Tyrone, notoriously slow starters to the Allianz Football League, carved out an opening day victory for the first time since 2020 as they saw off Roscommon at O'Neill’s Healy Park.
And they did it with 14 men, having had midfielder Conn Kilpatrick sent off at the start of the second half
Darragh Canavan’s sparking second half performance made all the difference, the brilliant attacker finishing with eight points as his side reversed last season’s round one defeat at Hyde Park.
Diarmuid Murtagh’s early score was wiped out by two spectacular sliced efforts from defenders Padraig Hampsey and Michael McKernan, who used the gusting wind in their backs to find the target.
It was another McKernan effort that Ciaran Daly, one of six league debutants in the home side, punched over, a score that was mirrored at the other end by Ciaran Lennon as he got on the end of Murtagh’s delivery.
Darragh Canavan had just edged Tyrone in front when the Connacht men struck for a 14th minute goal, Donie Smith picking up Daire Cregg’s searching delivery to plant a firmly struck shot beyond Niall Morgan and into the bottom corner of the net.
Daly was heavily involved in many of Tyrone’s best attacking moves, linking smartly with Canavan, who narrowed the gap, but the Rossies were able to find a response to every setback, with Evan Flynn finishing off a flowing move, before Cian Connolly and Murtagh, with another free, were also on target.
But it was Tyrone who finished the half strongly with three points to get their noses back in front, Seanie O’Donnell’s mark followed by another debut score from Ben Cullen, before Niall Devlin hit the lead score in stoppage time, sending his side in with a 0-10 to 1-6 lead.
With midfielder Dylan Ruane out of the game on a black card for the first nine minutes of the second half, Roscommon defended in numbers, but Tyrone were reduced to 14 when their midfielder Conn Kilpatrick was shown a straight red card on 39 minutes.
But a spectacular salvo from Canavan saw him flash over four superb scores to push his side four ahead by the 52nd minute.
Roscommon were struggling to deal with Tyrone’s running game, and while Ketih Doyle and Murtagh did hit the target, it was an energised home side that was now in control of the contest.
Brian Kennedy took on the extra responsibility in the absence of his midfield partner, and Tyrone defended strongly in the face of a late Roscommon onslaught.
Cian Connolly punched to the net but saw the goal ruled out for a square ball infringement, and Murtagh narrowed the gap to three in a frantic finish, but the home side held out.
Tyrone: N Morgan; C Devlin; P Hampsey (0-01), A Clarke; C Quinn, M McKernan (0-01), T Quinn; B Kennedy, C Kilpatrick; N Devlin (0-02), P Harte, B Cullen (0-01); S O'Donnell (0-01, m), D Canavan (0-08, 2f), C Daly (0-03).
Subs: R Canavan for Devlin (55), D Mulgrew for C Quinn (63), J Donaghy for Cullen (74)
Roscommon: C Carroll; D Murray, E Flynn (0-01), N Higgins; N Daly (0-01), C Walsh, E McCormack; K Doyle (0-01), D Ruane; C Connolly (0-01), D Smith (1-00), D Cregg; D Murtagh (0-05, 4f), C Lennon (0-01), C Cox.
Subs: R Dolan for Higgins (49), L Glennon for Flynn (51), A McDermott for Lennon (55), A Glennon for Cox (59), J Fitzpatrick (0-01) for Walsh (66)
Referee: M McNally (Monaghan).
