Tyrone Minors cruise past Cavan to make Ulster League Final

TYRONE will play Donegal in the Ulster Minor League Final next weekend after they comfortably saw off the challenge of Cavan at Garvaghey on Saturday afternoon.

After a close opening quarter the wind-assisted Red Hands struck for two goals and that enabled them to lead 2-6 to 0-4 at half-time.

Cavan did close the gap in the second half but another brace of well-taken goals helped ease Tyrone over the line.

On the day the winners had eleven different marksmen with only one point of their total coming from frees, while at the other end of the field Gerard Donnelly and his management team will be pleased with the fact that their opponents managed just two points from play over the course of the 60 odd minutes.

The impressive Thomas Meenan opened the scoring before Nathan Quigley levelled matters in the seventh minute with Cavan’s sole score from play.

Harley Patton and Peter Colton eased Tyrone two clear but at the end of the opening quarter a Cathal Smith free closed the gap to the minimum.

In the 17th minute Tyrone struck for their first goal when Eoin Long sent a high ball in from the left wing which Pearse McDonald got on the end of to palm to the net.

Midfielder Padraig Donaghy sent over a brace of well-taken points with Mark Kennedy also on target with Cavan’s sole response coming from a free from keeper Cian McConnell.

In the 25th minute Tyrone keeper Ronan Donnelly came to his side’s rescue with a brilliant save to deny Donaghy Lynch after Cavan had taken a quick free.

It proved to be a big moment as two minutes later a sweeping Tyrone move ended with man-of-the-match Aodhan Quinn taking a pass from Long to fire low to the net. Cavan had the final say of the half from a Quigley free but Tyrone were in the box seat.

In the opening minutes of the second half keeper Donnelly was called into action again with a superb fingertip save to thwart Jake Brady at the expense of a ‘45’ which McConnell converted.

Meenan opened Tyrone’s second half account before Kennedy and Cathal Farley combined for Long to unleash an unstoppable shot to the roof of the net in the 44th minute.

Either side of that goal Cavan had been enjoying their best spell of the game as Quigley converted a brace of two pointer frees with midfielder Faolan Graham on target from play.

Tyrone then sliced open the Cavan defence for centre half back James Daly to split the posts after a move involving James Mulgrew and Colton with Cavan replying from a Damien Hughes free.

It was Tyrone’s day, however, and they rounded the scoring off with scores from two substitutes as Vincent Gormley first of all fisted a point before Joel Kerr showed blistering pace to go past a number of challenges before finishing in style to the bottom right hand corner of the net.

Scorers

Tyrone: Eoin Long 1-1 (1F), Pearse McDonald 1-0, Aodhan Quinn 1-0, Joel Kerr 1-0, Thomas Meenan 0-2, Padraig Donaghy 0-2, Harley Patton 0-1, Peter Colton 0-1, Mark Kennedy 0-1, James Daly 0-1, Vincent Gormley 0-1.

Cavan: Nathan Quigley 0-6 (2x 2ptf, 1F), Cian McConnell 0-2 (F, ‘45’), Cathal Smith 0-1 (F), Damien Hughes 0-1 (F), Faolan Graham 0-1.

Teams

Tyrone: Ronan Donnelly, Elliot Kerr, Padraig Goodman, Ciaran McCrystal, Aodhan Quinn, James Daly, Cathal Farley, James Mulgrew, Padraig Donaghy, Harley Patton, Peter Colton, Thomas Meenan, Pearse McDonald, Eoin Long, Mark Kennedy. Subs: Joel Kerr for Patton, Matthew F Daly for Farley, Darren McAnespie for McDonald, Vincent Gormley for Kennedy, Michael Mullin for Long.

Cavan: Cian McConnell, Fionan McIntyre, Lee Glennon, Andrew Smart, Finian Smith, Simon Kolimor, Michael Smith, Sam Maguire, Faolon Graham, Donagh Lynch, Jake Brady, Dylan Brouder, Nathan Quigley, Damien Hughes, Cathal Smith. Subs: Daire McCrystal for Michael Smith, John Donohoe for Quigley, Senan Smith for Hughes, Mark Mulvey for Lynch.

Referee: Niall McKenna, Monaghan.