Canavan drives Tyrone through threshold of success

Tyrone, the county which seemed to spend much of the last decade dallying on the threshold of success, put their shoulder firmly to the door yesterday with a narrow but convincing Ulster final win at Clones. They beat a Cavan side whose novelty lay in the surprising quality of their general play and their baffling inability to convert scores.

There's work to be done yet, and Tyrone were freely conceding the fact but the last time these two sides met in the Ulster final was in 1995 and the winners went all the way to Croke Park on All- Ireland day. As they get to know themselves better, Tyrone might find they have the stomach for the same journey.

Yesterday was one of those landmark afternoons along the pathway to any team's self-realisation. Coming to Clones, Tyrone were comfortable favourites, and in the opening minutes, when the popped in three points with a Larry Reilly wide being the only reply, it looked as if they would justify some of the more outlandish predictions being made on their behalf.

They were finding and using space better than a greedy property developer and turning appropriate profits. Peter Canavan scored the opener with a free and, prosaic though it was, there is nothing that rallies a Tyrone team quite like a score from Mr Canavan to lead the charge.

Cavan were sticky and determined, however, and for the rest of the first half they out-thought Tyrone; no mean feat considering the pair of footballing doctorates who preside over the bench there.

The Cavan half back line wiped out the Tyrone half forwards for much of the half. Meanwhile, further up, the Tyrone full forward line found themselves isolated and out of touch with the rest of the world.

Nevertheless it was Tyrone who scored the first of the afternoon's two goals. Cavan had just finished hauling back Tyrone's three point headstart when suddenly their defence was like a coop in panic. Owen Mulligan came in from the right moving at speed. Cavan moved to smother him, the kindest of their intentions, and as they arrived he flicked a handpass into the path of Cormac McNallen who without breaking stride fisted home.

Clones settled back. This was the blow to the solar plexus which would surely put Cavan down. Instead they kept coming back.

A free from Peter Reilly and a fine point from Finbar O'Reilly narrowed the gap to a point again. Stephen O'Neill added a point for Tyrone.

Then Tyrone made one of those mistakes which are forgivable but costly. They brought Chris Lawn on at full back, took off the injured Sean Teague and moved Collie Holmes to Teague's centre back position. Three minutes later Jason Reilly had scored 1-1 and that experiment was done with.

Reilly's goal was especially pleasing. He took receipt of a free from Dermot McCabe out wide on the right, soloed in menacingly and picked a spot low to Finbarr McConnell's right and planted the ball there.

"Jason?" said McConnell when asked about it later. "Aye, there's phenomenal pace on that team. If their spell had come at the end of second half we'd have had nowhere to go. They were a team with a lot of pace and a team with a lot of attacking talent. You don't want to see him coming towards you that often."

Despite a reply from a Peter Canavan free, the tide of the game was all one way now. Anthony Forde lopped over an insouciant point from 50 yards and then Cavan finished the half slapping Tyrone's cheeks with their gloves by stringing together nine hand passes before Paul Galligan, apparently contemplating whether to continue the passing or just score, took the latter option.

So? Cavan went in as leaders by three points at half time and having seemingly weathered the best of what Tyrone could throw at them failed to score from play in the second period as Tyrone's tactical changes extinguished them like a wet blanket.

The Chris Lawn experiment was abandoned immediately and he went on to have an influential role further up field. Pascal Canavan dropped back Trevor Giles-style, Cormac McNallen upped his performance at just the right time and Stephen O'Neill showed a marked increase in productivity up front, suddenly becoming the font of all good things.

O'Neill's confidence for the second half was sorted early on when he popped over a fine point after just two minutes. If you didn't sense that Cavan were in trouble then you knew it seconds later when Peter Canavan came like a dodgem through a fairground full of challenges and nicked a wonderful point that set the hill at Clones into delirium.

Two minutes later he was at it again, this time delivering the pass to Ger Cavlan who tired the game with just four minutes of the second period gone. Five minutes later Tyrone took the lead. Need you ask. A Peter Canavan point.

It's not that this was one of his greatest games - he's no longer Tyrone's only go-to guy - but what he does is generally so efficient and so exemplary that it makes those around him play better.

Everything Cavan were doing now was rushed. They had five wides in the opening 10 minutes of the half and their best hope of a lifeline came perhaps when they strung two frees together to take the lead again, and then went a point behind but had everything to play for with 15 minutes left.

They were awarded a 14-yard free in front of the Tyrone goal, Jason Reilly full of vim went for a goal with a quick one and put it wide instead. There was widespread bafflement, but Val Andrews was emphatic in his defence of the player.

"Bottom line is it's a team effort. I told him to go for it. If he'd put it in the back of the net he'd be the Mikey Sheehy of Cavan, we'd talk about it for years. That's all you can do sometimes. Go for it."

After that there was a forlorn inevitability to it all.

Two points in it at the end and work to be done surely, but Ulster finals are practical affairs. You get through them and then look at yourself in the mirror.