Red Hands sent packing by the Rossies

TYRONE 0-12 ROSCOMMON 0-14

TYRONE suffered an All-Ireland Senior Championship exit in keeping with their erratic season on Saturday night in Omagh, losing out to a delirious Roscommon side who probably couldn’t believe their luck.

Hitting five times as many wides over the 70 plus minutes as their visitors (15-3), as well as committing a litany of fundamental errors, the hosts dug a huge hole for themselves which they couldn’t clamber out of.

Despite the best efforts of Darragh Canavan, Matthew Donnelly and Michael McKernan after the break, Tyrone failed to turn around a 0-9 to 0-3 interval deficit, with the Rossies deserving to take their place in Monday morning’s All-Ireland quarter-final draw.

Tyrone had their chances (the usually composed Ciaran Daly spurning fine chances in either half to rattle the back of the net), while when they did build up a head of steam down the home straight, efforts to level the match up at 0-13 apiece went abegging.

As it was a wonder score from Daire Cregg provided Roscommon with sufficient breathing space to notch a famous scalp.

The Rossies played with a strong wind at their backs in the first period, kicking towards the car park end, but despite that their superiority all over the pitch was still stunning.

After Sean O’Donnell fisted over the opening score in the sixth minute, Tyrone toiled to suppress the pace, purpose and physicality in their opponents approach.

On countless occasions the Rossies forced a series of turnovers and interceptions anytime the hosts ventured inside their ’45’, before breaking to devastating effect.

They hit six points on the spin in a blistering purple patch between the 6^th and 16^th minute which stunned the majority of the six thousand plus crowd. Donie Smith in particular was proving a real handful, cleverly finding pockets of space. He swung over a hat-trick of points, while Diarmuid Murtagh and Conor Cox (twice) also registered.

The groans from the terraces underlined the growing agitation with the misfiring home side, although Darren McCurry eventually broke their duck with a beauty in the 19^th minute.

The Rossies were playing with a real swagger and it required a spectacular catch from Niall Morgan to prevent McCurry’s errant cross field pass from a sideline ball being picked off by Daire Cregg with the empty net looming.

While McCurry did tag on another pointed free, the Red Hands wide count was mounting, in sharp contrast to the clinical edge demonstrated by Cox and Cregg to stretch the visitors six in front.

When yet another Tyrone turnover saw Murtagh breakaway, it looked curtains for Tyrone but his tame effort straight at Morgan, when he had colleagues supporting him either side, could have seen a massive shift in momentum. However with Ciaran Daly dragging an equally as good a chance off target, after fine approach work from Ruairi Canavan, the Rossies remained very much in the box seat at the turnaround.

A triple substitution at the break, with Kilpatrick, Harte and Under-20 star Eoin McElholm introduced, highlighted the Tyrone management’s discontent with the lethargy and sloppiness on show in that first half, and the initial signs were encouraging.

Darragh Canavan rediscovered his zeal and dynamism in attack, and with McElholm looking lively, the Rossies were rattled for the first time.

While Murtagh did float over a quality effort, the Rossies attacking sorties now lacked their earlier incision.

Three scores from Canavan and a sharply taken McElholm effort reduced the arrears to 0-10 to 0-7 by the 48^th minute.

To their credit though Roscommon maintained an ambitious approach and a couple of pearlers from Cregg and Donie Smith had their fans back in full voice again.

A quick fire McCurry brace of pointed frees and wonderful mark from Brian Kennedy left Tyrone sniffing blood, and even when Murtagh split the posts with another boomer, the home side kept coming. Daly crashed another excellent shot wide of the mark with just keeper Conor Carroll to beat but the comeback still appeared on.

With McCurry slipping over another free and Michael McKernan converting with real conviction from out on the right flank, the gap was down to the bare minimum, and Tyrone had the scent of extra-time in their nostrils.

However Cregg’s quality score doubled that advantage and try as they might down the stretch Tyrone lacked the composure and class to rescue their Sam Maguire aspirations.

The Scorers

Tyrone

Darren McCurry (0-5,4f), Darragh Canavan (0-3,1f), Sean O’Donnell, Michael McKernan, Eoin McElholm (0-1 each), Brian Kennedy (0-1,m)

Roscommon

Donie Smith (0-4), Diarmuid Murtagh (0-4), Daire Cregg (0-3), Conor Cox (0-31f)

The Teams

Tyrone

Niall Morgan, Michael McKernan, Padraig Hampsey, Niall Devlin, Ben Cullen, Nathan McCarron, Michael O’Neill, Brian Kennedy, Matthew Donnelly, Ciaran Daly, Ruairi Canavan, Cathal McShane, Darren McCurry, Darragh Canavan, Sean O’Donnell. Subs used: Conn Kilpatrick for B Cullen (h-time), Eoin McElholm for R Canavan (h-time), Peter Harte for M O’Neill (h-time), Kieran McGeary for C Daly (59), Shea O’Hare for C McShane (63)

Roscommon

Conor Carroll, Niall Higgins, Brian Stack, Robbie Dolan, David Murray, Ruaidhri Fallon, Eoin McCormack, Enda Smith, Ultan Harney, Dylan Ruane, Diarmuid Murtagh, Shane Cunnane, Daire Cregg, Conor Cox, Donie Smith. Subs used: Ronan Daly for D Ruane (43mins), Ciaran Lennon for E McCormack (47), Niall Daly for U Harney (59), Andrew Glennon for C Cox (63), Keith Doyle for D Murtagh (70)

Referee: David Coldrick (Meath)