagh at the Athletic Grounds on Wednesday night. It was a contest that flowed from start to finish with the 5000 plus crowd certainly getting value for money.

On a couple of occasions during the game Tyrone looked to be well on top but to their credit Armagh made them fight for a victory, the Orchard men narrowly missing out on qualifying for the semi finals as the best runner up.

Tyrone led 2-8 to 1-7 but they should have been further in front as they dominated the opening period only to be hit with a late sucker punch in the form of a goal just before the break. Armagh then closed the gap to two points in the opening moments of the second half but that was as close as they got as the visitors deservedly held on to make the decider. With Frank Burns at full forward the visitors had a focal point for their attack as he gave the Armagh defence untold problems while alongside him the returning Ronan O’Neill banged in two opportunist goals.

Respective full forwards Rian O’Neill and Kyle Coney swapped early points as did Ronan O’Neill and Conor Turbitt before Ronan McHugh got his name on the score sheet for Tyrone from a free after he had been fouled himself. Centre half back Michael McKernan then got forward to hoist a wonderful score from distance but that was cancelled out at the other end by Turbitt. In the 14th minute Tyrone struck for a well taken goal when the outstanding Niall Sludden broke two or three tackles before offloading to O’Neill who finished low to the net past Niall Brady.

Armagh responded with a fine effort from O’Neill but almost immediately Burns cancelled that out with a point off his weaker left foot. Tyrone keeper Niall Morgan was then called into action to make a great save to deny Greg McCabe. Conan Grugan and Stefan Campbell traded points before Kieran McGeary pushed the Red Hands further in front. The resulting kick out from Brady went straight to O’Neill and he showed great vision to lob the ball over the retreating keeper and into an empty net. A McHugh effort left eight between the sides but on the stroke of halftime Armagh were thrown a lifeline when a long range O’Neill free slipped through the hands of Ben McDonnell and over the line despite the best efforts of Coney.

Twenty seconds into the second half a great score from Oisin O’Neill left just three between the sides before Rory Grugan cut the deficit to two. Good work from Ronan O’Neill set up Sludden for a brilliant goal as Tyrone assumed control again. Darren McCurry, McHugh and O’Neill tagged on points but Armagh hit back with a penalty goal from Campbell. Man of the match Sludden and Kieran McGeary had Tyrone points but Turbitt hit a couple of fine scores to keep Armagh in touch. Rory Grugan then fired in a goal to set up a tense finish but the visitors held on.

Armagh: N Brady, C O’Neill, S Sheridan, A Forker, J McElroy, G McCabe, C McConville, N Grimley, O O’Neill (0-2), M Shields, S Campbell (1-1, 1-0 pen), A Nugent, C Turbitt (0-4, 2M), R O’Neill (1-3, 1F, 1 “45”), J Duffy (0-1). Subs: R Grugan (1-3, 2F) for McElroy, P Hughes (0-1) for McConville, J Burns for Sheridan, C McGeary for Duffy

Tyrone: N Morgan, C McLaughlin, A McCrory, N Kelly, M O’Neill, M McKernan (0-1), M Murnaghan, B McDonnell, C Grugan (0-1), F Burns (0-1), N Sludden (1-1), K McGeary (0-2), R McHugh (0-3, 2F), K Coney (0-1), R O’Neill (2-3). Subs: L Rafferty (0-1) for M O’Neill, C Kilpatrick for Grugan, D McCurry (0-4, 2F) for Coney, D Mulgrew for Brennan, C Quinn for McKernan

Referee: B Cassidy, Derry