Sligo simply irresistible in the end

Sligo - 1-14 Tyrone  - 0-12 Sligo ought to go sightseeing more often. For just the second time in a quarter of a century, they came to the big city and found the bright lights inspiring. Last year, Kildare found they couldn't live with Sligo's spirit of adventure. Yesterday in Croke Park, it was Tyrone that were left standing in bewilderment after another heart thumping afternoon.

The roots of this victory can be traced back to the dismal wreck that was the Connacht final. In the closing period of that day of epic misery, Sligo discovered that they had a deeper level of application and belief than they had previously realised.

Here, it took them a dangerously long time to tap into that mindset, with Eamon O'Hara the main diviner but once on the right frequency, they never looked back.

After a glorious opening performance that was emblematic of all the lustre and promise with which they brightened freezing league days, Tyrone were gradually bottled up and eventually thrown overboard. They rattled up 0-9 in the first 24 minutes but added just another three points - with just one of those from play - for the entirety of the match.

The northern team's problems began with an evident change in Sligo's attitude. For the first 20 minutes, they apparently felt it was only polite to stand back and applaud the full range of Peter Canavan's God-given talents like everyone in the stands.

Canavan was breathtaking during Tyrone's poetic phase, scoring one, tightly-angled point in front of the Hogan Stand with such ease as to be criminal. His brother Pascal and Stephen O'Neill had also begun to pop over points as if they were attending a midweek training session and with 15 minutes of the half remaining, a total blow out looked imminent.

While Sligo substituted Mark Cosgrove - a guy who lived pretty well in the company of Padhraic Joyce in the provincial showdown - it was the entire defence that was guilty at that time. The arrival of Neil Carew provoked or coincided with a braver and less respectful approach to Tyrone's collective forward talents.

Gradually, they implemented an astounding volte face, with Padraig Doohan, Nigel Clancy, David Durkin and Brendan Phillips completely blocking all through passages on goal.

But it was Eamon O'Hara, a classy player during bad and good times for Sligo, who kept them in touch when Sligo had only the slenderest hold on the match. He burst through to land a fine point on 12 minutes that reminded his side of their right to play and also dispatched another invaluable score when Tyrone had a 0-9 to 0-3 lead that looked like stretching.

The match was transformed after that score, with Sligo producing three points without reply, the last from Kieran Quinn, who blazed a high shot when through on goal after 35 minutes. That closing burst established a significant enough platform for the county to launch another show of fireworks in the capital.

Although Peter Canavan opened the second half with another smooth score, the rest of the game belonged to Sligo. It was a tremendously team-oriented performance, with the athletic Dara McGarty and Quinn especially notable. Full forward John McPartland fell back and got through a mountain of work, while veteran midfielder Paul Durkan summoned the last ounce from himself on what was a fearsomely hot day playing football.

Up front, the Tyrone defence found the Sligo corner-forward duo of Dessie Sloyan and Gerry McGowan ever more troubling.

McGowan's contribution deserved more than the single free he recorded, while Sloyan set Sligo on their way with a perfectly timed goal in the 61st minute. That originated in a move between Paul Taylor and McGowan, whose pointed attempt came back off the post. With Tyrone in disarray, Sloyan reacted the sharpest, grabbing the ball and hammered home what was a gift to leave it 1-12 to 0-12. Tyrone's belief was extinguished at that point and they never looked like rallying for the closing minutes.

Even without that moment of opportunism, Sligo were playing with a verve and belief that had an unstoppable quality about it. The brittle days of big day disappointments look to be a thing of the past.

It was appropriate that Paul Durkan, who has served what in blacker days looked like a life sentence in the Sligo number eight jersey, stepped up to fire the insurance point for his county. Sloyan completed the scoring with a long distance free.

Yesterday represented a sizeable setback in the intricate development project of Tyrone football. Many felt that this was the year that their prodigious underage success would finally yield the all elusive harvest, particularly given the master Canavan's peerless form.

But they suffered a few critical lapses. Cormac McAnallen was not the forceful midfield presence he was last season, while Declan McCrossan has somehow gone from being a rampaging wing back to an out-of sorts wing forward. And while Chris Lawn again had some great moments at full back, his size along with that of his colleague's eventually told a tale.

It was a shattering end to what might have been a great year for Tyrone. But for Sligo, it was a fine step towards a place that once looked far beyond them.

HOW THEY LINED OUT

SLIGO: 1 J Curran; 7 P Naughton, 4 B Phillips, 2 M Cosgrove; 19 P Doohan, 3 N Clancy, 6 D Durkin; 8 P Durkan, 9 E O'Hara; 10 D McGarty, 11 M Brehony, 12 K Quinn; 13 D Sloyan, 14 J McPartland, 15 G McGowan.

Substitutes: 17 N Carew for M Cosgrove (24 mins), 25 P Taylor for M Brehony (47 mins), S Davey for K Quinn (64 mins), 26 J Davey for P Taylor (70 mins). Booked: P Durkan (23 mins), P Naughton (24 mins).

TYRONE: 1 P Ward; 2 C Gormley, 3 C Lawn; 4 B Robinson; 5 R McMenamin, 6 C McGinley, 7 P Jordan; 8 C McAnallen, 9 C Holmes; 10 B Dooher, 11 P Canavan, 12 D McCrossan; 13 B McGuigan, 14 S O'Neill, 15 P Canavan.

Substitutes:17 C Gourley for C Gormley (half-time), 18 K Hughes for B McGuigan (54 mins), 22 G Cavlan for P Canavan (60 mins), 20 E Mulligan for D McCrossan (63 mins). Booked: D Sloyan (61 mins)