Battling hurlers come up short in League Final

Derry 1-14 Tyrone 1-8

A BRAVE performance, which saw them lead for long periods, fell just short in the closing minutes as Tyrone missed out on securing an historic Division 2B title success.

Few gave the Red Hands much chance of causing a big surprise by defeating Derry in this final at Owenbeg on Saturday evening. But they upset those odds in emphatic fashion, with a first half goal from Rory Weir, giving them the lead as they produced a determined and committed display.

Ultimately, it was Derry who came good in the closing stages. But the manner in which Tyrone made their mark in this tie and in the league generally augurs well for their Christy Ring Cup campaign to come.

The Red Hands entered this tie as underdogs for the title, but they found their form to really put Derry under real pressure in the opening stages.

It hadn’t looked good for them early on: Three points in quick succession seemed to confirm the dominance of the Oak Leafers. Darragh McGilligan, Cormac O’Doherty and Christy McNaughton all hit the target as the home team looked set to make their advantages count, especially playing with the aid of the breeze.

Nevertheless, the Red Hands worked hard to stem the tide. Fionn Devlin’s role as a sweeper worked well, and there was good help, too, from Cormac Munroe, James McCann and Ben Gormley. They tried hard to create attacking opportunities, only to see Derry also resolute in defence.

An Aidan Kelly goal from a long-range free was disallowed because of a square infringement.   It took them minutes to open their account through an Aidan Kelly free, and he added a second soon after to reduce the deficit to 0-3 to 0-2.

Derry’s cause wasn’t helped at this stage by a number of frustrating missed frees from Cormac O’Doherty. However, the determination and battling qualities of the Red Hands ensured that they stopped their opponents from stretching their lead.

Tyrone’s challenge was transformed soon after by the opening goal of the game. Good work from James McCann saw him intercept a Derry possession.

Then, a long ball in from Aidan Kelly found Rory Weir who made no mistake from close range. Suddenly, Tyrone were level at 1-2 to 0-5 when most had been expecting them to trail.

Swapped scores between Cormac O’Doherty and Aidan Kelly maintained that status quo approaching the interval break. But, as the minutes ebbed away, it was the Red Hands who were growing in confidence.

Lorcan Devlin edged them ahead again, and the tie remained very much in the balance until half-time when Cahal Murray and Ruairi O Mianin brought Derry level at 1-4 to 0-7 and left everything to play for on the resumption.

Swapped points between Aidan Kelly and Ruairi O Mianain saw the teams level for third time early on the resumption. But Derry’s inaccuracy continued to undermine their challenge as Tyrone maintained their challenge.

By then, Derry had double the number of shots and probably the greater amount of possession. However, it was the scoreboard which counted and a pointed free from Aidan Kelly edged Tyrone ahead. The ability of Fionn Devlin, Bryan McGurk and Cormac Munroe to pounce on the slighest Derry errors and win the second phase possession caused the home team real problems.

Both teams struggled to find their range. Derry’s 13 wides to just four for Tyrone emphasised the difference in terms of scoring opportunities.

That counted for nothing as Tyrone made far better use of their more limited chances. A long-range point from James McCann edged them 1-7 to 0-9 ahead entering the final quarter, and it was clear that this clash was going to remain tightly contested right to the finish.

Points from Cormac O’Doherty twice brought Derry level. The introduction of Sean Kelly and Padraig Nelis was aimed at injecting pace into their forwards. That worked a treat as a goal entering the final 10 minutes suddenly put them firmly in the driving seat.

Good work from Meehaul McGrath saw him set up Sean Kelly who fired low and hard to the net. That left them 1-11 to 1-8, and really put the pressure on Tyrone to respond. As dusk fell on Owenbeg, Cormac O’Doherty stretched the Derry lead to four.

Tyrone needed to settle things again with time running out. However, as they committed to the tackle, the space available to the Derry defence increased. Points from Cormac O’Doherty and Sean Kelly stretched their lead to six points, 1-14 to 1-8, in added time.

The Red Hands worked hard to try and find a breakthrough in the closing minutes. Aidan Kelly and Bryan McGurk attempted goals as they piled into the Derry danger area. But things didn’t work out as the Oak Leaf defence held firm to finally take the title with those six points to spare.

The Scorers
Tyrone
Aidan Kelly 0-6 (6f), Rory Weir 1-0, Lorcan Devlin 0-1, James McCann 0-1.
Derry
Cormac O’Doherty 0-7 (7f), Sean Kelly 1-1), Rory O Mianain 0-2 (1f), Darragh McGilligan 0-1, Corey O’Reilly 0-1, Christy McNaughton 0-1, Cahal Murray 0-1

The Teams
Tyrone
Conor McElhatton, Dean Rafferty, Ruairi Devlin, Oran McKee, Ben Gormley, Fionn Devlin, Bryan McGurk, James McCann. Cormac Munroe, Rory Weir, Aidan Kelly, Lorcan Devlin, Tiernan Morgan, Sean Og Grogan, Joe McToal.
Subs – Turlough Mullin for Sean Og Grogan (28), Mickey Little for R Weir (60), Anthony Crossan for T Morgan (66), Eoin Winters for R Devlin (70), Cormac Taggart for C Munroe (72).
Derry
Oisin O’Doherty, Paddy Kelly, MarkCraig, Sean Cassidy, Aimon Duffin, Richie Mullan, Meehaul McGrath, Cormac O’Doherty, Ruairi O Mianian, John Mullan, Corey O’Reilly, Darragh McGilligan, Cahal Murray, Christy McNaughton, Paul Cleary.
Subs – Callum O’Kane for R Mullan (46), Sean Kelly for P Cleary (50), Padhraig Nelis for McNaughton (57), James Friel for C O’Doherty (68).

Referee – James Connors, Donegal.