Tyrone 0-09 Monaghan 1-13
Newly promoted Monaghan defeated Tyrone 1-13 to 0-09 in a game interrupted by a 31-minute floodlights failure in Saturday's Alianz Football League Division 1 clash at Healy Park.
Tyrone went five points clear with three Darren McCurry frees, but a Monaghan rally saw Darren Hughes and Stephen Gollogly reduce the deficit.
The Red Hands led by 0-07 to 0-05 at the break, but Monaghan dominated the second half and sealed it with a Gollogly goal, winning comfortable in the end with points from Conor McManus and Paul Finlay to seal the seven-point victory.
Sean Cavanagh got the Red Hands going with an early free, with Peter Hughes latching on to Aidan McCrory’s assist to double the lead.
Dessie Mone’s spectacular ling range effort launched the Farney challenge and Kieran Hughes tapped over a free, but the Red Hands, with McCrory and Mattie Donnelly making thrusting runs into opposition territory, Tyrone were the more potent attacking threat.
Cavanagh was a constant threat up front, winning two frees that Darren McCurry tapped between the uprights, and Mickey Harte’s side led by 0-6 to 0-2 at the end of the opening quarter, after corner back McCrory had pushed forward to hit the target.
Drew and Ryan Wylie pulled the visitors out of a couple of sticky situations, but McCurry’s third converted free made it 0-5 to 0-2 bnu the 16th minute.
And the Red Hand pushed five points clear, holding their opponents scoreless for 20 minutes, before Darren Hughes took the game by the scruff of the neck, bursting past three tackles to punch over an inspirational score.
And it did the trick, for they claimed the last three scores of the half to narrow the gap to two.
Tyrone failed to score in the final 17 minutes, but still led 0-7 to 0-5 at the break.
They faced a stiff breeze in the second half, and Monaghan maintained the momentum, making it six points in the spin with the opening three points of the second half.
Debutant Ryan McAnespie had just given Monaghan the lead for the first time when the lights went out four minutes into the second half.
After a 31 minute delay, the Farney men found little difficulty in picking up the pace, while their opponents continued to struggle to find their early sparkle.
Matters became worse for Mickey Harte’s side when one of their most effective performers, centre back Mattie Donnelly, picked up a black card for dragging back Darren Hughes.
Monaghan tails were up, and their supporters among the 4,124 crowd were ecsteatic when Paul Finlay came off the bench to sweep over a delightful free.
Tyrone had gone 38 minutes without raising a flag before goalkeeper Niall Morgan thumped a 47 metre free between the posts, but moments later Morgan was picking the ball out of his net following Stephen Gollogly’s sublime 60th minute finish for the only goal of the game.
Tyrone finished the game with 14 men following Colm Cavanagh’s second booking, and Monaghan finished on a high with scores from Finlay and substitute Conor McManus.
Tyrone: N Morgan (0-01, f), A McCrory (0-01), R McNamee, C McCarron, R McNabb, M Donnelly, B Tierney, C Cavanagh, P McNulty, PJ Lavery, R O’Neill, P Hughes (0-02), D McCurry (0-04, 3f), S Cavanagh (0-01, f), N McKenna.
Subs: S McGuigan for Lavery (41), C McCann for Hughes (41), T McCann for Donnelly (BC, 41), C McAliskey for McKenna (51)
Monaghan: R Beggan, F Kelly, D Wylie, R Wylie, D Mone (0-02), D Hughes (0-1), K Duffy, N McAdam, D Clerkin, K Hughes (0-02, 2f), S Gollogly (1-02, 0-1f), C Boyle, D Malone (0-01), D McKenna (0-01), R McAnespie (0-01).
Subs: P Finlay (0-02, 2f) for Clerkin (47), C McManus (0-01)for McKenna (59), E Duffy for K Hughes (67)
