Sligo sunk as hurlers battle back

SLIGO 0-11   TYRONE 2-15

ANOTHER vital victory in Division 2B of the National League has left the Tyrone hurlers flying high, and firmly on the road to securing their status following this emphatic result against Sligo.

Some brilliant hurling in the second half saw them rebound perfectly from going five in arrears early on, to record this ten point win.

They trailed by two at half-time, but turned on the style in the second half, to emerge with their credentials firmly enhanced.

The home team raced into a five point lead after 11 minutes, while it took Tyrone 23 minutes to get on the scoreboard. But, they responded in style when team captain, Lorcan Devlin, fired home the opening goal of the game.

Tomas Cawley’s point on 24 minutes ended a 13 minute barren spell for Sligo, as Padraig Mannion’s side went three points ahead again.

With 26 minutes played, both sides had hit six wides, a statistic that would come back to haunt the Yeats men later on.

Michael Little’s free brought the deficit back to three points for Tyrone on 31 minutes.

Both sides exchanged wides, but Sean Duffin’s point just before halftime reduced the deficit to two points in Sligo’s favour at half-time.

However, having had the benefit of the breeze in the first-half, Sligo would need to cut back on their wides if they were to get a first win of the campaign.

The lethal Dermot Begley, who hit eight points on the afternoon, got Tyrone up-and-running in the second half, when he hit over with a free, reducing the gap to just one point.

Wides were the order of the day for both sides, with two apiece at the start of the second half, before Begley’s point levelled the score at 0-07 to 1-04 after 44 minutes.

Michael McShane’s side went ahead for the first time on 46 minutes, when Begley’s free again sailed between the posts.

The Éire Óg club man hit another point on 49 minutes, to move the Red Hands three points ahead, as they started to pull away from Sligo who were struggling after the restart.

Eddie O’Donoghue’s point on 49 minutes was Sligo’s first score since the 31st minute, but Tyrone were cruising.

A well-struck ball from Chris Kearns dropped in front of Luke Comerford in the Sligo goals, with Brian McGurk on hand to tap it into the net, to bring his side five points ahead of Sligo.

The sides exchanged points, with Diarmuid Hanniffy and Begley hitting over with the score on 53 minutes 0-09 to 2-08.

The visitors stretched their lead further with two more points, but Sligo pulled one back courtesy of Andy Kilcullen.

At this stage, Tyrone’s six point lead was a comfortable one, and they kept going to make sure they took the victory.

Begley’s free on 69 minutes was hit over the bar by Anthony Crossan, putting Tyrone nine points ahead.

Diarmuid Hanniffy hit Sligo’s final point of the afternoon on 70 minutes, as Grogan and Begley pointed again before full-time, to round off a comprehensive win in the end for Tyrone.

TEAMS & SCORERS

SLIGO

Luke Comerford, Niall Kilcullen, James Weir, Kevin O’Kennedy, Ronan Molloy, Rory McHugh, Darragh Cawley, Fionn Connolly (0-1), Eoin Comerford, Conor Hanniffy (0-1), Joe McHugh (0-1), Diarmuid Hanniffy (0-4) ,Tomas Cawley, Andrew Kilcullen (0-3) , Eddie O’Donoghue (0-1).

TYRONE

Conor McElhatton, Oran McKee, Ruairi Devlin, Dermot Begley (0-6), Ruairi Slane, Chris Kearns (0-1), Conal Devlin, Sean Paul McKernan, Bryan McGurk (1-0), James McCann, Conor Grogan (0-3), Sean Duffin (0-1), Michael Little (0-1), Lorcan Devlin (1-0), Liam Dunphy. Subs: Tiernan Morgan for Sean Paul McKernan, 52, Fionn Devlin for Michael Little, 52, Anthony Crossan (0-1) for Liam Dunphy, 62.