Ulster SFC Quarter Final: Impressive Tyrone advance
Ulster SFC Quarter-Final
Tyrone 1-24
Cavan 0-20
from GAA.ie
It’s 42 years since Cavan last defeated Tyrone in championship combat, and they never looked like ending this particular famine at O’Neill’s Healy Park, even when they trimmed a 13 points gap back to six, 10 minutes from the end of this Ulster SFC quarter-final joust.
The Red Hands held firm and killed the game off with a Conn Kilpatrick goal on 62 minutes, to set up a semi-final clash with All-Ireland champions Armagh.
Even without injured talisman Darragh Canavan, the home side displayed potency in front of the posts, with all but two of the starting 15 getting their names on the score-sheet.
But for all the gloss that saw them rack up a hefty score-line, there are a few rough edges to be smoothed off ahead of a massive challenge against the Sam Maguire Cup holders.
Tyrone made light of the pre-match loss of ace attacker Darragh Canavan due to a hamstring injury to dominate the opening half, opening up a 10 points lead with the wind in their backs.
Much of their attacking thrust was prompted by their dominance of the Cavan kick-out, Gary O’Rourke’s long restarts eagerly attacked by Brian Kennedy as he kept his side moving forward.
It was corner back Niall Devlin who got them going with the opening point, and they added scores through Darren McCurry, Kieran McGeary, Aodhan Donaghy and Ruairi Canavan, with Seamus McEvoy hitting Cavan’s only score of the opening quarter.
Dara McVeety’s industry was one of the brightest aspects of a Cavan challenge that struggled to produce any fluency, and he pulled back a point with a beautifully sliced effort, with Oisin Kiernan also on target.
But the Red Hands stepped up the tempo to hit six on the spin, Cathal McShane marking his first start of the season with a neat effort, and full back Peter Teague getting on the score-sheet, along with Ruairi Canavan, Kieran McGeary, McCurry and Peter Harte.
Cian Madden responded at the other end to reward the tireless graft of McVeety, but it was a dominant Tyrone that reached the half-way stage with Cathal McShane’s second point making it 0-14 to 0-4.
And they picked off five of the first six scores of the second half to stetch the advantage out to 13.
Canavan was unerring from frees, and Ciaran Daly and Michael McKernan added their names to the score-sheet.
But Cian Madden’s two-point effort signalled Cavan’s intent, and they proceeded to fire over four more double-value finishes from outside the 40 metre arc.
The excellent McVeety kicked three of those, two of them from play, as they chipped away at the Tyrone lead.
Pressing forward off turnovers, they had the Tyrone defence under pressure, but McCurry’s climical finishing meant the Red Hands were never dragged into danger territory, even when substitute Ryan O’Neill narrowed the gap to sic with ten minutes to play.
The Red Hands responded with a sweeping move that saw McCurry release midfielder Conn Kilpatrick for a sweet finish to the bottom corner of Gary O’Rourke’s net for the only goal of the game on 62 minutes.
It was the score that confirmed Cavan’s fate, even though they picked off the game’s last three scores through McVeety and McEvoy (2).
Scorers for Tyrone: Darren McCurry 0-7 (2fs), R Canavan 0-4 (4fs), C Kilpatrick 1-0, K McGeary 0-3, C McShane 0-2, P Harte, C Daly, A Donaghy, B Kennedy, M McKernan, N Devlin, P Teague, N Morgan (’45) 0-1 each.
Scorers for Cavan: D McVeety 0-8 (2tp, 1tpf, 1f), S McEvoy 0-4 (3fs), C Madden 0-3 (1tpf), O Kiernan 0-3 (1tp), R Donohue, R O’Neill 0-1 each.
Tyrone: N Morgan; A Clarke, P Teague, N Devlin, M McKernan, R Brennan, K McGeary; B Kennedy C Kilpatrick; A Donaghy, P Harte, C Daly; D McCurry, C McShane, P Harte, R Canavan.
Subs: S O’Donnell for Harte (48), J Oguz for Donaghy (48), M Donnelly for McShane (58), E McElholm for Kennedy (49).
Cavan: G O’Rourke; C Reilly, B O’Connell, J McLoughlin; P Faulkner, C Brady, N Carolan; K Clarke, G Smith; G McKiernan, O Kiernan, D McVeety; B Donnelly, C Madden, S McEvoy.
Subs: R Donohue for McKiernan (HT), R O’Neill for Donnelly (45), T Donohue for Madden (48), K Brady for Clarke (49), P Devine for Faulkner (63).
Referee: M McNally (Monaghan).
