Tyrone 0-20 Armagh 3-17
ARMAGH hit the net three times in the second half at Carrickmore to break Tyrone’s resistance and book their place in the Nicky Rackard Cup semi-finals.
Holders Tyrone must negotiate a quarter-final against Fingal if they are to defend their title, and they will not be overly disappointed at losing a fast-moving contest that produced 40 quality scores.
Goals from Cahal Carvill (2) and Eoin McGuinness helped the Orchard men pull clear in a tight encounter that was level on nine occasions and in the balance right until the closing stages.
“It’s another stepping stone to where this team wants to go, we have a lot of players coming back from injury, and it took that game, and it will take the next couple of training sessions,” said Armagh manager Sylvester McConnell.
“We feel that we’re only going up and up, and that’s another step towards getting us there.”
McConnell admitted to a measure of relief when his side finally managed to breach the Tyrone defence for three second half goals.
“Maybe the goals were a wee bit fortunate, and there was times when Tyrone were on top. We were playing against the wind in the first half, and when they went to a sweeper, we didn’t want to press up on them.
“Second half, when the wind was there, we were happy enough to press up on them, and we knew when we pressed more, the opportunities would come more.”
Tyrone, with wind advantage, led by 0-11 to 0-8 at the break, with skipper Damien Casey hitting five of their scores, and Justin Kelly, Conor Grogan and Sean Og Grogan also claiming eye-catching points.
Wing back Kieran McKernan was the launch-pad for many of Armagh’s attacks, while Martin Moan arrowed over a couple of gems from tight angles and Ryan Gaffney slotted two frees.
Substitute Eoin McGuinness made an instant impact, booting home the opening goal just a minute into the second half, and a monster point from Tiernan Morgan had just brought the sides level for the ninth time when Armagh grabbed a second goal.
Carvill’s sideline cut went all the way to the net, and the Orchard were on their way, although they needed a second strike from Carvill five minutes later to open up a comfortable margin.
Tyrone rallied in the closing stages, narrowing the gap to four, and Armagh needed a couple of smart saves from Simon Doherty to deny Casey and Gerard Gilmore.
Tyrone manager Mattie Lennon may have failed to engineer a shock win over his native county, but he did gain a valuable insight into the standing of his players and the strides they have made.
The Red Hand hurlers proved they can go toe to toe with Division Two teams, and the continued rise of the game in the county has received a further boost, in spite of their six points defeat.
“It’s a good barometer for us, from where we were, to see how well we could compete with Armagh, who did well this year in Division Two, stayed in the division, and were within scoring distance of making the Division 2B final. They beat Meath and they beat Mayo and Donegal,” said Lennon.
“They won three games in that division, so we knew Armagh were going really well, and this was going to give us an idea of how we stood.
“I was very happy with how we played, and the type of hurling we played. The couple of goals in the second half maybe made the difference, and gave Armagh the cushion that they needed.”
Tyrone: J Devlin, C McNally, M O’Gorman, M Grogan, P McHugh (0-1, D Begley, T Morgan (0-1), J Kelly (0-1), A Kelly, M Winters (0-2), D Casey (0-9, 1f, 2 ’65), C Cross, C Grogan (0-3), S Og Grogan (0-1), G Gilmore (0-1).
Subs: R Devlin for J Kelly (42), M Mulgrew (0-1) for Cross (48), D Marshall for Winters (59)
Armagh: S Doherty, C McKee, A Toal, C Devlin, K McKernan (0-1), N Curry, J Corvan, S Renaghan, S Gaffney (0-1), R Gaffney (0-6, 4f), C Carvill (2-1), D Coulter (0-2), M Moan (0-3), D Carvill, C Corvan (0-3).
Subs: E McGuinness (1-0) for Devlin (h-t), P Kelly for S Gaffney (64)
