Tyrone 0-21
Sligo 0-14
Fintan O’Toole reports from Croke Park
ANOTHER FOOTBALL SUMMER has seen Tyrone rehabilitate in the qualifiers and this afternoon they swept past Sligo to book an All-Ireland quarter-final date next weekend.
Tyrone’s superiority was clear from the outset yet it was the type of performance that still throws up question marks over Mickey Harte’s team.
After overcoming Limerick, Meath and Tipperary since their Ulster opening round loss to Donegal, Sligo became the latest team to be conquered by Tyrone.
But Tyrone were sluggish at stages, particularly after half-time, and the quarter-final next weekend will pose a sterner test.
Darren McCurry was Tyrone’s chief marksman with 0-8 while Sean Cavanagh and Mattie Donnelly chipped in with 0-3 apiece.
For Sligo, Mark Breheny caught the eye in the scoring stakes with a 0-6 haul while Pat Hughes impressed as he struck 0-3.
Sligo were far more durable in defence in comparison to the Connacht final when they caved early under an avalanche of goals against Mayo.
They kept a clean sheet on this occasion with Ross Donovan clearing two shots off the line in the closing stages.
Tyrone started brightly with Mattie Donnelly putting them 0-6 to 0-2 in front by the 11th minute yet Sligo remained in the hunt with Breheny scoring in the 22nd minute to leave them 0-9 to 0-5 adrift.
Tyrone powered in front 0-12 to 0-6 at the interval before Sligo enjoyed their best spell in scoring four out of the first six second-half points.
They trailed 0-15 to 0-10 by the 53rd minute but then Tyrone hit five points on the spin to put the game to bed.
Scorers for Tyrone: Darren McCurry 0-8 (0-3f, 0-1 ’45), Sean Cavanagh, Mattie Donnelly 0-3 each, Mark Bradley 0-2, Niall Morgan (0-1f), Rory Brennan, Peter Harte, Colm Cavanagh, Connor McAliskey 0-1 each.
Scorers for Sligo: Mark Breheny 0-6 (0-3f), Pat Hughes 0-3, Adrian Marren 0-2 (0-2f), Cian Breheny, Niall Murphy, David Kelly 0-1 each.
Tyrone
1. Niall Morgan (Edendork)
5. Ronan McNabb (Dromore)
3. Ronan McNamee (Aghyaran)
2. Aidan McCrory (Errigal Ciarán)
10. Tiernan McCann (Killyclogher)
6. Joe McMahon (Omagh)
4. Rory Brennan (Trillick)
8. Colm Cavanagh (Moy)
9. Mattie Donnelly (Trillick)
14. Sean Cavanagh (Capt., Moy)
7. Peter Harte (Errigal Ciarán)
12. Conor Meyler (Omagh)
11. Mark Bradley (Killyclogher)
15. Connor McAliskey (Clonoe)
13. Darren McCurry (Edendork)
Subs
21. Conall McCann (Killyclogher) for Meyler (48)
23. Padraig McNulty (Dungannon) for Bradley (57)
22. Justin McMahon (Omagh) for Joe McMahon (60)
20. Danny McBride (Strabane) for Colm Cavanagh (62)
25. Ronan O’Neill (Omagh) for McAliskey (62)
17. Conor Clarke (Omagh) for Donnelly (68)
Sligo
1. Aidan Devaney (Calry/St.Joseph’s)
2. Ross Donavan (Eastern Harps)
5. Keelan Cawley (Coolera Standhill)
4. Daniel Maye (Tubbercurry)
6. Brendan Egan (St.Vincent’s – Dublin)
10. Brian Curran (Tubbercurry)
7. Eoin Flanagan (St.John’s)
23. Stephen Gilmartin (Tubbercurry)
8. Cian Breheny (St.Mary’s)
12. Neil Ewing (Drumcliffe Rosses Point)
11. Mark Breheny (St.Mary’s) – Captain
9. Niall Murphy (Coolera Standhill)
15. Adrian Marren (Curry)
14. Pat Hughes (Geevagh)
13. David Kelly (Tubbercurry)
Subs:
3. Kevin McDonnell (Castleconnor) for Cian Breheny (inj) (34)
25. James Hynes (St Farnan’s) for Gilmartin (56)
20. Criostóir Davey (Coolaney-Mullinabreena) for Ewing (58)
19. Luke Bree (Coolera-Strandhill) for Maye (62)
26. Kenneth Sweeney (Geevagh) for Hughes (69)
Referee: Rory Hickey (Clare)
With the time off and the cushie jobs they practically are paid professionals
#teachershaveithandy
When a hurling county treats gaelic football with the contempt that it deserves by ignoring it, domination follows…
pity tipp wouldn’t follow suit! hurling is gonna suffer in tipp with way football is going in the county :)
I couldn’t agree with you more Shane. Ger Loughnane pointed out a skills deficit in the Tipp minor hurlers on the Sunday Game. Worrying to see young Tipp hurlers taking the dual player route.
