Canavan benefits from competitive work-out

Tyrone ... 2-11 Cavan ... 0-10: Tyrone reached the final of the Dr McKenna Cup following a decisive victory over Cavan before a crowd of 3,000 at Breffni Park yesterday.

Tyrone looked much sharper, with Peter Canavan in particularly good form. The forward said after the final whistle that following his return with the All Stars, he would benefit from such a competitive match after a spell with injuries.

For Cavan manager Matt Kerrigan, it was another step forward in the team's preparations for their tough opening match in the National League against Kildare next Sunday.

Tyrone made a confident start and led by 1-2 to 0-1 after 14 minutes, the goal coming from Seán Cavanagh. There was little response from the home side and the lead was soon increased to 1-5 to 0-1.

Then, with half time approaching, Cavan scored three times, twice from Dermot McCabe frees, to leave Tyrone leading by 1-5 to 0-4.

There was little improvement from Cavan in the second half and while they got to within one point of their opponents with 10 minutes left, Cavan failed to sustain the effort and Tyrone finished strongly with a series of points from Ryan McMenamin, Stephen O'Neill and Frank McGuigan, and a goal from Ryan Mellon.

TYRONE: P McConnell; C Gormley, C McGinley, M McGee; R McMenamin (0-1), G Devlin, P Jordan; C Holmes, K Hughes (0-1); A McGinley, B McGuigan, R Mellon (1-1); F McGuigan (0-2), S Cavanagh (1-1), P Canavan (0-3). Subs: P Loughran for C McGinley, S O'Neill (0-2) for P Loughran, B Dooher for S Cavanagh, B Robinson for M McGee.

CAVAN: J Reilly; C Hannon, T Prior, M McKeever; C Collins, P Reilly, A Forde (0-1); D McCabe (0-5), P McKenna (0-1); P Brady, L Reilly (0-2), P Galligan; J Reilly, M Graham (0-1), G Pierson. Subs: J Clarke for P Galligan, S Maguire for P McKenna, K Fannin for J Reilly, J McNally for G Pierson, E King for M Graham.

Referee: S McGonagle (Donegal).