💾 Archived View for eir.mooo.com › nuacht › doi170706169316.gmi captured on 2024-02-05 at 09:43:16. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Gary Ferry, 4 Feb
Derry 2-20
Tyrone 0-16
In the end, it was two points for Derry, but it came after a
significant scare in the second half as Tyrone threatened to come back
from a 12-point half time deficit at Celtic Park.
Johnny McGarvey’s side looked to be headed to a very comfortable
opening day win as they dominated the first period, but the manager
himself knew that a ferocious wind racing through Celtic Park had a
huge part to play in that.
The question was, could Tyrone make use of the wind as much as Derry
had in the second half, and they certainly gave it a try, scoring seven
successive scores to take the deficit right down to five points before
they imploded, Derry goals from Corey O’Reilly and Dara Mooney followed
each by a red card, to Joe McToal and then Lorcan Devlin. That was the
end of the comeback and by full-time, Derry had got back up to a
10-point difference. In the end it was a job well done, but not without
some relief on a turbulent and freezing day at Celtic Park.
Full house
In anticipation of the senior football game between two huge rivals
later in the day, Celtic Park was packed for the first league game of
the season for the hurlers, and they impressed from the start, with
Cormac O’Doherty pulling the strings as usual.
Former Antrim player Christopher McNaughton was also a force to be
reckoned with and with Corey O’Reilly and John O’Mianain raining in
scores, pun intended, the Tyrone players would have welcomed the
shelter at half time of a very one-sided first half.
That said, the Red Hands could well have found the Derry net up to
three times in the last five minutes of that first period, the most
notable chance falling to Dean Rafferty, who saw his penalty saved by
Eoin Mulholland.
Derry dominated the early stages and by 10 minutes were five points to
the good, with two O’Doherty frees followed by points from O’Mianain,
John Mullan and O’Reilly.
Tyrone just couldn’t get going with Aidan Kelly sending an easy free
wide, and two more from O’Mianain and two frees from O’Doherty made it
0-9, 0-0 just before the halfway point of the first half.
Moments after Rory Weir hit Tyrone’s third wide of the day, the
visitors finally got off the mark 19 minutes in, Kelly scoring a free.
That was just brief respite for the Red Hands as Derry went right back
at them, scoring five in succession, O’Reilly with three before John
Mullan added a point and O’Doherty found his first scire from play, to
make it a daunting 0-14, 0-1.
Every point was vital for Tyrone who knew they would have the wind with
them in the second half and Mickey Little and Kelly split the posts,
only to see Derry respond through McNaughton and Meehaul McGrath.
The last five minutes of the first half was mainly Tyrone, who had
three decent goal chances; Eoin Mulholland saved brilliantly from Kelly
before Richie Mullan threw his body in the way to deny Cormac Munroe.
The best of the lost however was the award of a penalty, but Dean
Rafferty saw his effort saved by Mulholland who dived low to his right.
A goal then might have made all the difference considering how the
second half would go.
Half Time 0-17, 0-5
Keeping possession was key for Derry who knew they had the elements
against them after the break, but they just couldn’t manage it as
Tyrone flew out of the blocks, scoring seven unanswered points to put a
real uneasiness into Johnny McGarvey and his players.
Kelly and Little scored two apiece, while Devlin, Morgan, and Weir all
found the target, and a game that looked over was very much back on at
0-17, 0-12.
During a very uncomfortable period, Derry almost gifted their opponents
a goal when goalkeeper Mulholland, under no pressure, spilled the ball
right at the feet of Mullin, but the Tyrone forward was unable to take
advantage.
Fifteen minutes had passed before Derry finally scored in the second
half, a badly needed free from O’Doherty. With that, the game began to
go against the Red Hands, and a huge moment came on 53 minutes when
O’Reilly broke clear to smash the sliotar past McElhatton for the
game’s first goal. A red card for Joe McToal soon followed, and with
that the comeback was halted.
A second goal arrived on the hour when Dara Mooney forced the all over
the line from close range and a second red card spelt the end of
Tyrone’s resistance, Devlin devastated with referee James Clarke’s
decision.
Tyrone kept going and Tiernan Morgan pulled two scores back, but the
game was beyond them, with O’Doherty, unsurprisingly, having the final
say of the game with a free.
Teams and Scorers
Derry: Eoin Mulholland, Aimon Duffin, Sean Cassidy, Paddy Kelly, Thomas
Brady, Richie (0-1), Meehaul McGrath (0-1), Cormac O’Doherty (0-7, 6f),
Ruairi O’Mianain (0-4), Corey O’Reilly (1-4), Christy McNaughton (0-1),
Callum O’Kane, Dara Mooney, John Mullan (0-2), Paul Cleary.
Subs – Cahal Murray for Paul Cleary 13’, James Friel for Thomas Brady
42’, Mark Craig for Christopher McNaughton 49’, Darragh McGilligan for
Callum O’Kane 52’, Padhraig Nelis for Ruairi O’Mianain 66’,
Yellow – Thomas Brady 40’, Corey O’Reilly 68’,
Tyrone: Conor McElhatton, Dean Rafferty, Ruairi Devlin, Oran McKee,
Bryan McGurk, Fionn Devlin (0-1), Tiernan Morgan (0-3, 1f), Ben Gormley
(0-1), James McCann, Michael Little (0-4), Aidan Kelly (0-5, 4f),
Lorcan Devlin (0-1), Turlough Mullin, Cormac Munroe, Rory Weir (0-1).
Subs – Joe McToal for Turlough Mullin 48’.
Yellow – Turlough Mullin 22’, James McCann 70’,
Red – Joe McToal 56’, Lorcan Devlin 62’
Referee: James Clarke