Minors ease to victory against Erne boys

FERMANAGH 0-4  TYRONE 2-12

TYRONE got their Ulster Minor Championship campaign back on an even keel by the banks of Lough MacNean on Saturday when they eased to victory against Fermanagh in sunny Belcoo.

Goals in either half from Enda Donaghy and Jamie Concannon helped steer the visitors to a comfortable fourteen point triumph, and leaves them now on the cusp of a quarter-final spot at least in the provincial competition.

Stung by the nature of their loss to Donegal a week earlier, the Red Hands looked like a team on a mission from the throw-in here, and by the end of the first quarter the outcome was effectively sealed, as they stretched out in front 1-5 to 0-1.

Skipper Paul McGinley, Davin McKeown, Jamie Concannon and Shea McDermott were among the pick of the bunch for Tyrone, while Conor Mulligan, Daire Chapman and Nathan Beattie battled gamefully for the hosts throughout, albeit in a losing effort.

The tone for the afternoon was set as early as the second minute, when a high ball arrowed in from deep by midfielder Eoin Donaghy found its way through to the Fermanagh net, handing Tyrone a lead they were to methodically build upon as the first half unfolded.

Playing with the breeze at their backs, the visitors pegged their opponents on the back foot, establishing aerial supremacy around the middle third, and carving out numerous scoring opportunities.

Shea McDermott made the most of his chance to catch the eye, having been afforded a starting berth in attack, by planting a brace of frees, before Concannon put the cap on some fluent approach work with a sweet strike over the bar.

Fermanagh eventually broke their drought when Daire Chapman stuck over a tenth minute free, but in the main their inside men were feeding off scraps, with Tyrone bossing proceedings.

Wing-back Sean Corry nipped inside to drive over a score, and with the Red Hands maintaining their early surge McDermott swung over a beauty from play on the quarter hour mark.

Liam McGeary then got in on the act with a sharply taken point, as Fermanagh struggled to plug the gaps which their opponents were exploiting almost at will.

To their credit though Fermanagh began to restore parity certainly in terms of the possession stats in the run-up to the break, and Dan O’Connor raised morale with a terrific score, after some patient and probing build-up work.

Tyrone’s early gusto had waned somewhat but prior to the interval they produced another concerted spell of pressure, which yielded three points. Lorcan McMurray hoisted a couple of super scores to underline his value to the side, while Concannon also split the posts from distance as the away side went in at half-time leading 1-9 to 0-2.

Ten substitutions throughout the duration of the second half (five by either side) stymied the flow of the contest and with the spoils all but secured by Tyrone, the action meandered along with no real Championship intensity or bite to the exchanges.

The clinical edge which the visitors had demonstrated as an attacking force prior to the break was only evident on a sporadic basis on the turnaround as they began to wrack up the wides.

It was a case of damage limitation for Fermanagh and while they did stop haemeorrhaging they toiled inside the opposition ’45’ to mine any tangible chances

After midfielder Darren McAnespie slotted a Tyrone free, their second goal duly arrived in the 36th minute, with Concannon neatly side-footing the ball low under keeper Ray. McGeary then brushed off a hefty challenge to drill over a score which left in 2-11 to 0-2 with still over a quarter of an hour remaining.

Tyrone though completely slackened off, at least attacking wise, from there to the final whistle, registering just one more score courtesy of sub Darragh Devlin.

Converted frees from Chapman and sub Tomas Cathcart doubled Fermanagh’s scoring tally ahead of the final whistle, as their quest for a Championship win goes on.

For Tyrone it’s on to a much sterner assignment against Monaghan this coming weekend.

The Scorers

Fermanagh

Daire Chapman (0-2,2f), Dan O’Connor (0-1), Tomas Cathcart (0-1,f).

Tyrone

Jamie Concannon (1-2), Enda Donaghy (1-0), Shea McDermott (0-3,2f), Lorcan McMurray (0-2), Liam McGeary (0-2), Sean Corry, Darragh Devlin, Darren McAnespie (0-1 each).

The Teams

Fermanagh

Rhys Ray, Niall Flynn, Conor Mulligan, Alex McCaffrey, Conor Casey, James Tierney, Taidgh O’Brien, Michael Duffy, Daire Chapman, Gavin McCann, Ryan Hannigan, Rian Bogue, Odhran McGovern, Nathan Beattie, Dan O’Connor. Subs used: Ryan McCann for R Hannigan (h-time), Calum MacInnes for R Bogue (h-time), Tomas Cathcart for O McGovern (46 mins), Daithi Mohan for C Casey (52), Rian Kennedy for G McCann (55).

Tyrone

Oisin Watson, Paul McGinley, Padraig Goodman, Eoghan Conway, Sean Corry, Davin McKeown, Aodhan Quinn, Enda Donaghy, Darren McAnespie, Padraig Donaghy, Jamie Concannon, Sean Og Teague, Lorcan McMurray, Shea McDermott, Liam McGeary. Subs used: Peter Colton for S Teague (40 mins), Darragh Devlin for L McMurray (46), James Mulgrew for E Donaghy (48), Peter McGoldrick for S McDermott (48), Shea Munroe for D McAnespie (48).

Referee: Mark Turley (Down).