Hurlers defeat Orchard to continue winning run

Tyrone 3-17

Armagh 1-15

TYRONE have earned themselves two cracks at qualifying for the Nickey Rackard final following Saturday’s merited eight-point victory over Armagh at a sun-splashed Carrickmore.

A second-half hat-trick of goals from Belfast native Tiarnan Murphy ensured Tyrone’s unbeaten record in the competition remained firmly intact, and now it looks like they’ll only need to win one of their final two group stage matches (against Roscommon and Donegal) to qualify for the final for the second year in a row.

The Red Hand hurlers look like men on in a mission after falling flat against Mayo in last year’s decider, and while there were some sticky patches against Armagh in the first-half, they rolled through the gears after the break and by the final whistle, Armagh looked bereft of ideas against a determined Tyrone rearguard.

It must be said it was an improved performance from the Orchard Hurlers – things haven’t been going quite so well and they recently underwent a change of management, and last week they were unceremoniously trounced by Roscommon.

They came to Carrickmore and played with pride in the jersey, and you wouldn’t have figured they were underdogs going by their first-half display – a well-worked 24th minute goal from Shea Harvey momentarily put them into a two-point lead, though Tyrone battled back to level matters by the interval.

Three goals from Tiarnan Murphy sent Tyrone into a comfortable 3-14 to 1-12 lead with just over ten minutes remaining, and Tyrone’s defensive efforts as the clock ticked down deserve highlighting; they didn’t give Armagh a sniff of it in the final stages, while goalkeeper Conor McElhatton was on hand to make a couple of impressive saves whenever their opponents did manage to breach the defensive lines.

In the opening minutes of the contest, Tyrone eased into a three-point lead with two points from Casey and a lovely effort from CJ McGourty, but Armagh, managed by Antrim legend Terence McNaughton, struck back with a brace from Shea Harvey.

The Red Hands were still ticking along nicely, however, tagging on further scores from Damian Casey (who didn’t get distracted by the cries of ‘too long’) from opposition players, while returnee Aidy Kelly showed all his guile and craft with some intelligent pieces of play around the middle.

However, Armagh’s directness in attack was posing some problems for the Tyrone defence, and they scored 1-2 without reply in a spell around the 20 minute mark to turn the game on its head.

The home side bounced back with a few more frees from Casey and an excellent individual effort from McGourty, moments after scuffing what looked a far more straightforward shot at the posts.

By the half-time whistle, it was all square (Tyrone 0-10 Armagh 1-7), but the sense was that Michael McShane’s side were drifting through the contest whereas Armagh were going hell for leather in their pursuit of their first victory over the campaign.

The early exchanges of the second-half were fairly even – Tiarnan Murphy knocked in a fine goal for Tyrone but Armagh scored the next four points on the trot with Dean Gaffney on song from frees as momentum swung back in the Orchard County’s favour.

The Red Hands clicked into gear, however, and dominated the final 25 minutes of the contest. CJ McGourty scored his third point of the day, while Casey did the rest after a super burst out of defence from McKee.

Tiarnan Murphy scored his second goal and not long afterwards he completed his hat-trick after an excellent sideline ball from Eoghan Ruadh maestro Damian Casey.

Casey, who was enjoying the space that opened up in the second-half, knocked over another free before teeing up Eire Og forward Sean Og Grogan for his first point of the day in the 67th minute, and they could’ve got another goal only Rory Weir’s effort on goal was well-saved by Armagh net-minder Fintan Woods.

To their credit Armagh never stopped battling, but their forwards were enduring a torrid time at this stage and hit a string of wides in the final quarter, thanks to the defensive efforts of McKee, Lorcan Devlin, Tiernan Morgan and others.

The referee ended up playing about seven minutes of injury time, which seemed excessive in the circumstances, but Tyrone were well on top even though Armagh had plenty of possession.

Eoin McGuinness tagged on another point for the Orchard Hurlers, but it was Tyrone who had the final say as Damian Casey scored a lovely point deep into stoppage point.

All in all another job well done for Tyrone, and they’ll be confident of claiming their fourth victory of the campaign when they face Roscommon in a fortnight’s time – and even if that doesn’t work out, they’ll have another bite of the cherry when they face Donegal in their fifth and final group stage match.