Tyrone Minors beat Breffnis in Championship opener

Tyrone 3-17

Cavan 1-15

TYRONE made a winning start to the defence of their Ulster minor title with an eight point success over a well organised Cavan side at O’Neills Healy Park on Saturday evening.

It was a contest that was laced with quality scores from both sides and there is no doubt the winning margin flattered Tyrone. The winners led by three points at the break and when Charlie Donnelly found the net only 30 seconds after the restart it looked as though it was going to be a routine victory. Cavan though had other ideas and even though Tyrone got a third major the visitors pushed them all the way. With eight minutes left on the clock only three points separated the two sides but Tyrone played some intelligent football to see the game out with the last five points of the contest.

Man of the match Eoin McElholm weighed in with 1-6 but not far behind him in the scoring stakes were Noah Grimes and Charlie Donnelly, and there were a number of other eye catching displays not least from midfielder Conor O’Neill who covered a serious amount of ground over the 60 odd minutes setting up a number of scores for his teammates.

Cavan had the first two points on the board from Ben Tully and Oliver McCrystal but in the sixth minute McElholm punished a poor kick out by bursting through to fire to the net. Cavan though responded and at the end of the opening quarter it was all square with Matthew Smith, Lorcan Reilly, Grimes and Donnelly providing points for their respective sides. A “45” from Smith edged Cavan in front but Tyrone had the last four scores of the opening period via McElholm, Michael McElhatton, Ruairi McCullagh and centre half back Callum Daly to lead 1-7 to 0-7 at the break.

Tyrone couldn’t have asked for a better start to the second half as straight from the throw in O’Neill and Caolan Donnelly combined for Charlie Donnelly to finish past Cavan keeper Cillian Brady inside the opening 30 seconds. That was quickly followed by a point from wing back Nathan Farry and it looked at this stage as if Tyrone would pull away from their opponents.

Credit though must go to Cavan who played some superb, fast attacking football to get back into contention. Tully clipped over a point before the impressive Michael Smith got his name on the scoresheet and that was followed by a wonder score from full forward Cormac Galligan with the outside of his boot from out on the right wing. Tyrone were struggling at this stage but the twin threat of McElholm and Grimes combined for the latter to fist a point, the right option even though a goal appeared on.

Matthew Smith and McElholm exchanged quality points before the former converted a “45” and Cian Keaney drove over to leave it 2-10 to 0-13 going into the final quarter. Tyrone though didn’t panic and after Grimes had pointed team Captain McElholm produced the score of the game after dancing past four Cavan players.

A third “45” of the afternoon from Smith was Cavan’s response but in the 52nd minute it looked game over when Grimes first timed the ball to the net after his initial shot had been saved by keeper Brady.

In the next attack though Cavan had the ball in the net at the other end of the field when a surging run from Michael Smith saw him find Reilly who offloaded for Keaney to score from close range.

The next kick out was won by Matthew Smith who placed Galligan for a fine point and the gap was back down to three again.

It was at this stage that Tyrone showed remarkable composure to see the game out as they held their opponents scoreless in the remaining minutes.

McElholm burst past a few defenders to split the posts before Charlie Donnelly weighed in with a brace of points in as many minutes. Tyrone had finally broken Cavan’s resistance and it was left to man of the match McElholm to hoist another two quality points to complete the scoring.