Magical Magpies stun Tyrone with fantasy football

Sligo 1-14 Tyrone 0-12

They set the tone for an enthralling afternoon at headquarters, injecting a little spark of romanticism into the championship by over-turning a more recognised power for the second year running.

Who could have predicted this? Tyrone’s impressive result against Derry had them ear-marked as All-Ireland contenders. And after 25 minutes, Sligo looked dead and buried. Nine points to three down, Peter Canavan and Stephen O’Neill terrorising, Croke Park prepared itself for one more of this championship’s massacres.

And then, everything changed.

Sligo went on a scoring spree, four points before half-time. Eamon O’Hara and Paul Durkan started to control midfield, Dara McGarty and Mark Brehony kicked a couple of beautiful points and Tyrone simply disintegrated.

What a contrast with Sligo. And what a team they are. Another trip to the big smoke, another glorious victory. In many ways, this was even more impressive than their jaw-dropping success against Kildare last year.

O’Hara was outstanding again. His point in the 27th minute, which ignited the scoring spree, was a classic example of his mixture of endeavour and footballing ability. He ran 40 yards, shipped a couple of shoulder tackles, before hitting the ball dead-eyed between the posts.

Patrick Naughton was another hero. It looked like it was going to be a torrid day for him, as he failed to get to grips with the awesome O’Neill in the early stages. Peter Ford persisted with Naughton and the defender repaid the good faith. His second-half display verged on man of the match, first to the ball, strong tackling, sensible distribution. He was a microcosm for the Sligo performance.

Neil Carew, Dara McGarty and Gerry McGowan were three more heroes. The Tyrone management tried three defenders on McGowan, each came off short-changed. It wasn’t coincidental that Sligo’s revival went hand-in-hand with Carew’s introduction in the 24th minute. The Strandhill defender kept the Tyrone full-forward line under lock and key.

And what of Dessie Sloyan? Last year’s hero wasn’t having his best afternoon, but in the 62nd minute, with the game delicately poised at 0-12 apiece, Sloyan found himself in the right place at the right time. McGowan’s hopeful punt for a long-range point rebounded from the upright, Sloyan caught the ball and in a split second had the ball in the back of the net, between Ciaran Gourley and Brian Robinson, who were standing on the goal-line.

For a long time, though, it looked like the Gods were conspiring against Sligo. Sloyan’s decisive score arrived, only after the team had missed four good goal chances. In the first minute, Gerry McGowan’s audacious chip fell into the safe hands of Chris Lawn a few moments before Sloyan’s goal, McGowan shrugged off the challenge of Cormac McGinley, but his shot was inches by the post, with Peter Ward beaten. Kieran Quinn and McGarty also had opportunities, opting for points instead. It didn’t spoil the story, though, it just added to it.

As enthralling as the tale of Sligo footballers is, we shouldn’t forget the wondrous creativity of Tyrone forwards for the first 25 minutes. They scored nine points in a 24 minute spell, when Canavan showed the country why he is the greatest footballer never to win an All-Ireland.

The understanding between himself and O’Neill was a joy to behold, and they carved some wonderful scores between them. This championship will be put to bed and we probably won’t have seen a better score than Canavan’s point in the 19th minute. It was one of those which have been the trademark of his genius, he received the ball on the right flank, with Naughton in close attendance. He swivelled, he twisted, he turned, he found enough of an angle to curl a delightful point over the bar. It was sheer genius, a pleasure for those in the stands and it put Tyrone 8-2 up.

So, where did it all go wrong? Sligo plundering four points just before the interval, to ensure the half-time score was a respectable 0-9 to 0-7 in favour of Tyrone, rather than the wide margin that the half suggested, rocked their confidence.

And their forwards must shoulder the blame. As they created chance after chance in the first half, they shot wide after wide, nine in total before they went in for their half-time refreshment. It was a little bit of complacency, a little bit of bad decision-making.

They were still four points ahead, when Peter Canavan pointed a free in the 40th minute, 0-12 to 0-8, but that was to be their last score of their game and, by then, the lack of size in the Tyrone side was already causing problems. The county may need to start a cross-breeding programme with Meath before they reach their promised land.

Sligo, though, were a pleasure. And they won’t be an easy touch for anyone in the quarter-finals.

There may be even more fantastic chapters to this story yet.