Tyrone no match for Cork

Aidan Walsh inspired Cork to a big win with an imperious midfield performance at Healy Park.

Three superb points from play added value to the Bantry Blues man’s massive contribution to a second win on the trot for Conor Counihan’s resurgent side.

The Red Hands alarming slump in form saw them fall to a first defeat in nine competitive outings, and with difficult away games against Dublin and Kildare coming up, their challenge for an NFL semi-final spot has taken on a significant degree of difficulty.

“If we were to mention two players who stood out there today, it would be Graham Canty and Aidan Walsh at midfield,” said veteran defender Noel O’Leary.

“I suppose that’s where our dominance came from and we built from that, and the rest looked after itself.”

Cork had quality finishers up front as well, and even when they lost Ciarán Sheehan to injury early on, they were able to bring on a player of the calibre of Donncha O’Connor, who contributed two fine scores.

“If you look at the bench, Donncha O’Connor came on for Ciarán and had a mighty game.

“The forwards all put their shoulder to the wheel and every one of them performed, and that makes life a bit easier, when the scores are going over the bar.”

And O’Leary pointed to dominant spells either side of half-time as crucial to a result which has transformed Cork’s league.

“I suppose for any team, trying to drive it on for the first 10 minutes of the second half, trying to dominate the first 10 minutes is the big thing.

“And we did dominate the first 10 minutes, and that had a big saying in the game. We drove on, got on top, and we didn’t look back.

“It is a positive from the day, but we have Donegal next week, and we have to get over this and drive on again."

The Munster men were in charge of this tie throughout, stamping their authority from the outset and refusing to allow their opponents to build any level of momentum.

They laid solid foundations by keeping their opponents scoreless throughout the opening quarter, during which Colm O’Neill converted two frees, and Barry O’Driscoll fired over their first point from play.

Walsh and Graham Canty had already established a foothold in midfield that was to continue right to the end, and there was a certain inevitability about the fate of a Tyrone side that appeared sluggish and lacking in cohesion.

They didn’t register their first score until the 18th minute, when Ronan O’Neill, making his first start in over a year, angled over a point, which was followed swiftly by scores from Stephen O’Neill and Kyle Coney, to leave the sides at level pegging at the 22-minute mark.

But the Rebels saw out the first half in dominant fashion, keeping their opponents under pressure with their support play and hitting five of the remaining six scores.

They were all quality efforts, from substitute Donncha O’Connor, Paul Kerrigan and O’Neill, with the pick of the bunch a long range special from Walsh. Tyrone, to their credit, but equally to their frustration, did create a goal chance when Peter Harte broke a couple of tackles, but blasted his shot wide.

Cork were ahead by 0-8 to 0-4 at the break, and effectively killed the game off by kicking the first two points of the second half to open out a six points advantage.

Another Walsh special followed a Mark Collins free, and even a radical overhaul of his team by manager Mickey Harte, who moved Colm Cavanagh and Joe McMahon to the half forward line and Mattie Donnelly to centre back, could not turn the tide.

Joe McMahon took over the long range free kicking duties from goalkeeper Niall Morgan, who was having an off-day, and sliced a 55-metre effort between the posts, with Ronan O’Neill also converting a free, but this was merely token resistance.

Walsh and O’Neill were on target again at the other end, and Michael Shields and Eoin Cadogan held firm at the back as Tyrone sensed it was time to go for goal.

They had another chance when Seán Cavanagh sent substitute Martin Penrose through, but he drilled his shot into the side netting.

And Conor Gormley’s effort to drop a free into the mix was over-cooked and went all the way over for a point.

Cork were irresistible on this, their most impressive form of the season to date, and pushed on for a big win with late scores from O’Neill and Kerrigan.