Tyrone Minors bow out of Ulster race

Derry 2-14  Tyrone 1-10

TYRONE could have no complaints about this one as they fell short to a formidable Derry side in Saturday’s Ulster Minor Championship semi-final at Owenbeg.

The Red Hands did well to keep the door shut in the first-half – the exception to the rule being when they gifted Derry a goal – but the home side rolled through the gears after the break and march on to next weekend’s provincial showdown against Armagh.

It was always going to be a tall order for Tyrone. Five starting members on Derry’s team played a starring role in their run to last year’s All-Ireland Minor Championship title, while by contrast this was a ‘young’ Tyrone side, with many of their panel in their first year of minor football.

For Tyrone, it isn’t quite the end. They will participate in the newly introduced All-Ireland Tier Two Minor Championship, and they’ll want to give that a proper crack given that the winners will take home the Paul McGirr trophy, named after the Tyrone minor who lost his life following an accidental collision in an Ulster Championship match against Armagh in 1997.

Derry are a slick, powerful outfit but they overcooked things big-time in the first-half, running into traffic and taking pot-shots.

But the nagging feeling at the interval was that they were only getting started, and they were utterly transformed after the break, reeling off 1-2 in a matter of minutes with their half-forward line causing absolute
wreck.

Tyrone didn’t throw in the towel. Peter Colton mustered a goal in response and they battled to the bitter end, but this was just one of those days where it was going to take a minor miracle, pardon the pun, to upset the odds against serious contenders for the All-Ireland.

Underdogs Tyrone produced a hugely promising start to the game, opening up a three-point lead with frees from Errigal lad Shea McDermott and a ‘mark’ from Fintona’s Colton.

Derry were getting their hands on plenty of possession but there was a sloppiness to their build-up play, carrying the ball into trouble and Tyrone’s defence were more than happy to sniff out the danger.

Tyrone were doing well in midfield as well – James Sargent is an awesome prospect while Cathair McBride is son of former Derry stalwart Johnny McBride but Enda Donaghy and Padraig Donaghy held their own in the congested midfield battle.

Unfortunately for Tyrone, their good early work was undone in the blink of an eye as they made a bit of a mess of a free at the back, a ball intended for the Tyrone goalkeeper intercepted by Dylan Rocks who wasn’t going to look a gift-horse in the mouth. Derry followed that up with a free from Ger Dillon, ensuring that they led 1-1 to 0-3 at the end of the opening quarter.

Tyrone were still playing reasonably well and their direct style of play posed challenges for the Derry defence. Davin McKeown landed an excellent point, their first from play, but they also spurned a few decent opportunities of tagging on further scores.

Derry responded with another Dillon free but they were still fairly listless and Tyrone’s tackling was crisp and disciplined as they continued to force turnovers on the regular.

Tyrone mustered the last score of the half Lorcan McMurray took advantage of some sloppy Derry play, ensuring an interval scoreline of 1-2 to 0-5.

The Oak Leafers upped the ante considerably after the break, driving hard at the Tyrone defence, rarely relinquishing possession with big plays from their big players.

Half-forward Caoimhin Hargan, who was excellent, got the show on the road with a point before the very same man found the net following incisive build-up play from Luke
Grant.

Derry kept pouring forward in waves and opened up a 2-4 to 0-5 lead through Dillon’s latest effort from the dead ball, but Tyrone threatened to make a game of it again when Peter Colton grabbed the bull by the horns, exchanging passes with McMurry before rattling the net with a low, hard shot to the bottom corner.

It was something of a false dawn, however, as Derry reassumed control of the contest with a flurry of scores from Eamon Young, Hargan and Rocks.

Their general pace and interplay was a sight to behold but the Tyrone defence didn’t capitulate and there were no further goals in the contest.

Tyrone nabbed two further scores, from Colton and Sean Curry, as the clock ticked into the final quarter, but the game had become stretched and Derry picked off late points from Dara McGuckin, McBride and Rocks.

The Red Hands conjured a goal chance but Peter McGoldrick’s effort was straight at the goalkeeper, and to their credit they agged on a couple of late frees and a point from captain Paul McGinley.

However, Derry had clogged up their defence with a view to preventing any chance of a comeback. They dealt well with a few long balls late in proceedings and that was basically that as they booked their spot in the Ulster final.

THE SCORERS
Derry
Dylan Rocks and Caoimhin Morgan (1-2 each), Eamon Young (0-4, 1f), Ger Dillon (0-3f), Cathair McBride, Dara McGuckin and Caomhan McNally (0-1 each)

Tyrone
Peter Colton (1-3, 1f, 1m), Shea McDermott (0-2f), Lorcan McMurray, Paul McGinley, Davi McKeown, Peter McKeown, Sean Corry (0-1 each)

THE TEAMS
Derry
Jack McCloy, Caomhan McNally, Ronan Canavan, Rian Collins, Luke Grant, Cathal Ó Mianín, Dara McGuckin, James Sargent, Cathair McBride, Eamon Young, Ger Dillon, Caoimhin Hargan, Chris McCullagh, Ruairi Biggs, Dylan Rocks. Subs: Gabhan McIvor for McCullagh, Kevin Barry Mullan for Collins, Cody Rocks for Dillon

Tyrone
Oisin Watson, Paul McGinley, Padraig Goodman, Eoghan Conway, Sean Corry, Davin McKeown, Aodhán Quinn, Enda Donaghy, Padraig Donaghy, Peter Colton, Jamie Concannon, Sean Óg Teague, Lorcan McMurray, Shea McDermott, Liam McGeary. Subs: Eoin Mansell for McGeary, Peter McGoldrick for Teague, James Mulgrew for Colton, Michael McNamee for Quinn