Tyrone pip Mayo in thriller after Niall Morgan lands dramatic winner
Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan scored a winning two-point free for his side against Mayo in Round 2A of the All-Ireland SFC. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
A stone cold, 69th-minute two-point free from goalkeeper Niall Morgan has propelled Tyrone into the last of the All-Ireland football championship quarter-final places and consigned Mayo to a Round 3 appointment.
Morgan’s dead ball, delivered from an awkward angle just in front of the main stand, was a fitting end to a game that delivered for the full 70 minutes, even if the visitors will feel like the result doesn’t do them justice.
The game wasn’t without controversy. Darren McCurry came off the bench to claim six points, four of them from play, but his 47th-minute effort appeared to float wide before being waved over.
These two were level eight times through the afternoon and Mayo might wonder what might have been had Sam Callinan gone for goal rather than a point when through on Morgan just moments before the kick that took the spoils.
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There were plenty of other sliding door moments here but the bottom line is that the Ulster side has two weeks now before they play again in the last eight. Mayo will have to raise themselves off the canvas in just seven days.
A crowd of 11,921 packed into the ground and they were treated to the perfect conditions and a game that was open and direct from the off with the sides pulling level half-a-dozen times in the opening half alone.
Tyrone set the tone with a succession of attacks that wasted no time. The trigger was pulled at the first opportunity time and again. Mayo accepted the challenge and returned the favour with their own brand of shoot on sight.
Both claimed the lion’s share of their own kickouts, Tyrone profiting early on from short balls before Mayo pushed up and forced a contest in the air, the visitors favouring deliveries wide towards the sidelines.
That created opportunity on both sides but they were hamstrung by some shortcomings. Tyrone, and Mattie Donnelly in particular, were guilty of some careless turnovers. Mayo had three point attempts blocked at source by a defender.
Andy Moran’s side will have been happy enough with a stalemate at the break, not least the fact that a defence that had been brittle enough in terms of goals conceded had managed to keep that avenue of opportunity to a minimum.
And they could have done more damage at the other end.
Niall Morgan stood up to a Jordan Flynn shot that was placed too high and too central while Darragh Beirne had an instinctive effort blocked by Peter Teague. Eight points apiece felt just about right at the interval.
Mayo saw a goal chance go abegging on the restart when Ryan O’Donoghue’s squared fist pass evaded McDonald but most of the third quarter was dominated by Tyrone who opened up the game’s first three-point lead.
It could have been more had Jack Livingstone not produced a stunning diving save to deny Ethan Jordan. Then again, it could have been less had a Darren McCurry wide not been waved over with 23 minutes to go.
All of this was achieved on the back of a squeeze on the Mayo kickout, proving yet again how much of a premium there is now on balls from restarts. Mayo responded by introducing two inside forwards, Tommy Conroy and Paul Towey, and it paid off.
McDonald kickstarted the comeback with a terrific two-pointer off the outside of his boot. Towey and Beirne had shots blocked before Tommy Conroy popped over a point. Then Beirne found the net after another Towey shot was held up.
Mayo were two up, 1-14 to 0-15.
It wasn’t one-way traffic. Mayo were still struggling to secure their own possession in the midfield, and Darren McCurry was on fire coming off the bench and had five points to his name in just over ten minutes.
When they did make it into the Tyrone third, they were creating havoc and Jordan Flynn should really have bagged another goal when he rounded the keeper but smacked his shot from distance just over the bar.
McCurry continued to shoot the lights out with his fifth point and then his sixth, Niall Morgan landed a ’45, but Ryan O’Donoghue picked off a pair of nerveless frees. It was all square again with just two minutes to play.
Then Callinan fisted over the bar and Morgan went for the jugular.
Pure drama. More of it on a weekend that had plenty.
D Beirne (1-2); R O’Donoghue (0-5, 3 frees); K McDonald (0-3); J Carney (0-2 ptr); E Hession (0-2); S Callinan, P Durcan, J Flynn and T Conroy (all 0-1).
D McCurry (0-6, 2 frees); R Cassidy (0-4); N Morgan (0-3, a 2-pt free and 1 ‘45’); C Daly, P Teague and C Kilpatrick (all 0-2); E Jordan (0-2, 1 free and 1 ‘45’); E McElholm.
J Livingstone; J Coyne, D McHugh, E Hession; S Callinan, D McBrien, P Durcan; E McGreal, J Carney; H O’Loughlin, C Loftus, J Flynn; D Beirne, R O’Donoghue, K McDonald.
T Conroy for O’Loughlin (45); P Towey for Loftus (48); A O’Shea for Durcan (53)
N Morgan; C Quinn, P Teague, J Clarke; M McKernan, N Devlin, K McGeary; B Kennedy, C Kilpatrick; S O’Donnell, R Cassidy, C Daly; E McElholm, M Donnelly, E Jordan.
D McCurry for Jordan (46); F Burns for McGeary (55-65); C Bogue for Daly and L McGarrity for Donnelly (both 60); D Canavan for Cassidy (67);
B Cawley (Kildare).
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