Five in a row sealed by Tyrone Masters

ALL-IRELAND OVER 40S TOURNAMENT FINAL

Tyrone 5-10  Donegal 1-9

By Niall Gartland

MISSION accomplished. The very concept – the five in-a-row– has tickled the imagination of the GAA world for generations, so this was more than “just” another All-Ireland final for the Tyrone Masters team.

Saturday’s Dr Mick Loftus showdown against Donegal at a tiresomely rainy Kingspan Breffni represented more than the opportunity to create another slice of history. Consider that a unique first had already been achieved with last year’s All-Ireland title success, the first time a Masters team has ever won four All-Irelands on the spin. Nobody is questioning Tyrone’s sustained dominance of the competition – it’s been there for all to witness.

Instead, this was about something almost intangibly satisfying – the big five-in-row. As much as they may have been loath to admit it!

In a pre-match interview last week, Tyrone Masters stalwart Michael Anderson said the matter hadn’t even been discussed. Who are we to argue, but no doubt it was a motivating factor simmering in the back of their minds.

And thankfully the dream has come to pass. Conor Gormley, whose name was written into Tyrone folklore a full 22 years ago with that block, had the honour of holding aloft the Dr Mick Loftus Cup following a comfortable victory over Donegal. His acceptance speech concluded with a cheerfully delivered “up Tyrone!” and it’s that pride of place that backbones everything after all.

And it was his clubmate Mark Donnelly who received the official Man of the Match award, and deservedly so. His two first-half goals paved the way, but he was excellent in all other respects we might add.

His first major by the way, came within, sheesh, the opening 40 seconds. His initial attempt was saved but he made no mistake second time round, toe-poking the ball to the back of the net.

And when the next goal came in the 10th minute, Barry Daly (the third Carmen man to already get a mention) palming to the net, it looked like the Donegal lads were in for a long afternoon.

Tyrone opened up a 2-1 to no score lead when midfielder Johnny O’Neill split the posts, though Donegal to be fair were putting in plenty of effort and they got their opening scores of the hour through Shaun Maguire and Nicky McGarrigle. On both occasions half-forward Damien Browne was involved in the build up.

Subsequent attacks were thwarted thanks to the efforts of Liam Patterson, Aidan Brady and Conor Gormley, and the Red Hands reasserted themselves with a free from Stephen O’Neill and a point from play from Barry Daly.

Corner-back Damien McDevitt showed plenty of attacking resolve in getting his name on the scoreboard after a smart assist from sub Marty McGrath, who was making a good impact in the middle third.

Tyrone then carved Donegal open for their third goal of the game with 29 minutes on the clock, McGrath forcing a turnover before O’Neill played a defence-splitting pass to Mark Donnelly. His calm finish oozed class and it opened up a 3-4 to 0-3 lead with half-time just around the corner.

There was time for two more scores before the bell – a Damien Browne free and Mark Donnelly ‘mark’ – and any lingering chances of a Donegal comeback were quelled early in the first half when Marty McGrath slammed the ball home after enterprising build-up play from O’Neill and Oistin McAteer.

Donegal responded with Shaun Maguire’s second of the afternoon, but Tyrone soon extended their lead further with scores from Shane McCann and Gary Coney. Subs like Prionsias O’Kane and Martin Grimes were also among those making a positive impact on proceedings.

The Donegal defence was looking rather stretched at this juncture, and a point from the influential Barry Daly opened up a 4-9 to 0-3 lead with 40 minutes on the clock, though the opponents did muster a goal when Brendan Boyle potted a cracking penalty after Patrick McNulty was adjudged to have been fouled. McNulty, who was playing well, also tagged on a point shortly afterwards.

Tyrone, meanwhile, pounced for their fifth goal of the game when Shane McCann applied a lovely finish to the net after a dangerous long ball from Mark Donnelly with a quarter of an hour remaining.

All in all, it meant that the Red Hands were in cruise control in the final 15 minutes. Donegal got their latest score, a free from Shaun Maguire, before Tyrone landed their final score of the afternoon via Martin Conway.

Tyrone also were very unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty when Dónal McAnallen was bundled over in the twilight of the contest, while Donegal to their credit battled to the very end and conjured up late scores from Stephen Coyle, Eunan Keaveney and Laurence McMullan.

In the end though those late points were immaterial and Tyrone can look back and savour what’s been another wonderful season – well done to one and all.

Scorers

Tyrone: Mark Donnelly (2-1, 1 ‘m’), Barry Daly (1-2), Shane McCann (1-1), Marty McGrath (1-0), Stephen O’Neill (0-2, 1f), Damien McDevitt, Gary Coney, Johnny O’Neill and Martin Conway (0-1 each)

Donegal: Shaun Maguire (0-2), Damien Browne (0-2f), Shaun Maguire, Nicky McGarrigle, Patrick McNulty, Eunan Keaveney and Stephen Coyle (0-1 each)

Teams

Tyrone: Martin McCreesh, Damien McDevitt, Aidan Brady, Liam Patterson, Damien McDevitt, Conor Gormley, Gary Coney, Barry Collins, Johnny O’Neill, Mark Donnelly, Oistin McAteer, Stephen O’Neill, Mark Donnelly, Barry Daly, Michael Anderson, Damian Kelly. Subs: Colly Tuohey, Kieran O’Kane, Prionsias O’Kane, Dónal McAnallen, Ryan Quinn, Marty McGrath, Colm McGurk, Martin Taggart, Martin Conway, Niall McFadden, Martin Grimes, Plunkett Tuohey, Bryan Maguire, Emmet McFadden, Andy Harley, Colla McMahon, Ciaran Campbell, Steven Daly

Donegal: Karl O’Brien, Sean McDaid, Eamon Ward, Aaron Thompson, Martin Donaghey, Conor McShane, Gary Dunnion, Brendan Boyle, Brian Doherty, Nicky McGarrigle, Damien Browne, Ciaran Scanlon, Gerard McBrearty, Brian McLaughlin, Shaun Maguire. Subs: Pauric Connaghan, Eunan Keaveney, Patrick McNulty, Stephen Coyle, Patrick Doohan, Donnacha Gallagher, Gavin Doherty, Laurence McMullan, David McShane, Michael Canning, Gary Gillen, Charlie Creevy, Hugh Foy, Joe O’Donnell, Andrew McMorrow, Ronan Lowther