Minors make easy work of Fermanagh in Championship opener

Tyrone 2-19  Fermanagh  0-3

TYRONE began their hunt for Ulster Minor Championship honours with an emphatic victory over Fermanagh at O’Neills Healy Park on Saturday afternoon in a contest that they dominated from first whistle to last.

Having won the Ulster Minor league title a couple of weeks ago the Red Hands went into this game in confident mood and raging hot favourites and, in truth, the result was never in doubt.

With the wind at their backs early points got them into their rhythm and when Peter Garrity bagged a fortunate goal in the 18th minute it already looked like game over. The issue though was really put to bed in first half injury time when leading scorer Eoin Long fired low to the net to give the winners an unassailable 2-11 to 0-1 interval advantage.

The visitors may have had the elements in their favour in the second period but it didn’t matter as they managed only two points in the closing five minutes on a day when they failed to score from play. Tyrone, on the other hand, were clinical when they had to be with 2-18 of their tally coming from play with Long top scoring with 1-5, Garrity getting 1-2 and Thomas Meenan and man of the match James Mulgrew weighing in with 0-4 apiece.

No doubt the pleasing aspect for Gerard Donnelly and his management team was the fact that the team still continued to take the right options up front even though the result had been decided long before the final whistle, while the defence harried their opponents throughout and played as though it was a tight encounter.

There were only seven minutes gone on the clock and Tyrone had already raised four white flags with midfielder Mulgrew getting a brace and Joel Kerr and Long also on target. Wing half back Aodhan Quinn then got forward to split the posts with Garrity also on the mark before a free from Tomas Cathcart in the 12th minute represented Fermanagh’s first and only score of the opening period.

Tyrone then grabbed their first goal when Kerr played the ball to Garrity whose speculative shot from the right wing deceived Fermanagh keeper Patrick O’Sullivan and ended up in the net.

The home side then turned the screw with Long hit a fine effort from outside the arc before following up with Tyrone’s only score from a free. Mulgrew then weighed in with his third of the afternoon with Garrity on target again before Peter Colton drove at the Fermanagh defence before offloading to Kerr who in turn found Long for a clinical finish to the net.

With the result a foregone conclusion at this stage Tyrone still had to finish the job and they did so in a professional manner with Thomas Meenan in particular really coming to the fore in the second half.

The Killyclogher man opened the second half scoring and by the end of the third quarter he had tagged on a further three points. Mulgrew also fired over his fourth of the afternoon while Kerr was unlucky to see his fierce shot clip the bar on its way over.

In the 52nd minute Tyrone came close twice to getting a third goal when midfielder Padraig Donaghy’s shot came back off the bar and Garrity hit the post from the rebound.

Tyrone substitute Odhran Curran then got his name on the score sheet with a neat point as Tyrone showed no signs of letting up.

It wasn’t an easy afternoon for Fermanagh but they deserve credit for continuing to battle and closing the game out strongly.

Substitute Ronan Fitzpatrick knocked over two late frees and their afternoon was summed up right at the end when Tyrone keeper Ronan Donnelly made a good save to thwart Cathcart and Conor Casey somehow fired the rebound wide when it looked easier to find the net.

Tyrone now face Cavan back at Healy Park in the next round of the Championship.

Scorers

Tyrone: Eoin Long 1-5 (1 x 2pt, 1F), Peter Garrity 1-2, James Mulgrew 0-4, Thomas Meenan 0-4, Joel Kerr 0-2, Aodhan Quinn 0-1, Odhran Curran 0-1.

Fermanagh: Ronan Fitzpatrick 0-2 (2F), Tomas Cathcart 0-1 (F).

Teams

Tyrone: Ronan Donnelly, Elliot Kerr, Padraig Goodman, Ciaran McCrystal, Aodhan Quinn, James Daly, Cathal Farley, James Mulgrew, Padraig Donaghy, Peter Garrity, Peter Colton, Thomas Meenan, Joel Kerr, Eoin Long, Mark Kennedy. Subs: Michael Hughes for Mulgrew, Matthew C Daly for Quinn, Diarmuid Martin for Long, Odhran Curran for Joel Kerr, Harley Patton for Colton.

Fermanagh: `Patrick O’Sullivan, Ryan Casey, Conal Crudden, Emmett McGurn, Alex McCaffery, Niall Flynn, Ronan Prunty, Rian Kennedy, Oisin Donohue, Gavin McCann, Tomas Cathcart, Oisin Morris, Cohen Murphy, Conor Casey, Callum Connolly Bannon. Subs: Ben Caughey for Morris, Ronan Fitzpatrick for McCann, Daire Swift for McCaffery, Tiernan McGrath for Prunty.

Referee: Oisin McKee (Armagh).