EirGrid Ulster U20 Football Championship final: Donegal 0-9 Tyrone 1-11
A GOLDEN 15-minute spell saw Tyrone crowned Ulster U20 champions for the second year on the bounce, setting the Red Hands on course for a mouth-watering St Patrick’s Day showdown with Dublin at Croke Park.
Less than 24 hours after Tom Gray’s Dubs had eased past Laois to seal their All-Ireland semi-final spot, Tyrone put a forgettable first half behind them to swarm all over Donegal in Clones on Saturday afternoon, ending the Tir Chonaill’s Ulster ambitions in clinical fashion.
Forward Ethan Jordan was the man who hit red hot form at just the right time, pinging over four in-a-row in the space of seven second half minutes to send Paul Devlin’s side into a four point lead before Darragh Canavan’s goal 11 minutes from the end sealed the deal.
Donegal were architects of their own downfall too to an extent, the black card shown to Oisin Walsh for dragging Canavan down three minutes into the second half ultimately costing them dear in a game where degrees of separation would always be slim.
Tyrone, having been rocked by back-to-back scores from the impressive Aaron Doherty and Keelan McGroddy immediately after the break, pushed up hard on Ronan McGeehin’s kick-outs once Donegal were reduced to 14. They were richly rewarded as a result.
Roving wing-back James McCann was a constant source of danger down the left, Joe Oguz a powerhouse performer around the middle while Jordan’s purple patch proved the difference as the Red Hands swept to victory.
Devlin was a proud man as he watched captain Antoin Fox hoist aloft The Danny Murphy Cup from the foot of the Pat McGrane stand, beaming still as the players sang at the top of their lungs while posing for photographers moments later.
“Money can’t buy that,” said the former Tyrone stalwart, “that’s what it’s all about”.
A couple of hours earlier his wife Fiona had led the camogs of St Colm’s High School, Draperstown to All-Ireland glory when they defeated St Cuan’s College, Castleblakeney at Kingspan Breffni Park – just 25 minutes down the road.
Their son, Eunan, came off the bench late on to help his father’s U20 side across the line, completing “a big day for the family” - and a big day for Tyrone.
“Some people say it’s easy done [winning back-to-back titles], but it takes a special team to do that and a special bunch of lads,” he said.
“Training was that intense on Tuesday night we had to stop them. Sparks were flying big time, I spoke to Dermy [Carlin] and said there’s only one winner at the weekend, we just had to get it all falling into place and break them down.
“They did the business today.”
At the close of the first half, though, it was impossible to tell where the trophy might be headed, with both lacking composure or cutting edge during a pedestrian opening half hour.
Doherty and Fox went toe-to-toe throughout, the Donegal man proving the Tir Chonaill’s biggest threat and it was he who edged them 0-2 to 0-1 ahead 10 minutes in with a classy finish from an acute angle.
Not for the last time, Tyrone responded well to adversity, reeling off three in-a-row from Oguz, Jordan and Tiarnan Quinn before Donegal sweeper Paul Quinn burst forward to cut the gap to one going in at the break, 0-4 to 0-3.
It could only get better, and thankfully it did – unfortunately for Donegal, however, it was the black card that really opened the game up.
“We were a point down at half-time and we came out and scored the first two points of the second half, were showing a lot of composure and going well,” said Tir Chonaill boss SP Barrett.
“We seemed to be in control of what we were doing and then for some reason we got a black card - we’d be hugely disappointed with the way we reacted after the black card.
“We didn’t defend well enough, we gave them too many chances. A goal particularly is a big score in a game like that.”
And so it proved. The quality of their kick-passing into the forwards improved immeasurably and, after Jordan’s masterclass helped put Tyrone in control, the Eglish man had a hand in the major that all but ended Donegal’s hopes in the 49th minute.
An electric burst forward by McCann saw him off-load to Jordan, and when his low shot rebounded off the legs of McGeehin, Canavan was there, quick as a flash, to lash home – 1-10 to 0-6.
The Red Hands registered just one more point in the 18 minutes more played, courtesy of substitute Liam Gray, and needed the right hand of goalkeeper Lorcan Quinn to keep out McGettigan’s 55th minute effort as Donegal tried to claw their way back into the game.
It never looked like happening, and it was the Tyrone bench who sprung out onto the field when the long whistle went – a job well done after stuttering performances against Armagh and Antrim to reach this stage.
Those games don’t matter now; they stood up when it mattered, and their reward will come in eight days’ time when the Red Hands run out on the biggest stage of all. Having succumbed to a late Cork surge at the semi-final stage last year, no extra motivation will be required.
“Croke Park wasn’t even mentioned to the lads until half-time,” smiled Devlin.
“That was the desire – I said ‘how much do you want a crack at Dublin in Croke Park in a couple of weeks’ time? It’s up to you lads’. Thankfully we got the reaction in the second half, and it’s a day to look forward to.”
Donegal: R McGeehin; L Gavigan (0-1), C O’Donnell; P O’Hare (0-1); M Duffy, O Walsh, P McEniff; C Finn, R O’Donnell, R O’Rourke; R Frain, A Doherty (0-3), K McGroddy (0-1); P McGettigan (0-2, 0-1 free), E Harkin. Subs: C McHugh for O’Hare (38), J McGroddy (0-1, mark) for Harkin (42), E Carr for Frain (46), L Molloy for O’Rourke (54), R Brogan for Walsh (57)
Black cards: O Walsh (33-43), C McHugh (60+4)
Yellow cards: L Molloy (57), E Carr (60+6)
Red card: L Gavigan (60+7)
Tyrone: L Quinn; C Quinn, M McCusker; C Munroe; N Kilpatrick, A Fox, J McCann; M Murnaghan, J Oguz (0-2), K Barker (0-1); T Donaghy, M Gallagher, T Quinn (0-2, 0-1 free); E Jordan (0-5), D Canavan (1-0). Subs: R Jones for Donaghy (HT), S Garrity for Gallagher (52), L Gray (0-1) for Oguz (56), C Slevin for Jordan (60+2), E Devlin for Kilpatrick (60+2)
Yellow card: J Oguz (17)
Referee: D O’Hare (Down)
