First-half display gives Tyrone win over Laois

Laois 0-11 Tyrone 1-12

Tyrone inflicted a second successive defeat on Laois to puch a huge dent in the Leinster side’s push for promotion.

A sparkling first-half display laid the foundations for an impressive Red Hand win.

It was a third victory on the trot for Mickey Harte’s men, who have gone from relegation candidates to genuine promotion material.

Billy Sheehan opened the scoring for the home side, but soon Tyrone had taken control of the contest. Stephen O’Neill threaded the precision pass for Brian McGuigan to slot a point, and with Sean Cavanagh and Owen Mulligan also on target, they had moved into a three points lead by the ninth minute.

MJ Tierney pulled back a point from a free, but in the 14th minute, the Ulster men grabbed the only goal of the game.

McGuigan floated a ball in and Colm Cavanagh challenged with goalkeeper Darren Maher and full back Kevin Meaney to punch to the net.

Tyrone kept the intensity at a high level, and refused to allow the tempo to drop at that, and added points from Kevin Hughes and two more from McGuigan to go eight clear.

Another Tierney free narrowed the gap, but the O’Moore men trailed by 1-7 to 0-3 at the break.

And Tierney converted two wonderful frees early in the second half, one from t sideline, the other from 50 metres out.

Ross Munnelly was also on target for the home side as they continued to chip away at Tyrone’s lead.

Martin Penrose and Sean Cavanagh kept Tyrone noses in front with converted frees, but Laois continued to press, and when Colm Begley, and defenders Kevin meaney an Darren Strong all powered over points, they appeared capable of turning this game around.

But Tyrone never lost their composure, and with Damian McCaul, Conor Gormley and Davy Harte defending solidly, they turned defence to attack.

And late scores from Penrose and substitute Mark Donnelly put the game beyond the O’Moore men’s reach.

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

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

Laois: D Maher, R Kehoe, K Meaney (0-1), P O’Leary, D Strong (0-1), S Julian, P Begley, P Clancy, M Timmons, P Cahillane, J O’Loughlin, C Begley (0-1), R Munnelly (0-2), B Sheehan (0-1), MJ Tierney (0-5, 5f)

Subs: G Kavanagh for Cahillane, M Finlay for Kehoe, D Kingston for Sheehan

Tyrone: P McConnell, C McCarron, D McCaul, D Carlin, D Harte, C Gormley, R McMenamin, K Hughes (0-1) A Cassidy, C Cavanagh (1-1), B McGuigan (0-3), S Cavanagh (0-3, 3f), M Penrose (0-2, 1f), S O’Neill, O Mulligan (0-1).

Subs: J McMahon for O’Neill, M Donnelly (0-1) for C Cavanagh, Sean O’Neill for McCarron