Tyrone rout Cavan to clinch quarter-final spot
Darren McCurry scored nine points for Tyrone in their victory over Cavan. Pic: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
Tyrone routed Cavan at Brewster Park to clinch top spot in their group and go straight through to the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
It’s 42 years since the Breffni Blues have got the better of the Red Hands in championship football, and there was never any suggestion that that sequence of results was about to change in Enniskillen.
Malachy O’Rourke’s side claimed control of the middle third in the second half to pound their opponents, with Darren McCurry helping himself to a 0-9 haul.
And they got former All-Star Conor Meyler back on the field as he ended an injury nightmare with a first appearance since the All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Kerry in 2023, but an injury to Michael McKernan could cause some concern as they look to pushing on with their bid for Sam.
“If they had converted more of their chances, it would have been a lot closer, but overall, I thought we got a good grip around the middle of the field, started winning more break-ball, and as the game went on we took a stranglehold and never really let it go,” said Tyrone manager Malachy O’Rourke.
“I'm delighted with the day's work and delighted to get two weeks to prepare for the quarter-final. We’re very much focused on what’s ahead of us. They’re all knock-out now, we feel if we get our best performance, we can match anybody.
“It’s easy saying that so we’ll just concentrate now really hard on the next two weeks and try to put in a really good performance that will give us a chance of getting to a semi-final. That’s all we can do, that’s all under our control and that’s we’ll be going after.”
The loss of McKernan after just three minutes allowed Peter Harte to come in as an influential replacement, while another veteran, Mattie Donnelly, cut through the Cavan defence to pick off four first half points and create openings for others.
By the end of the opening quarter, the Red Hands had opened out a seven points lead and had their opponents exactly where they wanted them.
Darragh Canavan and Donnelly saw their early scores cancelled out by a couple of neat Cormac O’Reilly efforts, and while Cavan settled into the game to enjoy spells of pressure, thanks to the ball-winning ability of Evan Crowe and the energy of Dara McVeety, the struggled in the art of finishing, landing three efforts short to he gratefully gathered in by goalkeeper Niall Morgan.
Tyrone weathered a mild storm, Morgan and Harte both raising orange flags, with Donnelly scything through twice in quick succession to split the posts, also creating a score for corner back Niall Devlin as they moved into a 0-9 to 0-2 lead by the 18th minute.
Raymond Galligan’s men did make inroads late in the half, with Paddy Lynch hitting a two-pointer and O’Reilly adding to his tally, and they got inf or a crack at goal when McVeety intercepted a Morgan kic-out, but the ‘keeper redeemed himself with a fine save.
But Tyrone finished strongly, Rory Brennan converting from outside the 40 metre arc, and McCurry and McGeary tagging on scores for a 0-17 to 0-8 interval lead.
Canavan had a goal chance in the opening moments of the second half, but his shot was blocked away by Brian O’Connell.
And Cavan went downfield to trim the deficit with a Lynch two-pointer from a free, but the Red Hands soon regained their composure, established control of the midfield sector and reeled off a string of points to put themselves in an unassailable position.
McCurry landed two gems in the space of a minute, with Canavan McGeary and Ciaran Daly also on target, and when questions were asked of their defence, Cormac Quinn, Brennan and substitute Aidan Clarke had the answers.
Trailing by 13 going into the final quarter, Cavan had to throw caution to the wind, and a two-pointer from substitute Ryan O’Neill, as well as scores from Lynch and Ruairi Curran, gave them a glimmer of hope.
But there was to be no stopping Tyrone, whose mentality was matched by intent and intensity. They scored six of the last seven points of the game, including a McCurry two-pointer, with the biggest cheer of the day raised by Meyler’s 54th minute introduction to the action.
Canavan brought his tally to five, and U20 Footballer of the Year Eoin McElholm became the eleventh Tyrone player to score.
D McCurry 0-9 (3f, 1tpf), D Canavan 0-5 (1f), M Donnelly 0-4, R Brennan 0-3 (1tp), K McGeary, P Harte (1tp), N Morgan (1tpf) (1tp) 0-2 each, C Daly, N Devlin, S O’Donnell, E McElholm 0-1 each.
P Lynch 0-9 (3f, 2tpf, 1 ’45), C O’Reilly 0-4, R O’Neill 0-2 (tp), O Brady, S McEvoy, R Curran 0-1 each.
N Morgan; C Quinn, P Hampsey, N Devlin; M McKernan, R Brennan, P Teague; B Kennedy, C Kilpatrick; S O’Donnell, K McGeary, C Daly, D McCurry, M Donnelly, D Canavan.
: P Harte for McKernan (3), A Clarke for Devlin (29), E McElholm for Donnelly (47), C Meyler for McGeary (54), B McDonnell for Kilpatrick (66)
L Brady; N Carolan, K Brady, C Reilly; B O’Connell, C Madden, P Faulkner; O Kiernan, E Crowe; G Smith, D McVeety, C Brady; C O’Reilly, P Lynch, C Madden.
S McEvoy for K Brady (31), R O’Neill for Smith (49), R Curran for Kiernan (53), K Clarke for C Brady (60), L Fortune for Reilly (65)
P Neilan (Roscommon).
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
