Sport

Tyrone hold on to deny Canavan's charges

Tyrone 0-13 Fermanagh 1-7: PETER CANAVAN’S homecoming created quite a stir at the Tyrone legend’s old haunt last night, but …

Thu Jan 19 2012 - 00:00

Tyrone 0-13 Fermanagh 1-7:PETER CANAVAN'S homecoming created quite a stir at the Tyrone legend's old haunt last night, but Fermanagh's new manager failed to mark his return to Healy Park with a win.

Tyrone made it three wins on the trot and march on to the Dr McKenna Cup semi-finals.

In front of a crowd of almost 7,000, Fermanagh staged a superb second-half comeback and came close to stealing what would have been a remarkable win.

They trailed by nine points at the break, but the introduction of Tommy McGuigan sparked the revival. He fired over five points and his brother Seán grabbed a goal, but Tyrone held on.

READ MORE

Fermanagh could have had a goal early on when James Sherry sent Seán Quigley through, but his shot was kept out by John Devine’s foot.

Tyrone, after a shaky opening, finally got off the mark in the eighth minute, but once Stephen O’Neill nailed their opening score they were able to hit the target almost at will.

Colm Cavanagh won an abundance of possession around the middle of the field, and chipped in with a couple of long-range scores, while O’Neill displayed his genius with two more gems from play.

Indeed, Tyrone’s first seven scores came from open play, with Mickey Murphy and Peter Hughes also on target.

Daniel Kille hit Fermanagh’s sole first-half score, from a free, as their attack was unable to make any headway against a tight-marking defence in which Peter Harte, PJ Quinn and Dermot Carlin excelled.

Peter Hughes and Tommy McGuigan added to the home side’s tally, and they took a commanding 0-10 to 0-1 lead into the interval.

Fermanagh narrowed the gap with points from Séamus and Conor Quigley, and, midway through the second half, the youngest of the three Quigley brothers, Seán, fired in a goal.

Séamus Quigley, who only entered the action at the start of the second half, hit his fifth score to make it a two-point game.

But they had captain Ryan McCluskey sent off for a second booking in the 68th minute, and Tyrone held on for a three-point win.

TYRONE: J Devin; A McCrory, C McCarron, PJ Quinn; Seán O’Neill, P Harte (0-2, one 45), D Carlin; M Murphy (0-2), C Cavanagh (0-2); P Hughes, M Penrose, M Donnelly (0-1); T McGuigan (0-1, free), Stephen O’Neill (0-5, two free), J Lafferty. Subs: D McCaul for Carlin, O Mulligan for Penrose, K Coney for Donnelly, S McNulty for McGuigan.

FERMANAGH: R Gallagher; N Bogue, B Owens, J Woods; C Quigley (0-1), R McCluskey, N McElroy; E Donnelly, S Lyons; J Sherry, D Keenan, E Maguire; P Ward, D Kille (0-1, free), Seán Quigley (1-0). Subs: B Mulrone for Lyons, Séamus Quigley (0-5, four frees) for Kille, T Corrigan for McElroy, L Lynch for Maguire.

Referee: R O’Donnell (Donegal).

In the semi-finals (scheduled for this weekend), Section A winners, Tyrone, will play the best runner-up, which is Fermanagh again; while B winners, Down, will take on C winners, Derry.