Sport

Tyrone out to put the brakes on free-scoring Down

Ulster U17 Championship semi-finals

Tyrone v Down

(today, Clones, 1,45pm)

DOWN have hit 4-17 and 6-12 in their two games to date, but that scoring average should fall significantly against a Tyrone side that are chasing the double after last month’s league success.

James McCartan’s Mourne players have been ruthless to date and slaughtered Fermanagh and Monaghan by 25 and 20 points respectively.

There is a real St Malachy’s feel to the team with the likes of Bryansford’s Ryan O’Higgins, Kilcoo’s Ryan McEvoy and Justin Clarke, Dromara’s Brendan McKay and Liatroim trio Sheelan Johnston, Conor McNulty and team captain Matthew Carville all playing together at the Castlewellan school, which has probably aided their performances.

Tyrone, meanwhile, looked rusty at times in their quarter-final win over Donegal, who they also defeated in the league final.

Manager Colin Holmes would have been delighted that it was his team that came out on top when the game was in the balance.

He would have been less impressed with their shooting across the hour though as many efforts sailed wide or dropped into Eoin O’Boyle’s hands.

Darragh Canavan was excellent for the young Red Hands while Daniel Millar was the hero of the piece as he grabbed both goals in the 2-9 to 1-7 win.

Picking a winner here is a hard task. Down will be brimming with confidence given their performance to date, but this is a real step up in class.

Tyrone will be hoping that the cobwebs were shaken off last week and, if that’s the case, they should edge their way to the final.

VERDICT: Tyrone

Antrim v Cavan (today, Clones, 12pm)

ANTRIM will need to pull off a huge upset against Cavan if they are to qualify for the first ever Ulster U17 final.

The Saffrons had an eye-catching win over Armagh at the Pearse Og ground last week, but the Orchard county had struggled in the league.

Antrim, meanwhile, had a couple of notable wins in the league, including against Donegal, so last week’s success wasn’t a major surprise.

They did ride their luck though with their goals coming at important times. The most vital of those came in extra time as Dominic McEnhill scored what would prove to be the decisive score in the 3-9 to 1-11 success.

Cavan had a much less dramatic quarter-final as they hammered Derry 3-15 to 1-9 at Kingspan Breffni Park.

The damage was done in the opening quarter as Patrick Lynch, who finished with 2-7, fired home two goals before Callum Lynch added another before he was black-carded. That was a big loss for manager John Brady, but it didn’t have any real impact as the game was already won.

The Cavan forwards had a lot of space last week, but they should find it a bit harder to come by against an Antrim side that were slow and patient in their build-up against Armagh.

Brady’s side will try and quick ball into Patrick Lynch and the lively Seanie Keogan to bypass the Antrim cover, and they seem to have enough ball winners out the field to give them the platform to do this.

It mightn’t be as comfortable as last week, but Cavan should still go through without any real trouble.

VERDICT: Cavan