All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Qualifier Round 2: Longford 1-14 Tyrone 2-15
For Tyrone manager Mickey Harte the old cliche ‘goals win games’ rang true as two first half goals set the Red Hands on the way to victory over Longford in the All-Ireland SFC Qualifiers.
Cathal McShane grabbed both goals; his first came after a poor kick-out by Longford keeper Paddy Collum while he flicked his second to the net after a great ball in by Michael Cassidy.
“They weren’t pretty goals by any stretch of the imagination but three points is good anyway,'' said Tyrone boss Harte.
“If it breaks the net or gets over the line, it doesn’t matter how. We are very happy. We needed them to keep them at arm’s length. They had many good days here against teams from higher divisions and they would’ve fancied another today. We needed those goals and it probably gave us the impetus to go on and win the game.”
A downbeat Longford manager Padraic Davis admitted he thought his side could cause an upset: “Hugely disappointed. I’m just after coming out of the dressing room and I told the lads “I really didn’t know what to say to them. I certainly hadn’t planned it.”
“We had a brilliant 10 days/two weeks in the lead into this and I genuinely believed that we were going to turn Tyrone over. It hasn’t happened and it’s disappointing. We’ll take a look at it and see where we go from here.”
The goals were a blow for Longford and meant they were left chasing the game from early on.
They battled hard and scored 1-03 in stoppage time but Tyrone had the game won long before that.
Harte praised Longford for not giving up.
“We had enough of a lead to absorb they got at that stage of the game. Fair play to them they kept it going.'' he said.
“They are a spirited outfit, didn’t give up and they can certainly come out of this with a lot of honour as well.”
Daniel Mimnagh opened the scoring with a fine point in the second minute but then the game turned in Tyrone’s favour when Cassidy and Peter Harte (free) hit over points before they got that opening goal in the 11th minute; a poor kick-out by Collum fell to Niall Sludden, his effort was blocked by Barry O’Farrell but the ball was fumbled to the net by Cathal McShane.
Harte followed up with another free to put them ahead by five in the 12th minute.
David McGivney fired over two points before Tyrone got their second goal. Harte, Hugh Pat McGeary and McShane added on points for them before the break. McGivney and Barry McKeon kicked over frees for Longford who trailed by eight at half-time: 2-07 to 0-05.
For Davis those two first half goals that his side conceded had a massive bearing on the game not just in terms of the scoreline: “I don’t think there is any doubt about it; that’s the difference in the game. Not in terms of the scoreline, I think it’s in terms of how the game panned out and Tyrone were fit to play the game on their terms and control the tempo of the game.”
Colm P Smyth kicked over the first point of the second half another McGivney free cut the deficit to six points but Tyrone were able to reply. Longford gave away a number of frees which Harte duly pointed over.
Tyrone were able to change their play throughout the game. Harte admitted that he wants variety in their play,
“I think we have to write the script which is best for us on any given day,'' he said.
“There will be variations in what we do all the time. You don’t stick to playing one particular way all of the time. You need variety in your game.”
Smyth and Joe Hagan scored excellent points but the Red Hands cancelled them out. Niall Morgan came out to claim the ball on a number of occasions as the home side tried to get scores.
Harte was black carded for Tyrone in the 67th minute but it mattered little. In the 70th minute substitute Ben McDonnell extended the lead to 10 points but credit to Longford they ended the game well kicking three points in a row while substitute Iarla O’Sullivan scored a goal right at the end death.
Although Harte would prefer if his side were going the straight road in the Championship he is hoping they can take advantage of going the scenic route.
“We never set out to go on these journeys. It happens that we have been there a number of times,'' he stated
“Mostly we have made good of it, to a certain extent. As good as possible. Hopefully we can make something good of this too.”
Tyrone: N Morgan; H P McGeary (0-1), R McNamee, M McKiernan; M Cassidy (0-1), K McGeary, F Burns; C Cavanagh, B Kennedy; M Donnelly, N Sludden, P Harte (0-9, 0-7 frees), D McCurry, C McShane (2-2), D McClure.
Subs: C Meyler for K McGeary (h-t), B McDonnell (0-2) for B Kennedy (h-t), R Brennan for M McKernan (43), Kyle Coney for D McClure (56), C McAliskey for D McCurry (56), C McCann for N Sludden (64)
Black cards: P Harte (67)
Yellow cards: M McKernan (37), C Kavanagh (53)
Longford: P Collum; P Fox, D McElligott, B O’Farrell; CP. Smyth (0-3), P McCormack, D Quinn; J Keegan, D McGivney (0-4, 0-4frees); G Rogers, B McKeon (0-2, 0-1 free), M Quinn (0-2); D Mimnagh (0-1), J McGivney, J Hagan (0-1).
Subs: A McElligott for G Rogers (43), D Doherty for B O’Farrell (56), A Farrell for J Keegan (57), M Hughes for J McGivney (66), S Kenny (0-1) for D Mimnagh (66), I O’Sullivan (1-0) for J Hagan (70+2)
Black cards: None
Yellow cards: P McCormack (12), B O’Farrell (55), A McElligott (44)
Referee: D O’Mahoney (Tipperary)
