Derby agony for hurlers against Donegal

Donegal 1-20  Tyrone  0-13

THE Tyrone senior hurlers came out second best in their derby encounter with Donegal at O’Donnell Park on Sunday afternoon.

Both teams knew it was an important game in their respective bids to avoid relegation from Division 2.

However, Tyrone struggled against a determined Donegal side for the most part.

They were fortunate to be only one point behind at the break and when the home side upped the ante, the Red Hands didn’t have the answers. They missed a penalty late on through Michael Little and then had two players sent off on a day to forget in Letterkenny.

Both sides came into the game off the back of narrow losses the previous week and it was Tyrone who drew first blood on Sunday with Ben Gormley on target.

Donegal played with the aid of the breeze in the first half and Sean Ward boomed over two huge early points while Liam McKinney and Brian McIntyre were also on target.

Tyrone lost Ronan Molloy to an early injury but Cormac Munroe drove up the field to land a superb effort.

Gerry Gilmore then came storming into the game for Donegal with two lovely points as they moved 0-6 to 0-2 ahead.

However, Tyrone started to get a foothold then and they got three of the next four points with Ciaran Magill, Kiefer Morgan and Aidy Kelly (free) on the mark with Ward offering a reply for the home side.

McKinney and Aidan Woods swapped points before Turlough Mullin notched a fantastic point to reduce Tyrone’s deficit to one point in the 24th minute.

Ward and Ronan McDermott added points to Donegal’s tally but they were only one ahead at the break after Magill and Mark McCann raised white flags.

The home side knew that they probably should have been further ahead than one point at the break but they lifted the intensity at the start of the second half.

The diminutive MacIntyre was proving to be elusive and he got two points while Ronan McDermott, Gilmore and Liam McKinney were all on target.

Aidy Kelly supplied two frees for Tyrone during that period but they were under pressure at the back.

Donegal had to wait until the 47th minute for a free in a scoreable position and Gilmore made no mistake to open up a 0-16 to 0-11 lead.

Aidy Kelly fist-pumped when he added a free to Tyrone’s tally but it was just a brief respite.

McKinney and Gilmore (free) pushed Donegal six ahead, and Tyrone’s cause worsened when Ben Gormley was dismissed for a second booking after a loose swipe at MacIntyre.

Donegal sensed the game was there to be won and they struck for a goal two minutes later. Ward cleverly flicked the ball inside to the onrushing Conor Gartland, who fired low to the net.

Tyrone kept going and they won a penalty when Aidan Woods was adjudged to have been fouled by Danny Cullen.

Michael Little stepped up but his tame effort was stopped by Luke White. Aidy Kelly and Gilmore (free) traded points after that before Peter Kelly fired over.

Tyrone’s frustration was clear for all to see and Munroe was given his marching orders after lashing out at Peter Kelly.

Brian MacIntyre was not happy with the treatment of his St Eunan’s clubmate and picked up two quickfire yellow cards himself. That made it a messy finish but it didn’t bother Donegal who collected two valuable points.

Teams and Scorers

Donegal: Luke White; Oisin Kelly, Steven McBride, Christopher McDemott; Conor O’Grady, Sean McVeigh, Jack O’Loughlin; Gerry Gilmore (0-6, 4fs), Danny Cullen; Liam McKinney (0-4), Conor Gartland (1-0), Sean Ward (0-4); Brian MacIntyre (0-3), Josh Cronolly McGee, Ronan McDermott (0-2). Subs: Peter Kelly (0-1) for Cronolly McGee (35 mins), Michael Donoghue for O’Loughlin (54 mins), Cormac Finn for Ward (63 mins), Ruairi Campbell for R.McDermott (66 mins), Dean Harvey for Gartland (68 mins).

Tyrone: Conor McElhatton; Dean Rafferty, Fionn Devlin, Ronan Molloy; Cian McGuigan, Cormac Munroe (0-1), Tiernan Morgan; Seamus Sweeney, Ben Gormley (0-1); Aidan Woods (0-1), Aidy Kelly (0-5, 4fs), Ciaran Magill (0-2); Branán Molloy, Kiefer Morgan (0-1), Michael Little. Subs: Mark McCann (0-1) for R.Molloy (12 mins), Turlough Mullin (0-1) for Sweeney (17 mins), Francie Hurson for K.Morgan (50 mins), Conal McKee for McGuigan (58 mins), Fionn Corry for McCann (62 mins).

Referee: James Clarke (Cavan)