Tyrone 0-28 Offaly 2-13
Tyrone pushed Offaly another step closer to the Division 2 relegation trapdoor with an invigorated second-half performance at O'Neill Park in Dungannon as they coasted to a nine-point win.
The Red Hands had struggled to gain a foothold while playing with the strong wind in the first half, but were a transformed team in the second, scoring at will as they took the game confidently to their opponents.
Darragh Canavan’s departure for a month in Australia opened the door for his younger brother Ruairí to come in and he continued the family trait of finishing to end up top scorer on the night, while no less than 14 different Tyrone players hit the target.
Tyrone pressed relentlessly in the opening stages with the wind in their backs, open out an early lead through Seanie O’Donnell, Aidan Clarke and Lorcan McGarrity.
Offaly’s patient approach helped them build methodically for Keith O’Neill to fire over his second score to narrow the gap to one.
Canavan thumped over a two-pointer, but the Leinster men continued to string sequences of passes together, owning the ball for long spells.
A frustrated Red Hand side struggled to get hands on the ball, but when they did, they raided at pace for Canavan and McGarrity to combine in sending O’Donnell in for his second.
Brothers Diarmuid and Cormac Egan were central to the visitors’ tidy phases of possession play, one of which almost led to a goal as O’Neill broke through to smash a shot against the underside of the crossbar.
As the fluency and confidence increased, they increasingly broke tackles to craft scores for Cormac Egan and Harry Plunkett.
And they went level as Jordan Hayes sliced through the heart of the Tyrone defence to fire in a shot which was kept in play by Lee Peasrson, with midfielder Jack McEvoy following up to finish to the net from close range.
McEvoy was a towering figure around the middle, battling for the possession that led to Darragh Flynn’s score, but Brian Kennedy’s two-pointer helped the home side to take a slender 0-12 to 1-07 lead into the interval.
Malachy O’Rourke’s half-time talk seemed to have done the trick when his side reeled off three quick scores through Ben Cullen, Niall Devlin and Mattie Donnelly.
Now it was the Red Hands who were attacking relentlessly, and a Harry Plunkett two-pointer provided only temporary respite for the Faithful, ahead of another flourish of scores as they fell six behind.
Offaly were struggling to track the runs of Ben Cullen and Conn Kilpatrick, and McGarrity should have hit the net as a kick-out malfunction allowed him to get in and crack a shot off a post.
A black card for goalscorer McEvoy signalled another Tyrone onslaught, with Darren McCurry coming off the bench to stroke over three points, with Donnelly also bringing his haul to three.
It was one-way traffic in the final quarter, with subs Michael McKernan and Ruairi McCullagh also on target, but Offaly did finish on something of a high as Darragh Flynn broke through to grab a late consolation goal.
Tyrone scorers: R Canavan 0-05 (1tp, 2f), D McCurry, R Cassidy, M Donnelly, S O’Donnell 0-03 each, B Kennedy (tp), N Devlin 0-02 each, M McKernan, R McCullagh (f), A Clarke, C Quinn, C Daly, L McGarrity, B Cullen 0-1 each
Offaly scorers: D Flynn 1-02, J McEvoy 1-00, K O’Neill 0-04 (2f), H Plunkett 0-03 (1tp), C Egan 0-02, M Dalton, R Egan 0-01 each
Tyrone: R O’Kane; A Clarke (0-01), P Teague, C Quinn (0-01); B Cullen (0-01), N Devlin (0-02), M Rafferty; B Kennedy (0-02, tp), C Kilpatrick; S O’Donnell (0-03), R Cassidy (0-03), C Daly (0-01); L McGarrity (0-01), M Donnelly (0-03), R Canavan (0-05, 1tp, 2f).
Subs: J Clarke for Cullen (51), D McCurry (0-03) for McGarrity (51), M McKernan (0-01) for Daly (59), F Burns for Devlin (62), R McCullagh (0-01, f) for Canavan (65)
Offaly: C Melia; S O’Toole Greene, R Egan (0-01), L Pearson; C Egan (0-02), D Egan, D McDaid; J McEvoy (1-00), A Leavy; M Dalton (0-01), J Hayes, K O’Neill (0-04, 2f); H Plunkett (0-03, 1tp), N Furlong, D Flynn (1-02).
Subs: C Murphy for Furlong (52), E Dunne for Dalton (60), C Dunican for Pearson (62)
Referee: J Molloy (Galway).
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