Mixed fortunes for Ladies Youth teams

TYRONE 3-12  CAVAN 3-9

A serious injury to attacking star Sorcha Gormley tarnished one of the great days in Tyrone minor football as they edged out favourites Cavan to book a place in this year’s Ulster Platinum Final against Monaghan.

Gormley, who had scored three points in the game, is now set to miss two months of the season. It emerged after the game that the Carrickmore player, who has been pivotal for club and county, cracked a bone in her ankle and sadly now faces a long layoff on the sidelines. The Red Hands have other injury worries too and several players face a race against time before the final later this month.

Bree McBride, Orla Devlin, Caoimhe Coyle and Roisin Lynch are all carrying knocks although on the plus side Aoife Quinn and Shauna McCrory have returned to action.

In a tense contest at Belturbet on Saturday Tyrone needed the win to book a place in the Platinum decider, a first since Aoibheann McHugh captained the side to the 2012 title. This final group game had plenty of drama from start to finish with the sides locked level at the break, Cavan just about edging the half in terms of possession.

Tyrone had first half goals from Aine Grimes and Mya Williamson with the teams level at 2-5 apiece at the break.

It was the Breffni side who then pulled clear netting an early goal but the Red Hands kept on their coat tails before Niamh Coyle crashed home a goal to put Tyrone a point ahead going into the final five minutes.

From then on Tyrone closed ranks in defence and at the other end added points to pull away at the final whistle winning by three. Ella McCaffrey, Kelly McCaffrey, Williamson, Gormley, Emma Murphy and Nicole Donaghy all tagged on scores in what proved to be a thriller

Manager Darren McCann stated afterwards that he was pleased with the character shown throughout the game.

Ulster Under 14 Gold Final

TYRONE 1-3  DERRY 1-6

A physical Derry turned in a fine second half performance at Garvaghey to get their hands on the Ulster Under-14 Gold title on Saturday in a low scoring final.

Tyrone had led at the break by two points, with goalkeeper Holly McLeod making several fine saves

The Oakleaf side hit a hatful of wides over the hour but eventually made their dominance count.

A low scoring opening half was a tense affair. Ava Hurl hit a point ten minutes in for Derry although Tyrone responded well when Mia McCullagh fired in a cracking penalty.

Both sides tagging on a point apiece before the whistle, Liza Mc Donnell on target for the home side while Derry looked creative carving out chances but they were wasteful in front of goal.

Derry pressed from the restart. Saorla Coyle hit a brace of points and went close for a goal with Dairine Campbell put in some fine blocks and goalkeeper McLeod was on hand to deny a quality Derry attack.

At the other end McDonnell had a shot turned off the crossbar in Tyrone’s best chance of the half.

An Eva Forbes point put Derry three ahead with twenty minutes gone in the half as Tyrone struggled to break a well organised defence.

Rionach McNally and Therese Loughran exchanged points and the nippy Kildress player saw her well angled goalboud effort turned away by Aine Rogers.

In the closing stages Isabelle Regan dropped over an excellent point from the left as Tyrone pressed hard at the other end with several opportunities going amiss.

McCullagh did hit a third point but time ran out as the Red Hands threw everything at Derry.

There is little rest bite for Tyrone as they embark on the All- Ireland series this weekend with a long trek South to face Tipperary and Westmeath.