They are still it that good at senior! Maybe they get over u21 and think better stick to the hurls!
I coach u 10s in my club and we never ever do football yet we played one the best teams around here in a football challenge as they asked and bet them . same wouldn’t happen in hurling
Kilkenny won the double this year I’ll have you know.
They won the English Junior championship. That is the level they are at. Contempt I would not call it. If it was they would not play it at all. Just like the Connacht Hurling Championship.
Connacht even struggle in football while mayo, roscommon leitrim plus sligo line out hurling teams in the christy ring,nicky rackard, and lory meagher tournaments so there’s no comparsion there man plus they’re not playing against foreign junior teams. Kilkenny has a bigger population than the latter three I mentioned so like for like comparsion are pretty weak.
Warwickshire and Lancashire both play the Lory Meagher cup both of these teams play in the British Junior Championship so yes Sligo, Letrim and the like play “foreign teams”
There is no equivalent to the Lory Meagher, Nicky Rackard or Christy ring in football, therefore KK have to play a lower league football somewhere.
Plus who gives a crap (obviously counties who play both and win nothing) if Kilkenny focus just on 1 has sport. Kilkenny also only have 1 rugby team in the county. It just means we can be better at that 1 sport.
They is a mad committed group. Da kilkenny crew be a well oiled machine.
@jason *iarla Tannion broke TJ’s knee.
British junior championship
I stand corrected it was Tannion.
That’s right it was the British Junior. They played Scotland in the Semi Final!!
Having grown up in Kilkenny, I can testify that hurling is everything there. Almost every child plays it from a young age (even if not all of them like it) and the ones who are really good usually go to St. Kieran’s where they are moulded into the kind of hurlers that win All-Irelands. It’s like a hurling academy with excellent facilities. Almost the entire panel from last Sunday went to school there (including Brian Cody) with only a few notable exceptions. They’ve won 20 all Ireland colleges titles and over 50 Leinster Championships.
If you want a parallel in rugby, it’s like the Christchurch Boys School that has produced the likes of Dan Carter, Graham Henry, Andrew Merthens, Brodie Retallick and Steve Hansen and has been one of the drivers of the success of the All Blacks.
I agree with all you said above except you would be very surprised that 7-8 of that starting team were not in St Kieran’s.
Between Scoil Aergail in Ballyhale and a few went to new Ross and some of the younger panelists went to CBS.
But I firmly believe the basis of any good minor team is off a lot of work done in St Kierans.
brilliant post! hurling is the sport in kk! I’d say as soon as kids can walk they’re handed a hurley
Yep Jason, I went to Scoil Aireagail. :-) Was a year ahead of Michael Fennelly all through school. Not a pure hurling school as we were fairly successful in other sports like soccer and cross-country running but still produced many top hurlers over the years. None of the Fennellys went to Kieran’s but they come from a family dynasty of successful players and managers so they didn’t need to! They also benefit from playing for the most successful hurling club in the country in the Ballyhale Shamrocks. They’ve been playing with the likes of Shefflin and the Reids since they were young lads. I’d be willing to bet that many hurlers who didn’t make it on the Kilkenny senior panel who would get into almost any other county’s starting 15. Some probably had the talent but not the discipline to play under Cody. The well of talent is very big for such a small county.
Like a religion
Special Good Wishes… Am I missing something here??