Electric Ireland Ulster Minor Football Championship round two: Antrim 0-5 Tyrone 3-17
TYRONE'S passage to the Ulster MFC semi-finals was much more straightforward than they had anticipated, a potent attacking display seeing off Antrim at Corrigan Park.
They led by seven at the interval, and three second half goals had them out of sight by the end, 21 points clear of an out-classed Saffron side.
The Red Hands raced into a five-point lead inside the opening eight minutes, with Charlie Donnelly and Noah Grimes each scoring twice, and it wasn’t until the 13th minute that Ciaran McAleese opened Antrim’s account.
The Saffrons got some defensive issues sorted out, and the Red Hands went 12 minutes without a score, before Caolan Donnelly raced through to pick off a point.
Manus McCrossan’s high fielding almost led to an Antrim goal, but Conor Devlin saved the day with a superb block on Conhuir Johnson.
Rory McErlane was on target from a mark, but the final ten minutes of the half saw the visitors pull clear, with Grimes matching his creativity with accurate finishing from placed balls, and Michael McElhatton, Caolan Donnelly and Ronan Molloy also on target.
They led by 0-9 to 0-2 at the interval, and quickly set the tone for the second half with a brilliant Conor O’Neill goal
Caolan Donnelly netted a second in the 43rd minute from a Grimes assist, and skipper Eoin McElholm sent over a couple of neat scores, with McAleese responding with a fine effort.
Antrim had to play the final ten minutes with 14 men after attacker Niall Hynds was shown a black card, and the Red Hands piled on the agony.
They struck for a third goal through Michael McElhatton, and by the end of the contest, had ten different players on the score-sheet.
Antrim: J McLaughlin; T Lloyd, C Logue, H O’Donnell; P Duffin, B Burns, K McCann; M McCrossan, T McCormack; T Enright (0-1), C Johnson (0-1), R McErlane (0-1 mark); C McAleese (0-2), N Hynds, J Blaney.
Subs: B McLarnon for McCann, S Boyd for Enright, L Phillips for Blaney, D O’Sullivan for O’Donnell, R Quinn for McAleese.
Tyrone: C McAneney; J Clarke, B Hughes, Conor Devlin; Conan Devlin, C Daly, N Farry; B McMenamin, C O’Neill (1-0); Charlie Donnelly (0-2, 0-1 45), E McElholm (0-3), Caolan Donnelly (1-1); N Grimes (0-5, 0-4 frees, 0-1 mark), R Molloy (0-1), M McElhatton (1-1).
Subs: S Fay (0-1) for Charlie Donnelly, R McCullagh (0-2, 0-1 mark) for Molloy, L Hughes for Grimes, C Sweeney (0-1) for McElholm, S McCaul for B Hughes.
Referee: J Murphy (Fermanagh).
