Spring is back in Tyrone step

THIS result represents a giant W in the victory column for Tyrone.

A third league win on the bounce, fears of relegation swapped for hopes of promotion and a rare taking of the spoils in Portlaoise.

Plenty of boxes ticked but there was so much more to take with them on the trip back home. Their economical score-taking after the break. Their support play and the manner in which they controlled the game couldn’t have but impressed onlookers in O’Moore Park.

Even with Laois having a strong wind into the town end behind them in the second-half Tyrone, leading 1-7 to 0-3 at half-time with help from the said conditions, were never in danger. Mickey Harte may count the concession of eight points after the break as something to work on but up to the 54th minute Laois had been confined to two points from play, Kevin Meaney’s excellent effort a minute late breathing some life into Laois for a late but vain rally.

“It was good football,” agreed Mickey Harte.

“Even with the breeze, I thought the players performed very well. It was about staying in control and not hoping that the wind was going to carry the ball over the bar for you. It was about creating scores and we probably missed a few chances in the first-half when the ball was played a little bit long in the corners but it’s the best 70 minutes of football we’ve had so far this year and hopefully there’s more to come.”

Facing into the wind, Tyrone showed no let-up in the excellent support play they had exhibited before the break. Naturally, scores were harder to come by but Martin Penrose was just as omnipresent. Although Stephen O’Neill was quiet by his standards, the Cavanagh brothers, Colm and Seán, and Brian McGuigan put in consistent displays on the 40 either side of the interval.

“It’s all to do with the players’ willingness to work,” explained Harte.

“They put Laois under severe pressure in the first-half even when they (Laois) were mopping up ball for themselves at the back they didn’t have much of an outlet because of the pressure put on them by our players to do things faster than they wanted to do.”

Justin McNulty put Laois’ defeat down to their relative greenness. With the wind, they were more prone to taking pot shots, although Darren Strong’s long-ranger made it a three-point game in the 61st minute before Tyrone kicked on again.

Facing into the stiff breeze, Laois kicked three wides. Tyrone registered one, taking four points from six scoring opportunities.

“A little bit of inexperience told,” he argued. “Tyrone had three All-Ireland titles and a lot of their players have the experience of playing tight, dogged games like that. They played smart football with and against the wind. A few breaks probably went their way as well. If we had taken a few opportunities in the first-half it could have been a different game.

“Overall, Tyrone were a bit better on the night, they were that bit more efficient. I couldn’t rate them higher in effort because the effort of the Laois side was extraordinary.”

In the end, it was a courageous piece of play from Colm Cavanagh that proved to be the major the difference between the sides.

With Tyrone leading 0-4 to 0-2, the Moy man rose high and unprotected against Laois goalkeeper Darren Maher to fist a McGuigan ball to the net.

Cavanagh subsequently required attention and later had to go off after shipping an off-the-ball knock to the face but his attitude was typical his side’s performance.

“You couldn’t fault him,” said Harte about the goal.

“It would have been an easy ball to back out of but he didn’t take his eye off the ball.”

A second defeat in six days, Laois’ prospects of top-flight football next season have taken a blow although a trip to Sligo on Sunday may get them back on track. Either way, McNulty’s not overly concerned.

“It’s a work in progress with these guys. When the team is working as hard as they have been tonight I have no concerns for this team. They’ll learn from the few errors but once you have that level of work-rate you’re not going to be that far wrong.”

Ten points is now the goal for Harte. That will mean victories against Kildare at home and then taking the points from Meath in Navan on the last day but he’s warmed by the revival.

“We believed we were better than our first two results (defeats) suggested,” he recalled. “We felt we should have got something out of the Derry game. We just stopped playing after 25 minutes against Donegal and I’ve never seen that happen before in all my time.

“Players just don’t get bad overnight and I’m happy how they have recovered from that bad start. It keeps us in the safe zone but we do want to look up from here and reach the final.”

Scorers for Laois: MJ Tierney 0-5 (5f), R Munnelly 0-2. B Sheehan, C Begley, D Strong, K Meaney 0-1 each.

Scorers for Tyrone: C Cavanagh 1-1, B McGuigan, S Cavanagh (3f) 0-3 each, M Penrose 0-2 (1f); O Mulligan, K Hughes, M Donnelly 0-1 each.

LAOIS: D Maher; P O’Leary, K Meaney, R Kehoe; D Strong, S Julian, P Begley; P Clancy, M Timmons; C Begley, J O’Loughlin, P Cahillane; R Munnelly, B Sheehan, MJ Tierney.

Subs: G Kavanagh for Cahillane (30), P Lawlor for Kehoe (51), D Kingston for Sheehan (58).

TYRONE: P McConnell; C McCarron, D McCaul, C Gormley; D Harte, D Carlin, R McMenamin; K Hughes, A Cassidy; C Cavanagh, B McGuigan, S Cavanagh; M Penrose, S O’Neill, O Mulligan.

Subs: Joe McMahon for O’Neill (51), M Donnelly for C Cavanagh (inj. 59), Seán O’Neill for McCarron (66).

Referee: Michael Collins (Cork).