Tyrone Masters defeat the Dubs to defend All-Ireland

Tyrone 0-13 Dublin 1-9

Tyrone secured back to back All Ireland Masters titles at Ballinagh on Saturday afternoon when they edged out Dublin in a keenly contested decider that required extra time to decide.

It was a fine all round display from the winners with Ciaran Gourley, Aidan Brady, Liam Patterson and team Captain Conor Gormley to the fore in defence. In midfield Marty McGrath was immense throughout and it is a tribute to his fitness levels after playing in the Fermanagh club championship for Ederney the night before. Up front O’Neill and McCreesh finished with 0-9 between them with the entire forward line working their socks off throughout.

Dublin opened the scoring from a Warren Finnegan free but in the 8^th minute Tyrone were unlucky not to get a goal when a palmed effort from McCreesh came back off the crossbar. Centre half forward Tommy Brennan then doubled Dublin’s advantage with a fine effort from distance before Tyrone opened their account after a dozen minutes via McCreesh. A McCreesh free levelled matters and that was still the case after twenty minutes after Niall Crossan and McCreesh had swapped points.

Crossan then put Dublin in front but that proved to be their last score of the half. An exquisite O’Neill pass picked out overlapping half back Gary Coney for the equaliser before an O’Neill free edged Tyrone in front. The best score of the contest came with the last kick of the half as O’Neill rolled back the years with an outstanding free conversion from 47m out with the outside of his boot.

Straight from the restart Tyrone almost got in for a goal but O’Neill’s rocket just cleared the crossbar. McManamon responded for Dublin before a free from Crossan reduced the deficit to the minimum. Tyrone though hit back and a strong run from McGrath saw him win a free which McCreesh converted before McGrath got in on the cat himself with a brilliant point after a surging run. Tyrone now had their tails up and when Bastick was sent off after striking Brady it looked as though Tyrone would ease to victory.

That proved not to be the case as four minutes after going down to fourteen men McManamon levelled matters with a goal. Brennan then put Dublin in front before a Finnegan free made it a two point game. The momentum was with Dublin but Tyrone dug deep with scores from Martin Grimes and O’Neill to draw level. O’Neill then had a difficult free to win it but it came back off the post while Tyrone lost Karol McQuade to a black card as it finished 0-11 to 1-8.

Dublin were now back to their full quota but it was Tyrone who had the better of the first period of five minutes of extra time with an O’Neill and a John McMullan point from play putting them two clear at the break. With McQuade now back in action Tyrone looked to defend that lead but Dublin scored in the early moments of the second period through Crossan. Tyrone though retained possession brilliantly in the closing stages to run the clock down to emerge All Ireland champions once again.

The Scorers

Tyrone

Stephen O’Neill 0-5 (4F), Ollie McCreesh 0-4 (2F, 1M), Marty McGrath 0-1, Gary Coney 0-1, Martin Grimes 0-1, John McMullan 0-1

Dublin

Brendan McManamon 1-1, Niall Crossan 0-3 (2F), Warren Finnegan 0-3 (3F), Tommy Brennan 0-2

The Teams..

Tyrone

Martin McCreesh, Ciaran Gourley, Aidan Brady, Damien McDevitt, Gary Coney, Conor Gormley, Liam Patterson, Marty McGrath, Donal McAnallen, Damien Kelly, Michael Anderson, Eoin Bradley, Ollie McCreesh, Stephen O’Neill, Martin Grimes. Subs – Barry Collins for McAnallen, Karol McQuade for Brady, John McMullan for Anderson, Ryan McCallion for Grimes, Aidan Brady for Coney

Dublin

Jimmy Keogh, Cormac Donohue, Shane Guckian, Felim Condron, Brian Kirby, Shane O’Sullivan, Gary O’Connell, Kevin Golden, Damian Flanagan, Donal Ryan, Tommy Brennan, Brendan McManamon, Warren Finnegan, Ciaran McGuinness, Niall Crossan. Subs – Kevin Carroll for Finnegan, Ian Clarke for Flanagan, Denis Bastick for O’Connell, Peter Murtagh for McGuinness