Wexford win eases Minors into Paul McGirr semis

Tyrone 4-16 Wexford 1-6

TYRONE progressed to the last four of the All Ireland Minor Tier Two Championship when they experienced little difficulty in getting past the challenge of Wexford at Garvaghey on Monday evening.

After the disappointment of losing out to Derry in the Ulster semi final this was an opportunity for Tyrone to bounce back and they did just that with the minimum of fuss on a night when they played some good attacking football.

The result leaves them two wins away from the Paul McGirr Cup but they won’t be looking beyond their next challenge this weekend. Padrig Goodman was a rock at full back for the winners with James Mulgrew, Peter McGoldrick, Darragh Devlin and Eoin Long others to show up well for the Red Hands while Mark Kennedy came off the bench in the final quarter to fire home two well taken goals.

A good run from Davin McKeown set up Sean Corry for the opening score and by the 9th minute the winners had tagged on points from Peter Colton, Padraig Donaghy and Darragh Devlin.

Tyrone won possession from the next kick out and when the ball was transferred to Long he made no mistake with a quality finish to the bottom left hand corner of the net. A flowing team move then resulted in an Eoin Mansell pint for a 1-5 to 0-0 lead at the end of the opening quarter but for the rest of the first half Tyrone didn’t play as well.

Wexford opened their account in the 19th minute from an Odhran Morris free for their only score of the half but Tyrone managed just a well taken point from centre half back Aodhan Quinn in the second quarter.

Any thoughts that Wexford had of mounting a comeback ended only two minutes after the restart when a strong fifty metre run from McKeown saw him lay the ball off for Ardboe teammate Devlin to palm the ball to the net in the second minute.

Two minutes later Tyrone were dealt a blow when they had midfielder Padraig Donaghy straight red carded and Morris converted the resulting free before Wexford added points from play from Abram O’Neill and Morris.

Tyrone though reasserted their dominance with Devlin turning sharply to split the posts before Peter McGoldrick added a quick trio of points from frees to leave it 2-10 to 0-4 at the end of the third quarter.

Long and McGoldrick added points for Tyone and while Darragh Forde responded at the other end of the field it was damage limitation exercise for the visitors at this stage. Long was unlucky to crack the bar with a fierce shot but Kennedy was on hand to palm in the rebound.

Tom Funge and McGoldrick exchanged points before Wexford lost defender Alex Carton to a second yellow in the 55th minute.

A Long brace came either side of one from Liam McGeary and while Wexford got a late consolation goal from Funge it was Tyrone who had the final say when Kennedy smashed an unstoppable shot to the roof of the net.

Tyrone now play Cavan in the semi-final this Saturday lunchtime (1pm) in St Tiernac’hs Park Clones.

THE SCORERS

Tyrone

Eoin Long 1-3, Mark Kennedy 2-0, Peter McGoldrick 0-5 (4F), Darragh Devlin 1-2, Peter Colton 0-1 (1F), Sean Corry 0-1, Aodhan Quinn 0-1, Padraig Donaghy 0-1, Eoin Mansell 0-1, Liam McGeary 0-1

Wexford

Tom Funge 1-1, Odhran Morris 0-3, Abram O’Neill 0-1, Darragh Forde 0-1

THE TEAMS

Tyrone

Ronan Donnelly, Davin McKeown, Padraig Goodman, Eoghan Conway, Sean Corry, Aodhan Quinn, Thomas Meenan, Padraig Donaghy, James Mulgrew, Darren McAnespie, Peter Colton, Eoin Mansell, Peter McGoldrick, Darragh Devlin, Eoin Long. Subs: Michael McNamee for Conway, James Daly for Mansell, Mark Kennedy for Corry, Sean Og Teague for McKeown, Liam McGeary for McGoldrick

Wexford

Adam Furlong, Kian Steadmond, Liam Kenny, Sean Fitzharris, Max Beary, Rory Cooper, Alex Carton, Fionn Kavanagh, James Rothwell, Abram O’Neill, Odhran Morris, Jamie Hughes, Darragh Forde, Tom Funge, Ian Noctor. Subs: Cathal Power for Noctor, Conall Butler for Rothwell, Andy Kelly for Steadmond, Mitch Cullen for Cooper