Cavan minors ease past Tyrone

ULSTER MINOR FOOTBALL LEAGUE ROUND 1

Tyrone 0-4 
Cavan 2-10

Cavan’s Ulster minor league campaign got off to a flying start when they travelled north to face Tyrone at the latter's Centre of Excellence in Garvaghey. The game was played in tough weather conditions with snow and a swirling wind throughout but there is no doubt that Cavan adapted better, especially in the second half. 
Tyrone had the wind at their backs in the first half but too often they were reluctant to let the ball do the work and get it into the full forward line quickly. As a result their four point interval advantage looked short of a total needed for victory.
Cavan failed to trouble the umpires at all in the first half but the second half proved to be a totally different story as once they opened their account inside sixty seconds they never looked back. 
Gary Farrelly’s lads were prepared to move the ball forward at pace at every opportunity and when they found the net twice in as many minutes the game was effectively over as a contest. Tyrone struggled to make any impact at all in the second period against the elements and like their opponents they failed to raise a single flag throughout the half. 
With the wind at their backs in the first half it was Tyrone who dominated in terms of possession but they struggled to put scores on the board. Ruairi Canavan opened the scoring with a neat effort from out on the right wing in the 6th minute. 
The home side were very wasteful in front of goal and added to the wides count before Canavan made amends with another point in the 18th minute. Moments later Tyrone’s cause wasn’t helped when they lost midfielder Danny McHugh to a black card.
A well taken score from distance by corner forward Patrick McCann added to Tyrone’s tally but it was already clear that their lead wasn’t going to be enough as they struggled to break down a well-disciplined Cavan defence. 
As the game slipped into injury time Canavan knocked over a free before the half came to a close with Cavan rarely threatening at the other end of the field. 
Tyrone were due to go back up to their full complement of players for the second half but before it began they had centre half forward Cormac Devlin black carded for an incident as the players came back onto the field. 
Within 60 seconds of the restart Cavan opened their account via corner back Cormac McKeogh after he had received a pass from Shane Tynan. Tynan then closed the gap further from a free and with Cavan pressed up on the Tyrone kick outs it already looked as though the red hand side were in trouble.
As Tyrone were restored to their full compliment, it was Cavan who continued to make all the running with a superb score from out on the left wing from Turlough Farrelly reducing the deficit to the minimum. 
At the end of the third quarter Cavan got their noses in front for the first time and they drove on, when substitute Daire Madden hit the net from close range after he had profited from a long delivery in from Liam McEntee. 
Less than two minutes later Cavan had a stranglehold on proceedings as wing half back Sean Og McGearty exchanged passes with Madden before his shot looped over the head of Tyrone keeper Niall Robinson and into the net. 
Cavan’s pressure on the Tyrone kick out was immense and when the ball was touched on the ground Madden knocked over the resulting free to leave it 2-4 to 0-4 with a dozen minutes left to play.
Tyrone couldn’t get their hands on the ball for long enough to try and get a foothold in the game as Cavan continued to dictate the pace. In the 52nd minute a rare Tyrone attack almost produced a goal but substitute Enda McCaffrey’s shot was well saved by Cavan keeper Jake Norris. 
In the closing minutes Cavan really stepped on the gas to clinically put their opponents to the sword. Man of the match Tynan converted a long range free before landing an outstanding score from a sideline ball on the right. 
Everything that Cavan touched now turned to gold with right half back Alex Sweeney getting forward to get his name on the scoresheet. Madden kicked two quality frees from distance off the ground either side of another conversion from Tynan as an impressive Cavan side won with plenty to spare. 

Tyrone: Niall Robinson, Adam Toner, Tiernan Teague, Michael Rafferty, James Donaghy, Lorcan McGarrity, Fionbharr Taggart, Oran McGrath, Danny McHugh, Conor McGillion, Cormac Devlin, Sean O’Donnell, Ruairi Canava n(0-3,1f), Shea Quinn, Patrick McCann (0-1)
Subs: Enda McCaffrey for McGillion, Dan Muldoon for Quinn, Blaine Ryan for McGrath, Matthew McCarney for McHugh, Callan Devlin for Rafferty

Cavan: Jake Norris, Caolan Smith, Ryan Brady, Cormac McKeogh (0-1), Alex Sweeney (0-1), Caolan McCabe, Sean Og McGearty (1-0), Phillip Smyth, Ben Monahan, Emmanuel Shehu, Shane Tynan (0-5, 4f, 1s/l) Cormac Brady, Liam McEntee, Conor Casey, Turlough Farrelly (0-1f)
Subs: Kevin Lovett for Monahan, Daire Madden (1-2f) for Shedu, Caolan O’Reilly for Casey, Darragh Lovett for McEntee, Ben Tierney for McKeogh.