Eirgrid U20 All-Ireland semi-finals
Tyrone 3-18 Roscommon 3-8
Kerry 0-12 0-11 Meath
Tyrone recovered from conceding goals at the beginning of each half to book their place in the All Ireland U20 Final after a ten point success over Roscommon at Kingspan Breffni Park on Saturday evening.
The margin at the final whistle doesn’t reflect the part played by the Connaught champions in a rip-roaring contest but in the end Tyrone had too much firepower and know-how for their opponents to reach their second decider in three years at this level.
Paul Devlin’s men played brilliant attacking football on a day when 3-14 of their total came from play and they had eleven different scorers.
It was Roscommon though who enjoyed a dream start when their dangerman Shane McGinley rifled an unstoppable shot to the net in the 2nd minute but that stung Tyrone into action and by the 8th minute they had a lead that they were never to lose thanks to points from Ronan Cassidy, Ruairi McCullagh (2) and Eoin McElholm.
In the 13th minute a surging run from Joey Clarke finished with him offloading to Conor O’Neill who finished low to the net for Tyrone’s first goal.
McGinley knocked over a couple of frees but it was Tyrone who were in the driving seat with McElholm, O’Neill and Fox all registering points either side of a superb team goal from Shea O’Hare in the 28th minute to leave it 2-9 to 1-5 at the break.
The Ulster champions looked to be in complete control but within seven minutes of the restart they had saw their advantage whittled down to the minimum as first Conor Ryan and then Bobby Nugent grabbed Roscommon goals.
The Connaught champions had their tails up but they missed a couple of chances and Tyrone seized their opportunity to assume control again.
In the last 17 minutes of the game Tyrone outscored their opponents 1-8 to 0-2 as keeper Conor McAneny and Cassidy had a brace of points each before McElholm got on the end of a long ball in from O’Neill to clinically finish to the net to leave it game over.
The only downside for Tyrone on the day was that they had Ruairi McHugh sent off deep into injury time following a scuffle, Roscommon duo Senan Lambe and Ryan Dowling also straight red carded by referee Jonathan Hayes.
Kerry will provide the opposition for Tyrone in next weekend’s Eirgrid All-Ireland U20 Championship, resisting a stubborn Meath in a 0-12 0-11 victory on Saturday.
In spite of a low scoring encounter, both sides were enterprising on the front foot, with The Kingdom 0-08 0-07 up in a first half of just four wides in all.
Jamie Murphy was outstanding for Meath, but Kerry chipped away in the latter period, with much touted 18-year-old Paddy Lane chipping over a vital score.
Having dominated the minor grade in recent times, Kerry’s appearance in the final is their first in 16 years.
TYRONE
C McAneny (0-2, 1F, 1″45″), J Clarke, B Hughes, C Devlin, S O’Hare (1-1), M Rafferty, O Brolly (0-1), R Fox (0-1), C O’Neill (1-1), C Devlin (0-2), E McElholm (1-2), G Potter, R McCullagh (0-3), Ronan Cassidy (0-3, 1F), C Daly. Subs F Nelis for Brolly, R McHugh for Devlin, P McCann for Fox, N Grimes (0-1) for Cassidy, C Owens (0-1, 1F) for McCullagh
ROSCOMMON
S Allen, E Kerins, D Casey, E Carthy, D Hagney (0-1), S Lambe, J McGreal, C Ryan (1-0), C Harley, R Heneghan (0-1), B Nugent (1-1), R Hester, S McGinley (1-5, 3F), N O’Donnell, J Connolly. Subs R Dowling for Heneghan, E O’Reilly for Hester, C Campbell for Carthy, R Conlon for Hagney, O O’Flaherty for McGreal