Down are denied by dogged Tyrone

Down are denied by dogged Tyrone

21 May 2014

TYRONE captain Sean Cavanagh was his county’s saviour when his free kick deep into injury time earned his side a second bite of the cherry.

The big Moy man showed nerves of steel to guide the ball over with his right foot from the left hand side of the pitch to bring an enthralling match to an end.

What the first half lacked in excitement the second period made it up for — and then some. Down rattled the Tyrone net on three occasions and led by two points with only minutes to go.

However, a missed free from Donal O’Hare prevented his team from going three clear before Cavanagh bagged two set pieces to stifle Down’s amazing comeback.

Down played well within themselves in the first half. They trailed 1-5 to 0-3 at half-time as Tyrone looked on top in the key areas. Goalkeeper Niall Morgan opened the scoring with a fourth minute free before Sean Cavanagh added to this a minute later.

Donal O’Hare got Down up and running on seven minutes with a free.

By the 18th minute set pieces from Darren McCurry and Sean Cavanagh had Mickey Harte’s men 0-4 to 0-1 to the good. O’Hare’s second free marked Down’s first score in 15 minutes of action, but disaster then struck for the travelling pack.

A Sean Cavanagh ball from the sideline found Mark Donnelly in the box.

The Carrickmore man sped across the Down goalmouth before being hauled down by Conor Maginn.

A penalty was awarded which Peter Harte coolly despatched, but Maginn was very lucky not to receive a black card for his misdemeanour.

Only two efforts arrived in the last ten minutes, one from each side.

Ambrose Rogers finished off a flowing team move to slot over while Kyle Coney pointed after Peter Turley gave the ball away.

Being five points down at half-time obviously didn’t sit well with Down manager James McCartan as he hauled Ryan Boyle and midfield pair Rogers and Turley ashore and replaced them with Ryan Johnston, Benny Coulter and Jerome Johnston. These proved to be inspired changes as the game progressed.

Within five minutes of the restart Down were right back in the game.

Aidan Carr slammed home the game’s second penalty after Niall Morgan chopped down Jerome Johnston in the box. Morgan received a black card for his efforts and was replaced by Michael O’Neill.

Tyrone soon settled and two fine scores from Ardboe’s Kyle Coney saw the hosts establish a four point cushion. Niall Madine and Sean Cavanagh exchanged points before Conor Garvey posted a rare score on the 50 minute mark.

Tyrone continued to battle hard and 1-1 from Darren McCurry between the 52nd and 55th minute put them very much in the driving seat.

The goal was the mastermind of corner back Aidan McCrory, who ran the length of the field before involving Coney and Stephen O’Neill, who then provided the assist for McCurry to despatch to McVeigh’s bottom left corner.

Seven points was the now the gap, but unexpectedly Tyrone began to crumble. Down hit a purple patch and in the space of eight minutes they had 2-3 to their name.

O’Hare struck for a three pointer after some fantastic build up play from Ryan Johnston and Conor Laverty. Moments later Laverty and Johnston combined yet again to set up Maginn who burst through a crowd of Tyrone defenders to send the ball crashing to the net.

Points then flowed from Laverty, Poland and Coulter as Down completed a remarkable nine point swing. With the game on a knife edge and four minutes of injury time to be played it was the coolness of Sean Cavanagh that saved the day for Tyrone.

His equaliser was the result of a trip by Declan Rooney which saw a free awarded after Stephen O’Neill hit a sideline ball to the captain.

Nevertheless, both teams live to fight another day and an absolute cracker is in store in Newry this Saturday night.

Tyrone: N. Morgan (0-1f), A. McCrory, D. McBride, B. Tierney, T. McCann, Mattie Donnelly, P. Harte (1-0pen), C. Cavanagh, C. Clarke, Mark Donnelly, S. Cavanagh (0-5, 3f), C. McGinley, D. McCurry (1-2, 0-2f), N. McKenna, K. Coney (0-3). Subs: R. McKenna for McCann, M. O’Neill for Morgan (BC), S. O’Neill for McKenna, J. McMahon for McBride, C. Gormley for Tierney, M. Penrose for McGinley.

Down: B. McVeigh, D. McCartan, B. McArdle, R. Boyle, D. Rooney, A. Carr (1-0pen), C. Garvey (0-1), P. Turley, A. Rogers (0-1), C. Maginn (1-0), M. Poland (0-1), K. McKernan, D. O’Hare (1-2, 0-2f), N. Madine (0-1), C. Laverty (0-1). Subs: R. Johnston for Boyle, B. Coulter (0-1) for P. Turley, J. Johnston for Rogers, L. Doyle for J. Johnston, D. Turley for Garvey, P. Devlin for Maginn (BC).

Tyrone 2-11

Down 3-8

ULSTER SFC PRELIMINARY ROUND