Tyrone 1-10 Donegal 0-15
A USEFUL exercise, all in all. Tyrone’s season-opener against Donegal on Sunday may have ended up in defeat at a wintry O’Neill’s Healy Park, but there were more plusses than minuses to take from a competitive contest in front of a few thousand spectators in Omagh.
The wheels threatened to come off the wagon for a stage in the first half as an eager Donegal side pushed into a 0-8 to 0-2 lead at a stage. It’s the Second Coming of Jim McGuinness and it’s easy to be glib about it, but they already look like they mean business and only for some futtering about in front of goal, could’ve been out of sight by the half-time whistle.
It made for nervy viewing and the interval couldn’t have come soon enough, but Tyrone upped the ante big time after the break, and not only that, but there were glimpses of real potential from some of the younger lads who were handed their chance yesterday.
In all, a whopping nine players made their senior intercounty debut. Yes it’s only the McKenna Cup, but they won’t forget donning the Tyrone jersey for the first time at senior level, and they acquitted themselves well with new-comer Ciaran Daly scoring the only goal of the game. Others to impress included the always-influential Conn Kilpatrick and Darragh Canavan, while Seanie O’Donnell, in his second year on the panel, has been a real find and has the potential to nail down a starting spot when the serious stuff starts.
On an ice-fleckled surface that had mercifully started to thaw by throw-in, Donegal started strongly with two points in as many minutes, Peadar Morgan opening the scoring having spotted a gap before the vastly experienced Paddy McBrearty, team captain for another year, tagged on a free.
Tyrone’s backline had an experimental theme to it – Michael McKernan the only mainstay – and with that in mind it was probably no surprise that they struggled to cope with the pace and directness of the Donegal play in the first-half.
Jim McGuinness’s side could have had as many as four or five goals in the opening period but a certain composure was lacking after the hard work had been done.
Their first opportunity of rattling the net came in the sixth minute when Oisin Gallen floated over a defence splitting pass to Jamie Brennan, whose goal-bound shot lacked both the requisite sting and accuracy and was cleared off the line by Brian Kennedy.
And it was Kennedy who got Tyrone’s very first point of the day not long after. Stationed on the right flank and a long way from danger, he assessed his options before deciding, to hell with it, putting the head down and angling a powerful run towards goal before electing to fist the ball between the sticks, leaving two Donegal defenders chasing at shadows in doing so.
But that was it for a sustained period as Donegal assumed control of the contest. They had serious physicality in the middle third between Jason McGee, Michael Langan and friends, they had pace to burn with Ryan McHugh back in the fold after a year’s absence, and they had men up front like Jamie Brennan who could take a point. What they didn’t have, however, was the ruthlessness to well and truly twist the knife when they had the opportunity, butchering a string of goal-scoring opportunities after tearing the Tyrone defence asunder.
But it wasn’t as if they were entirely wasteful either and they manufactured their third point of the day when Shaun Patton, loitering around the 45 metre-line, teed up Shane O’Donnell who put his hand up for an ‘advanced mark’ and found the target.
Tyrone snatched at a couple of chances themselves and found themselves playing second fiddle in the middle, coughing up a number of points as a result. It wasn’t all doom and gloom – Omagh defender Aidan Clarke looked sharp at the back, Niall Morgan played some neat passes and Darragh Canavan had an enticing running battle with Brendan McCole – but at times they were all at sea at the back.
Donegal broke through for two Jamie Brennan points, opening up a 0-4 to 0-1 lead, but on both occasions it could have been worse from a Tyrone perspective.
They added two more points in quick succession with Tyrone struggling to gain a foothold from their own restart and it looked like it was set to be a long afternoon with Donegal very much in the ascendancy.
Darragh Canavan responded with a quintessentially stylish point, but aside from that it was one-way traffic and the visitors pushed into a 0-8 to 0-2 lead as half-time approached.
But Tyrone kept plugging away and a couple of late frees, one from Darragh Canavan and another from clubmate Peter Harte, back for a 15th season in the senior intercounty set-up, left them with a more manageable five-point deficit at the interval.
Then came the fog. Heavy fog descended on Healy Park during the break, turning the game into a spot-the-ball competition for about ten minutes of the second-half. There was even chatter during the interval that the game would be called off, but referee Niall Cullen gave the go-ahead for the game to continue and Tyrone fans proceeded to get their money’s worth in an entertaining second-half.
Conn Kilpatrick entered the fray and made an immediate impression (indeed he was a contender for the official man of the match award) and three unanswered points brought Tyrone right back into the contest. The Red Hands had finally come to the party, tightening up considerably at the back and Kilpatrick added somemuscle to the midfield battle.
One man who proved very difficult to stop, however, was Oisin Gallen, the talented Donegal forward who made a game-winning contribution in the second-half. Donegal re-opened a 0-11 to 0-8 lead thanks to his accuracy in front of the posts, but Tyrone had dug their heels in and kept battling away with Niall Devlin floating over a lovely point before second-half sub, Lorcan McGarrity (one of a raft of debutants) did well to win and convert a ‘mark.’
Oisin Caulfield responded for Donegal with a point, but Tyrone were motoring along nicely and momentarily entered the lead for the one and only time when Trillick’s Ciaran Daly (another debut boy!) palmed the ball into the net after some sublime build-up play from his clubmate Seanie O’Donnell.
Tyrone led by 1-10 to 0-12 with ten minutes on the clock but unfortunately that was as good as it got as Donegal reasserted themselves. They nudged their noses in front again with a free from Gallen and a point from play from Shane O’Donnell, and for ten minutes there were no scores at both ends thanks to some diligent defending.
Donegal had done enough, however, scoring what turned out to be the final score of the game in the second minute of injury time from man of the match Oisin Gallen. Defeat then for Tyrone, but a useful exercise nonetheless and they will look ahead to Wednesday’s McKenna Cup round two match against Armagh at the Athletic Grounds with confidence.
The Scorers
TYRONE
Darragh Canavan (0-4, 0-3f), Ciaran Daly (1-0), Peter Harte (0-2f), Michael McKernan, Niall Devlin and Brian Kennedy (0-1 each), Lorcan McGarrity (0-1m)
DONEGAL
Oisin Gallen (0-4, 0-2f), Paddy McBrearty (0-3f), Jamie Brennan (0-2) Shane O’Donnell (0-2, 0-1m), Peadar Mogan, Jason McGee, Oisin Caulfield (0-1 each)
The Teams
TYRONE
Niall Morgan, Conall Devlin, Nathan McCarron, Aidan Clarke, Tarlach Quinn, Michael McKernan, Niall Devlin, Brian Kennedy, Aodhan Donaghy, Dalaigh Jones, Peter Harte, Seanie O’Donnell James Donaghy, Conor Cush, Darragh Canavan. Subs: Conn Kilpatrick for Jones, Cormac Quinn for McCarron, Lorcan McGarrity for Cush, Ben Cullen for J Donaghy, Ciaran Daly for McKernan, Steve Donaghy for T Quinn, James Garrity for Harte, Tiarnan Quinn for Canavan.
DONEGAL
Shaun Patton, Mark Currin, Brendan McCole, Kevin McGettigan, Ryan McHugh, Caolan McGonagle, Peadar Mogan, Jason McGee, Odhran Doherty, Ciaran Moore, Paddy McBrearty, Oisin Gallen, James Brennan. Ciaran Thompson for McGee, Oisin Caulfield for Doherty, Stephen McMennamin for McCole, Jeaic McCeallabhui for McHugh.
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