Tyrone U20s march into final with hard-fought victory

Tyrone 2-9

Monaghan 0-14

WHAT is it about Monaghan and sheer bloody-mindedness? Tyrone looked home and hosed heading into the final quarter of Wednesday evening’s Ulster U20 Championship semi-final clash against the Farney County, but the final whistle will have come as a source of relief after an uncomfortable enough finale at O’Neill’s Healy Park.

These game bore absolutely zero resemblance to their group stage encounter a few short weeks ago, Tyrone tearing a pointedly understrength Monaghan team to shreds on a scoreline of 5-20 to 0-8.

This time around, Monaghan brought their big guns to the party – making nine changes in total with a place in the Ulster final up for grabs – and they made Tyrone sing for their supper on this occasion, filtering plenty of bodies behind the ball in tandem with a counter-attacking approach that almost paid dividends on the night.

It wasn’t an inconsidered gameplan by any means: they forced a fair number of turnovers and were quite happy to kick the ball into their dangermen Stephen Mooney and Bobby McCaul, two serious handfuls up front, knowing there was every chance the ball might stick.

In the end, however, it wasn’t enough and for that Tyrone deserve credit for staying composed on a night where frustration could otherwise have got the better of them.

Tyrone were patient in their approach, yes, but perhaps more importantly they had the requisite sharpness and speed in their ranks to punch holes in the Monaghan rearguard, exemplified by their two goals which proved absolutely pivotal on the evening.

Their first goal came in the fourth minute of play and was a classic example of how to beat the blanket, switching the ball to the opposite flank before an unmarked Shea O’Hare – Tyrone’s foremost Usain Bolt impressionist – turned on the afterburners before teeing up Cormac Devlin, who fired low and hard to the net.

The second was arguably even more important in the wider scheme of things. Early in the second-half, Tyrone ferried the ball the length of the pitch, all fast hands and clever movement, culminating in captain Michael Rafferty who flicked the ball through to Ronan Fox who made no mistake when presented with the opportunity. As an exercise in well-drilled synchronicity, you won’t find much better.

But one thing you can’t say is that either of the goals knocked the stuffing out of Monaghan. They responded well to Tyrone’s first of the evening with two points from Stephen Mooney, a real livewire who landed 10 points in a variety of ways – six frees, two advanced marks, 1 ‘45’ and one from play.

The Red Hands responded in kind with a mark from late inclusion Ruairi McCullagh and a well-constructed score from Ronan Cassidy, but they stuttered for a spell midway through the first-half, coughing up possession three times in as many attacks before they got the show on the road again with a point from the ever-impressive Gavin Potter.

Monaghan kept on chipping away and they could’ve worked a goal only for the positional awareness of Callum Daly, whose well-timed interception got Tyrone off the hook in between points from Mooney and Kian Duffy.

It wasn’t quite going according to plan from a Tyrone perspective – 1-3 to 0-6 read the scoreboard deep into the first-half – but they finished the opening period strongly with points from Ódhrán Brolly and Eoin McElholm a boost to the coffers on what was proving a difficult enough assignment.

Tyrone pressed home their advantage early in the second-half with the aforementioned goal from Ronan Fox, who grew in prominence in the middle-sector was the game wore on, and a point from his Loughmacrory teammate Ruairi McCullagh after a prolonged period of possession. The Red Hands were starting to motor with Michael Rafferty, Shea O’Hare and Conor Devlin lending plenty of assistance to the front six, and they opened up a 2-7 to 0-8 lead in the 47th minute with McElholm’s second point of the day.

At this point, you’d have bet the house on Tyrone. Monaghan seemed reluctant to emerge from their defensive shell and time was of the essence, but they upped the ante considerably in the closing stages and rattled off six of the last eight points of the game.

Stephen Mooney tagged on a couple of scores while half-forward Dara McKenna was starting to make an impact, and as it all panned out, late scores from Tyrone corner-back Conor Devlin and Shea O’Hare proved absolutely pivotal in the final reckoning.

Tyrone led by two points heading into injury time so it was all getting a bit jittery from the perspective of the home supporters, but they had enough to get over the line with the whistle blowing a matter of seconds after a tenth and final point from the on-song Mooney. That was that, Tyrone had prevailed but not without surviving something of a scare from their characteristically plucky neighbours.