McCullagh steps up as Tyrone injuries increase

All-Ireland SFC Qualifier Round One replay/ Tyrone 1-12 Louth 1-7: Tyrone manager Mickey Harte is hoping the latest injuries to afflict his depleted squad are not as serious as first feared.

Colin Holmes and Conor Gormley picked up heavy knocks in the early stages of Saturday's qualifier replay win over Louth, and could miss the second-round clash against Laois. Harte has already had to tempt Colm McCullagh out of retirement to supplement a depleted attack, and the performance of the Dromore man may encourage him to seek out further reinforcements.

McCullagh was the game's outstanding attacker, hitting five points, four of them from play, as the All-Ireland champions finally got the better of battling Louth.

The loss of Holmes and Gormley inside the opening 14 minutes of Saturday's rematch didn't prevent the Sam Maguire Cup holders from turning on the style in front of their own fans at Healy Park.

An Enda McGinley goal and a string of classy points from McCullagh saw them cruise into a 10-point lead at half-time.

"We're certainly glad to be over it," manager Mickey Harte admitted following the five-point victory. But he was already turning his mind to the task of cobbling together a team for the second-round clash against Laois from a squad badly hit by injuries. "We thought our injury jinx was at its limit, but here we go, we get two more."

Harte saw plenty of positives, particularly in the first half, when his side ran Louth ragged.

"I'm very pleased with the first-half performance. We came out to take over from where we left off. In the second half, even though we weren't scoring, we were dominating.

"We dominated the first half, but the breeze was more significant than you would imagine, and while we converted 1-10, and missed five or six more, it was always difficult to come out and play on with that kind of lead."

Tyrone, with Enda McGinley celebrating his first start since last year's All-Ireland final with a sixth-minute fisted goal, led 1-10 to 0-3 at the interval. But Louth pegged back the deficit with the sort of spirit and self-belief they had shown at Navan a week earlier, and came to within four points of the champions when Paddy Keenan bundled home a goal 12 minutes from the end.

Tyrone were reduced to 14 men by that stage following the dismissal of Ryan Mellon for a second yellow card but this time they were not to be denied.

Louth captain Martin Farrelly reflected on a year of progress under Eamonn McEneaney, a year that saw them win promotion and the Division Two league title, and come close to toppling the All-Ireland champions.

"We can still reflect back and say that we're happy with our progress. Starting from zero, we have really worked it up this year. And hopefully we can maintain that progress and improve for next season," said Farrelly.

"We needed to stick with them in the first half, they're obviously a class team, but we didn't do ourselves justice at all."

"An early goal, it knocks a team back. They say goals win games, but to get it that early, I suppose it really did knock us back. It left us with so much more to do. We strived this year to raise our performances, but in the first half we just didn't do it."

TYRONE: J Devine; P McConnell, R McMenamin, C McGinley; M McGee, D Harte, C Gormley; P Jordan, C Holmes; S Cavanagh (0-1), R Mellon (0-2), R Mulgrew; E McGinley (1-0), M Penrose (0-2), O Mulligan (0-2, one free), C McCullagh (0-5, one free). Subs: J McMahon for Holmes, C Gourley for Gormley.

LOUTH: S Reynolds; D Brennan, C Goss, J Carr; R Finnegan, P McGinnity, J Neary; M Farrelly, P Keenan (1-0); C Grimes, M Brennan (0-1), J O'Brien; JP Rooney, M Stanfield (0-2, one 45), D Clarke (0-2, one free). Subs: A Hoey (0-2, one free) for Neary, B White for Grimes, T O'Brien for Clarke, A Page for D Brennan, M Fanning for Rooney.

Referee: G Ó Conamha (Galway).