Football

McCusker rolls back the years as Dromore tumble Dungannon's crown in thriller

LCC Tyrone SFC round one: Dromore 2-22 Dungannon 4-12 (AET)

DUNGANNON tried everything they had to hold on to their crown last night. But Dromore were taking it, had they to rip hair and all from their heads.

This was Gaelic football at its absolute brilliant best. The Tyrone championship’s always been tight and tense but over the last few seasons it’s reached a new peak, driven by the trend of attacking football.

Dungannon scored 4-12 here and lost. It was their fifth consecutive championship game to go to extra-time. They won last year’s four but couldn’t repeat the trick.

Chris Rafferty’s men led by 2-3 to 0-1 inside eight minutes. Their pace was tearing Dromore open at the back, with Paddy Quinn and Paul Donaghy firing brilliant goals.

From there on, Dromore were absolutely the better side. It took them a long time to catch up, as you’d expect, and it was only when Eoin McCusker fisted his fifth point of the night that they could breathe knowing they’d done it.

The veteran forward was sublime after coming on as a blood sub initially, staying the course from the 40th minute and taking up the mantle of driving their attack.

It had been Emmet McNabb up until that point, his pace and directness causing Dungannon the bother that opened the gates to a comeback.

It was a half of counter-punching from Dromore, who found themselves sucked deep but with a diamond in McNabb, whose pace allowed them to get up the pitch and carry a threat even when they were completely outnumbered.

Sean McNabb chipped in with a couple of brilliant long-range points but they were badly in need of Tiarnan Sludden’s goal when it arrived in stoppage time.

The best player on the pitch was Padraig McNulty though, win or lose. He turned on Horse Mode and threatened to put the whole team on his back and carry them to victory.

The two goals he scored were of enormous importance, but the amount of loose ball he won in the middle, the number of times he broke the line and set up scores, it was a phenomenal performance.

But if Colm McCullagh’s men go on to achieve anything more from the autumn then they’ll look back on Tiarnan Sludden’s goal.

That score, in first half injury-time, summed it up best. Dungannon’s ability to raise a green flag looked certain to pin Dromore down, but no sooner were the blues down than they were up again, responding.

Having been eight down inside eight minutes, Dromore had come back to within three as the half entered its final seconds.

But a short kickout came under pressure and when Nathan McCarron fired a loose handpass away, Paddy Quinn had the presence of mind to feed Padraig McNulty to lash home.

No sooner had the cheers cooled than Sludden found himself in behind at the other end to blaze past Harry Morgan and chop the half-time deficit in half.

Within three minutes, Dromore were level. They won Dungannon’s first three kickouts of the half and capitalized to serve notice that they were in it to stay.

The whole night was quality coupled with attacking purpose in a thrilling throwback half hour.

Naturally from half-time, the game became a bit less loose. The ball was looked after more carefully, and perhaps that took a bit more out of Dungannon than it did of Dromore.

The champions’ willingness to put it in early to their full-forward line was a big part of their success of the first half, though the longer it went on, the more Colm McCullagh’s side got to grips with it.

That was partly due to the refereeing of Shane Meehan, whose less-is-more approach suited the game perfectly and played brilliantly into the hands of the spectacle.

McNulty’s second goal made it 4-7 to 1-12 for Dungannon but Dromore hit a screamer of their own through Andrew McGrath soon after. Extra-time always seemed likely from there, and so it transpired.

Dungannon scored the first point, which was their only one. Eoin McCusker got three, leading the line superbly as Dromore recorded their most significant championship win of McCullagh’s reign.

It was stunning in every sense of the word.

MATCH STATS


Dungannon: H Morgan; C Barker, D Walsh, G Molloy; R Jones (0-1), S Molloy, M McKearney; K Barker, P McNulty (2-0); D Jones, L Mallon, S Cowan; P Quinn (1-0), J Morgan (0-3), P Donaghy (1-7, 0-5f)


Subs: O Mallon for P Quinn (47), O Cowan (0-1) for Molloy (54), K Morgan for J Morgan (59), P McKearney for R Jones (65), P Quinn for S Cowan (69), C Corrigan for D Jones (70)


Black card: K Barker (46-56)

Dromore: M McGale (0-1f); N McCarron, P Teague (0-2f), P McHugh; C O’Neill, R McCusker (0-2), C O’Hara; C McCoy, R McNabb; S McNabb (0-4), A O’Donnell, N Sludden (0-2), R McNabb (0-1); T Sludden (1-0), E McNabb (0-4)


Subs: E McCusker (0-5) for R McNabb snr (40), A McGrath (1-1) for R McNabb jnr (47), C Goodwin for O’Donnell (65), C McRory for T Sludden (65)

Referee: S Meehan (Glenelly)