Tyrone must learn the knack of consolidating winning positions – Canavan

TYRONE Under-20s must learn the knack of consolidating winning positions if they are to annex any silverware this season, ace attacker Ruairi Canavan has warned.

The Red Hands were much the better side for long periods of last Friday night’s Celtic Park cracker against Donegal in the Ulster Championship semi-final but were twice pegged back in normal time by their opponents which forced the contest into extra-time.

A five point lead just before the three quarter mark was whittled away as the Tir Chonnail twice struck for goals, and even after Gavin Potter netted for Tyrone to hand them another three point cushion, they conceded a flurry of late injury time scores which ensured Donegal restored parity again.

In the end extra-time goals from Niall Devlin and Conor Cush ensured that the O’Neill County prevailed on a 3-16 to 2-16 scoreline and they will now meet Cavan in the Ulster Final on Friday week.

Canavan, who chipped in with seven points on the evening , was understandably delighted to have emerged from such a pulsating encounter on the winning side, as his side sealed revenge over Donegal for their recent Leo Murphy Cup Final loss.

However the young Errigal Ciaran star also admitted that lessons had to be heeded.

“I feel relieved. We tried our best to lose it there kicking some bad wides but they are a nice one to win when you get over the line.

“ It was ebbing and flowing up and down the pitch. The defence pulled us out a few times there. We are looking forward to the final now.

“ We will recover well this week and get back in. We might not want to see the video of some of it. It will show we have a bit to do but we will see what happens.”

Canavan felt that in a match laced with dramatic scores, the goal of captain Devlin really stood out as it came at a stage in the match when Donegal appeared to have all the momentum.

“I don’t know how he snook it through to the net. It was huge and put us back in front.

“We had blown a couple of leads up to then so at least in extra-time we held on. That is something we will need to work on.”