Tyrone edge out gutsy Cavan minors

Ulster Minor Football Championship

Tyrone 3-17

Cavan 1-15

After a mixed league of two wins and one defeat Seanie Smith’s Cavan minors headed to Omagh on Saturday evening last to get their Ulster championship underway. Their opponents were the Ulster minor league champions from earlier this year, a fancied Tyrone.

The difference between the sides was two of Tyrone’s forwards looked a cut above everyone. Remember the names Noah Grimes and Eoin McElholm - Between them they scored 2-10 of the Tyrone total all coming from open play.

Cavan showed loads of potential and may even have had a better balance to the team than Tyrone but some of the Cavan players didn’t perform to the level seen in the league. What Cavan did show was honesty in their play. On two separate occasions Cavan trailed by seven points but their reaction was to reply with a goal and a point on one occasion and three points on the other.

Cavan opened the scoring In the first minute with a point from the left boot of Ben Tully and a minute later Oliver McCrystal doubled the visitors’ lead. With Tyrone’s first attack, Noah Grimes sent out a warning shot of the danger he posed with his pace, kicking Tyrone back within a point.

From the resulting kick-out Cavan were caught out by a driving run through the middle of their defence. Tyrone captain Eoin McElholm with pace, power and skill drilled the ball to the net to give his side a two-point advantage with four minutes played.

Cavan replied immediately with a right-footed point from Lorcan Reilly but Grimes matched it with his second of the day, this time on his left foot. Cavan closed the gap to a single point when Matthew Smith curled over a point on the eighth minute.

Seanie Smith’s side were doing really well in winning more than their fair share of the Tyrone kick-outs and almost took the lead after claiming one. With nine minutes played Cian Keaney was put through on goal where his right-footed lob attempt just fell over the bar instead of the intended under.

After Charlie Donnelly restored Tyrone’s lead with a poin,t Cavan wrestled it back into their hands. A 40-metre free off the ground and a ’45 were both beautifully struck over the bar by Matthew Smith with 11 minutes remaining in the half.

Cavan unfortunately failed to score again before the break. In the final eight minutes of the half, Tyrone added four points to their tally. McElholm, Michael McElhatton, Ruari McCulllagh and Callum Daly’s points left the half-time score Tyrone 1-7 Cavan 0-7.

Tyrone started the second half with aplomb when Caolan Donnelly got on the end of a brilliant sweeping attack and finished to the net from close range. Nathan Farry sent over for the home side leaving Cavan trailing by seven points.

Cavan showed real bottle with their response. A fine catch by sub Niall Magee set up Ben Tully for his second point. On the seventh minute of the second half, Michael Smith drove through the Tyrone defence before splitting the posts and a classy point by Cormac Galligan a minute later left four between the sides.

Two points from Matthew Smith were matched with one each for Grimes and McElholm as the game entered the final quarter. Killygarry clubman Cian Keaney reduced the gap to a single score with a point on his left as Cavan continued to ask questions of Tyrone.

Once again, when needed, Grimes and McElholm came up with the goods for Tyrone, adding a point each from play. The deadly accurate long range kicking of Matthew Smith continued as he converted his third ’45 of the match leaving the score 2-12 to 0-14 with ten minutes remaining.

Cavan were punished for an error in defence by the scintilating Grimes as he bagged Tyrone’s third goal of the game. Trailing now by seven points, Cavan’s desire was being questioned but almost instinctively the young Breffni lads countered.

Less than a minute later, Lorcan Reilly, with goal on his mind, saw his shot blocked down but Keaney reacted quickest to the break to volley the ball to the back of the Tyrone net. Cavan, with their tails up, added a point through Cormac Galligan to leave just three points between the sides.

With less than five minutes remaining it looked like Cavan had momentum with them but Tyrone showed why this team are unbeaten in 2022. McElholm once again showed leadership with three points in the final five minutes while Charlie Donnelly added two more before the final whistle sounded.

Cavan now enter the back door of the Ulster minor championship where they will face Fermanagh on May 7, most likely in Brewster Park.

Cavan: Cillian Brady, Cian Halton, Nathan Levy Valensi, Cormac Callaghan, Kyle McCabe, Conall Mooney, Oliver McCrystal (0-1), Evan Crowe, Thomas Partington, Matthew Smith (0-6, 1f, three 45s), Lorcan Reilly (0-1), Michael Smith (0-1), Cian Keaney (1-2), Cormac Galligan (0-2), Ben Tully (0-2)

Subs: Niall Magee for T Partington, Luke Allison for C Halton, James Tully for C Mooney, Matthew Costello for C Galligan, Jensen Tynan for M Smith.

Tyrone: Conor McAneney, Joey Clarke, Ben Hughes, Conor Devlin, Conan Devlin, Callum Daly (1-0), Nathan Farry (0-1), Sean Hughes, Conor O’Neill, Charlie Donnelly (0-3), Eoin McElholm (1-6), Caolan Donnelly (0-1), Noah Grimes (1-4), Ruairi McCullagh (0-1), Michael McElhatton (0-1)

Subs: Eoin Donaghy for S Hughes, Barry McMenamin for C Donnelly, Niall McCarney for R McCullagh, Ryan Donnelly for M McElhatton, Leo Hughes for N Farry.