Tyrone edge Mayo in Minor Classic

ESB All-Ireland Minor Football Championship Final Replay
Tyrone 1-20
Mayo 1-15
[After-Extra-time]

A strong extra-time display ensured Tyrone leaped to third spot in the All-Ireland Minor football championship roll of honour after a five-point win over Mayo at Pearse Park, Longford on Saturday.

This was an outstanding battle, as it took 140 minutes of football to separate these two fine minor teams, who have been a credit to their Counties.

Dromore powerhouse Conor O’Neill fired the decisive score – a goal 20 seconds into the second period of extra time to pave the way for a first victory in this grade since 2004.

Both Tyrone manager Ray Munroe and his Mayo counterpart Ray Dempsey had named unchanged sides from the teams that had started the drawn encounter; however, Ruairí Keenan earned a late call-up in place of midfielder Martin Rogers.

Both sides were eager to make a positive start and, in ideal conditions, Tyrone fired themselves into an early two-point lead thanks to scores from Conor O’Neill and defender Ronan Tierney.

The Red Hand men were on top in midfield at this stage, and scores from Coney [2], Ronan McNabb and Niall McKenna, with only a lone Mayo free in reply from full-forward Walsh, ensured Munroe’s charges held a 0-8 to 0-6 interval lead.

The second half offered more of the same fast-paced football witnessed during the opening half, although Tyrone maintained their advantage courtesy of scores from Ciarán Gervin and O’Neill, which cancelled out efforts from James Cafferty and O’Shea.

But Mayo dug deep as three points in as many minutes from Walsh [2] and O’Shea propelled the Westerners in front for the first time since the 24th minute.

Tyrone’s spirit shone through until the end though, and, level on four occasions in the closing 12 minutes, extra-time always looked likely. It was confirmed in the 62nd minute when Aidan Walsh pointed from a free, his sixth of the game.

Tyrone certainly turned on the heat in the opening period as they firmly dominated possession, containing Mayo to just brief spells on the ball – for which the Red Hands defence was firmly on top.

Two wides and two missed scoring opportunities were the sum total of Mayo’s statistics in the first half of extra-time, as a brace of Paddy McNeice frees and a fifth point from play from Kyle Coney gave Tyrone a 0-17 to 0-14 interval lead – the first time a three-point gap had been opened up in this contest.

Just as Tommy McGuigan fired home an early goal on the restart in last weekend’s senior encounter, Conor O’Neill replicated this in second half extra-time in this game, after just 20 seconds.

The goal came after Mayo goalkeeper Robert Hennelly made an error under a high ball from full-forward Paddy McNeice, with O’Neill capitalising on the rebound and firing to the net.

It was O’Neill’s second time to capitalise on a Mayo defensive error in this game, after a 15th minute goal chance in the first half of normal time.

However, unlike his previous effort, which had been stopped by Hennelly – this time he had no hesitation – and brought his match tally to 1-2 to finish joint top-scorer for Tyrone in this game alongside Kyle Coney.
Although Cafferty fisted home a late goal, it was mere consolation as a resilient Tyrone side battled to take their seventh title.

TYRONE: T Harney; F McQuaid, G Teague, R Tierney [0-2]; S MacRory, P Harte [0-1, 1pen], R McNabb [0-1]; N McKenna [0-2], R Keenan; C Gervin [0-1], D McNulty, M Donnelly [0-2]; K Coney [0-5], P McNeice [0-3, 3f], C O’Neill [1-3, 2f].
Subs: S Warnock for Teague [BS 25-29]; M Rogers for Keenan [47]; K Mossey for MacRory [48]; S Warnock for McNulty [49]; R McGarvey for Tierney [78]

MAYO: R Hennelly; D Dolan, K Keane, J Broderick; S McHale, E Reilly [0-1], S Nally [0-2]; J Cafferty [1-1], G McDonagh; C Freeman, A O’Shea [0-3, 2f], R Geraghty [0-1]; C Charlton, A Walsh [0-6, 6f], A Corduff.
Subs: D O’Hara [0-1] for Charlton [30+1]; D Gavin for Geraghty [46]; J Carney for McHale [71]

REFEREE: Cormac Reilly [Meath]