Tyrone fired by Mulligan

Tyrone ... 3-16 Antrim ... 2-8 Tyrone, with full forward Owen Mulligan in red-hot form, swept Antrim aside to book their place in next Sunday's Dr McKenna Cup semi-final against Cavan.

Mulligan blasted home two goals and three points before retiring injured after 23 minutes of a one-sided contest at Coalisland.

Single-handedly he had led Tyrone to a 2-3 to 0-3 advantage by that stage, but after his departure, there was no shortage of volunteers to take over scoring duties.

Ryan Mellon, Kevin Hughes, Mark Harte, Enda McGinley and defender Frank McGuigan all knocked over points to help Tyrone to a 2-9 to 0-3 half-time lead.

Antrim started the second half brightly, with Conal Kelly bringing his tally to three points, and Martin McCarry and Kevin Madden also registered scores. But Tyrone were never troubled, even when Darren O'Hare, son of manager Paul, grabbed a goal midway through the second half.

The home side continued to hit the target confidently, with Harte, Hughes, Brian McGuigan and defender Philip Jordan all on target. Substitute Seán Cavanagh left his mark on the game with a late blitz which yielded 1-2.

Antrim finished with a late consolation goal from Kevin Brady, but clearly have a lot of work to do as they prepare for the start of the National League in a fortnight.

TYRONE: P McConnell; R McMenamin, C Holmes, M McGee; P Horisk, G Devlin, P Jordan (0-1); C McAnallen, K Hughes (0-2); E McGinley (0-1), B McGuigan (0-1), R Mellon (0-1); M Harte (0-4), O Mulligan (2-3), F McGuigan (0-1). Subs: S Cavanagh (1-2) for Mulligan, P Loughran for McAnallen, C Gormley forHughes, B Robinson for Horisk.

ANTRIM: S McGreevy; C Anderson, A Finegan, C Brady; S Kelly (0-1), P McCann, S P O'Hagan; M McCarry (0-1), M McCrory (0-1); K McGourty, E McCann, C Kelly (0-3); K Madden (0-1), D O'Hare (1-0), K Brady (1-1). Subs: J McKeever for E McCann, G Adams for O'Hagan, J Storey for McCarry, T O'Neill for McGourty.

Referee: G Lynch (Fermanagh).