Sport

Loss of O'Neill is downfall of Tyrone

DR MCKENNA CUP FINAL Donegal 1-11 Tyrone 0-13 : A LAST-MINUTE scrambled goal from centre half forward David Walsh gave Donegal…

Mon Feb 01 2010 - 00:00

DR MCKENNA CUP FINAL Donegal 1-11 Tyrone 0-13: A LAST-MINUTE scrambled goal from centre half forward David Walsh gave Donegal victory in the final at Brewster Park in Enniskillen on Saturday night.

For Tyrone the defeat was compounded by the loss of Stephen O’Neill, who retired with a dislocated elbow which looks set to rule him out for up to three months. When O’Neill retired Tyrone were four points to the good but only scored twice more.

The first half was hugely enjoyable. Joe McMahon, Tommy McGuigan, Kyle Coney and Martin Penrose split the posts for Tyrone, with Neil Gallagher, Leo McLoone, David Walsh and Adrian Hanlon all notching from play for the Donegal men.

Hanlon was in brilliant form in the first half, winning countless possessions in front of his marker.

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Tyrone sped into a four-point advantage within 10 minutes of the second half, with Penrose adding to his tally and O’Neill clipping over another free.

Disaster then struck for Tyrone and O’Neill as he went down injured amid a clutch of players in what looked like an innocuous incident that resulted in O’Neill leaving the pitch in an ambulance.

From that point Donegal looked the more fluid and scored four unanswered points to tie the game. Hanlon, who was proving as elusive to his new marker as to his old, scored again, and McFadden from a free and Murphy and Walsh from play had them level.

Substitutes Mattie Donnelly and Niall Gormley added some spring to the Tyrone step and Gormley arrowed over a great score to give Tyrone the lead.

But a long ball into the heart of the Tyrone defence in the last minute caused consternation and Walsh reacted quickest to toe-poke the ball home.

DONEGAL: P Durcan; J Keeney, N McGee, P McDaid; E Wade, F McGlynn, K Cassidy; F McNulty, N Gallagher (0-1); E Kelly, D Walsh (1-2), L McLoone (0-1); A Hanlon (0-2), C McFadden (0-2, frees), M Murphy (0-3, two frees). Subs: M McGowan for Kelly (45 mins), M McGuire for McNulty (70 mins).

TYRONE: J Curran; C McGurk, Justin McMahon, M Swift; Joe McMahon (0-1), C Gormley (0-1), D Carlin; K Hughes, E McGinley; K Coney (0-1), T McGuigan (0-1), P Harte (0-1); M Penrose (0-3), Stephen O'Neill (0-4, three frees), N McKenna . Subs: A Cassidy (0-1)for Joe McMahon (23 blood sub), B McGuigan for McGurk (h-t), M Donnelly for O'Neill (53 mins), N Gormley (0-1)for McKenna, M Donnelly for T McGuigan (69 mins).

Referee: J McKee(Armagh).