Sport

Tyrone revive challenge

Tyrone 1-14 Donegal 0-10 Defending champions Tyrone revived their ailing challenge through Peter Canavan's dramatic intervention…

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Mon Mar 03 2003 - 00:00

Tyrone 1-14 Donegal 0-10 Defending champions Tyrone revived their ailing challenge through Peter Canavan's dramatic intervention at Coalisland yesterday, and plunged Donegal deeper into relegation crisis.

Tyrone trailed by three points when Canavan was sprung from the bench early in the second half, and he made an immediate impact, shooting 1-1 with his first two touches.

Seán Cavanagh's enforced move to midfield following an injury to Kevin Hughes was another bonus for Mickey Harte's side, the former underage star contributing four superb points from play.

After Brian Dooher had opened the scoring, Tyrone went half an hour without a score, while Donegal established midfield supremacy through Jimmy McGuinness. Christy Toye's move to centre forward helped the visitors win possession, and with Adrian Sweeeny taking responsibility, they eased ahead.

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Sweeney hit four first-half points, two of them from play, with McGuinness and James Gallagher also contributing scores.

After Tyrone had drawn level 10 minutes before the break through Cavanagh, Donegal turned the screw again, opening up a four-point lead before Owen Mulligan narrowed the gap to 0-7 to 0-4 at the break.

In the second half Tyrone gave their fans something to shout about with Canavan, Cavanagh and the tireless Dooher all splitting the posts. And when Canavan took a Dooher pass to drill a 56th-minute goal, it was all over for Brian McEniff's side. They managed just three second-half points, through Brian Roper, Sweeney and McGuinness.

TYRONE: J Devine; R McMenamin, C Holmes, C Gormley; P Jordan, G Devlin, D McCrossan; R Mellon, K Hughes; S Mulgrew, B McGuigan (0-2), B Dooher (0-3); F McGuigan, O Mulligan (0-3), S Cavanagh (0-4). Subs: P Canavan (1-2) for Hughes, M Harte for F McGuigan, M McGee for McCrossan, E McGinley for Mulgrew, B Robinson for Gormley.

DONEGAL: T Blake; E Reddin, R Sweeeny, N McGinley; D Diver, S Carr, N McCready (0-1); J Ruane, J McGuinness (0-2); C Toye, K Rafferty, B Roper (0-1); A Gallagher, A Sweeney (0-5), J Gallagher (0-1). Subs: K Cassidy for Carr, E Sweeney for Ruane, C McFadden for A Gallagher.

Referee: S McCormack (Meath).