Wasteful U21s well-beaten by Tyrone

Tyrone 2-10
Cavan 0-10

Paul Fitzpatrick
at Kingspan Breffni Park

Cavan U21s kicked 16 wides over the hour as they exited the Ulster Championship at the first hurdle in disappointing fashion at Breffni Park tonight.

Tyrone, the reigning All-Ireland champions, were slow to the boil but dominated the final 20 minutes to win comfortably.

At half-time, the Red Hands were ahead by the odd point in 11 but Cavan had kicked nine wides. There was an element of panic to the Blues' play and, after the first quarter, their play was riddled with errors.

Early on, though, Cavan were flawless. Two frees from goalkeeper Liam Brady and a fine point from play from wing-forward Pierce Smith saw them race into a 0-3 to 0-0 lead after nine minutes before Tyrone opened their account with a free from Cathal MacShane.

The Red Hands, unusually, were playing route one stuff, raining high ball on the Cavan full-back line, and the tactic didn't bear much fruit in the opening half.

A point from Liam Galligan was cancelled out by a brilliant individual score from Mark Kavanagh as nerves began to show and the sides traded a succession of wides.

Long-range points from MacShane and Padraig McGirr tied matters seven minutes before half-time before Cavan hit the front again after full-forward David Brady did well to tee Galligan up again.

Tyrone, though, finished the half better with MacShane sending over two more from play to see them hold the edge at the break.

The winners, though, were much the better side in the second half. Cavan created plenty of chances but squandered most of them – they kicked a shocking 16 wides in total and dropped three short – as a result of wayward shooting and impressive Tyrone defending.

Goalkeeper Brady converted a free at the start of the second half but two points from Lee Brennan (one a 45) nudged Tyrone into the lead and then they struck for the crucial first goal, captain Frank Burns laying off for Byrne to coolly side-foot to the roof of the net.

There was a lethargy about Cavan - they didn't seem to have enough urgency when breaking out of defence and their profligacy up front was baffling. Certainly, the ref did Cavan no harm - the home side were awarded 18 frees as against eight for Tyrone.

Feargal Logan's charges suddenly looked dangerous every time they attacked and although Cavan replied with a good point from Niall Clerkin, Tyrone were purring and they added a point from David Mulgrew and then decided the game when Burns dinked the ball over the top for Ben McDonnell to bundle home.

A late MacShane effort was sandwiched by Cavan consolation scores from Jack Doyle and Tom Hayes but, by that stage, it mattered little. Tyrone march on.

There were very few strong performances on the Cavan side - the hosts started without a handful of regulars due to injury and will be extremely disappointed with their showing.

 

Cavan: L Brady (0-4f), M Magee, B O'Connell, B Fortune, C Bradley, B Kelly, N Clerkin (0-1) , K Monahan, M McKenna, P Corrigan, L Galligan (0-2), P Smith (0-1), D Brady, T Hayes (0-2, 1f), C Daly

Subs: D Monahan for Kelly (h/t), O Carolan for Corrigan (36 mins), B Magee for K Monahan (40 mins), D Wilson for Bradley (48 mins), J Doyle (0-1) for Galligan (50 mins), T Galligan for Smith (53 mins)

 

Tyrone: S Fox, C McCann, P Teague, S Hamill, C Byrne (1-0), S Loughran, P McGirr (0-1), C MacShane (0-5, 1f), B McDonnell, M Kavanagh (0-1), F Burns, M O'Neill, L Brennan (0-2, 45), R Loughran, S Fox

Subs: D Gallagher for McGirr (25 mins), B Coleman for Loughran (40 mins), E Murray for Byrne (57 mins), D Mulgrew (0-1) for O'Neill