Tyrone ease relegation fears and send Offaly further towards trap door

Marcas Dalton of Offaly and Michael Rafferty of Tyrone. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Division 2: Tyrone 0-28 Offaly 2-13 

Tyrone eased their relegation fears and pushed Offaly closer to the drop with a resurgent second half performance at O’Neill Park in Dungannon.

The Red Hands were transformed after the break after a sluggish showing had allowed their opponents to dictate the course of the game.

After playing into a stiff breeze, the Faithful were just two points adrift at the turnaround, but they couldn’t live with an energised home side once the second period got under way.

Darragh Canavan’s departure for a month in Australia threatened to stifle Tyrone’s attacking system, but they adapted to spread the load, with 14 players getting their names on a score-sheet topped by Canavan’s younger brother Ruairi.

Tyrone picked off 16 scoring chances while facing the wind in the second half as they coasted to a comfortable nine points winning margin “When we play like that, we’re at our best,” said manager Malachy O’Rourke.

“In the first half, we weren’t winning the kick-outs, we didn’t win many break balls, they were able, when they got the ball, to get up the field fairly comfortably.

“And we weren’t pushing out high enough at times, and they were able to hold the ball and work a few scores.

“So at half-time, we knew that we had to be much better second half.

“We were facing into a bit of a wind, but we knew that if we upped our intensity levels all around the field and just played better football, we could win the game, and that’s how it proved.” 

Offaly joint boss Mickey Harte, who led Tyrone to three All-Ireland titles back in the noughties, brought an element of surprise to his native county.

“I’d say we caught Tyrone by surprise. They wouldn’t half expect as much of us, and they needed the half-time to get to grips with what was going on, and I think they adjusted very well and made life hard for us in the second half,” he said.

“But that’s life, we played very well in the first half, within touching distance, but they started to grow into the game, and they got enough of a comfort zone to be able to play their kind of football as well.” 

Offaly showed no signs of panic as Tyrone used wind advantage to slot over early points through Seanie O’Donnell, Aidan Clarke and Lorcan McGarrity.

They had come with a plan, and that was to frustrate the home side by holding possession for long spells, and they were assisted in this regard by a Tyrone defence that sat deep, reluctant to press the man with the ball.

Keith O’Neill grabbed a couple of scores to keep the Leinster men in touch, and they grew in confidence, with Cormac Egan, Diarmuid Egan and Jack McEvoy at the centre of their game plan.

And in the 24th minute they went level when McEvoy finished to the net from close range after Jordan Hayes had sliced through the home defence and unleashed a shot, which was kept in play by Lee Pearson.

Darragh Flynn had the sides deadlocked again late in the half, but a Brian Kennedy two-pointer helped the Red Hands reach the break with a slender 0-12 to 1-7 advantage.

Malachy O’Rourke’s half-time talk seemed to have done the trick when his side reeled off three quick scores through Ben Cullen, Niall Devlin and Mattie Donnelly.

Now it was the Red Hands who were attacking relentlessly, and a Harry Plunkett two-pointer provided only temporary respite for the Faithful, ahead of another flourish of scores as they fell six behind.

Offaly were struggling to track the runs of Ben Cullen and Conn Kilpatrick, and McGarrity should have hit the net as a kick-out malfunction allowed him to get in and crack a shot off a post.

A black card for goalscorer McEvoy signalled another Tyrone onslaught, with Darren McCurry coming off the bench to stroke over three points, with Donnelly also bringing his haul to three.

It was one-way traffic in the final quarter, with subs Michael McKernan and Ruairi McCullagh also on target, but Offaly did finish on a high as Darragh Flynn broke through to grab a late consolation goal.

Tyrone scorers: R Canavan 0-5 (1tp, 2f), D McCurry, R Cassidy, M Donnelly, S O’Donnell 0-3 each, B Kennedy (tp), N Devlin 0-2 each, M McKernan, R McCullagh (f), A Clarke, C Quinn, C Daly, L McGarrity, B Cullen 0-1 each.

Offaly scorers: D Flynn 1-2, J McEvoy 1-0, K O’Neill 0-4 (2f), H Plunkett 0-3 (1tp), C Egan 0-2, M Dalton, R Egan 0-1 each.

Tyrone: R O’Kane; A Clarke, P Teague, C Quinn; B Cullen, N Devlin, M Rafferty; B Kennedy, C Kilpatrick; S O’Donnell, R Cassidy, C Daly; L McGarrity, M Donnelly, R Canavan.

Subs: J Clarke for Cullen (51), D McCurry for McGarrity (51), M McKernan for Daly (59), F Burns for Devlin (62), R McCullagh for Canavan (65).

Offaly: C Melia; S O’Toole Greene, R Egan, L Pearson; C Egan, D Egan, D McDaid; J McEvoy, A Leavy; M Dalton, J Hayes, K O’Neill; H Plunkett, N Furlong, D Flynn.

Subs: C Murphy for Furlong (52), E Dunne for Dalton (60).   

Referee: J Molloy (Galway).