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Tyrone swagger to impressive Ulster MFC title glory

Elated Tyrone players celebrate with the cup
Elated Tyrone players celebrate with the cup

Tyrone won their 24th Ulster Minor Football title and their first since 2012 with a stylish 2-11 to 1-07 win over Donegal at Brewster Park.

Their most devastating spell came at a time when they were down to 14 men, as they smacked home two goals to put the game to bed.

They now face Munster champions Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final next weekend.

Tyrone raced into an early lead with scores from Cormac Devlin and Ronan Strain inside the opening minute.

But Donegal got their defensive match-ups sorted, and frustrated their opponents for the next 17 minutes.

They didn't open their own account until the 14th minute when Kevin McCormack split the posts, and they were level by the end of the opening quarter, after Daniel Marley danced through for a solo effort.

They were all square at the water break, and a tight contest continued to break from end to end, with Eoin McElholm converting a mark, which was quickly cancelled out by Donegal's Sean Martin.

But the Red Hands stepped up the pressure on the Donegal kick-out, turning possession into a rush of scores as they moved four clear with spectacular efforts from Gavin Potter, Ronan Donnelly and Ronan Cassidy.

Tyrone led by 0-7 to 0-3 at the interval, having kicked ten first half wides, but Donegal had a handful of bad misses early in the second half, struggling to make good of a dominant spell.

That was until substitute Michael Callaghan found the range in the 37th minute.

Tyrone went down to 14 men when they lost midfielder Ruairi McHugh to a black card, but conceded just two points in that ten minute spell and racked up 2-2 themselves in a match-winning burst.

The goals came in the space of a minute. First, substitute Conor Owens picked his spot in the corner of the net from an Eoin McElholm pass, then skipper Devlin smacked home the second in the 50th minute to put nine points between the sides.

Donegal pulled back a goal through sub Karl Joseph Molloy, but it was to be a Red Hand evening of joy as Owens and Devlin steered over the late points that sealed the title.

Tyrone: N Robinson; M Rafferty, R Fox, C Kelly; H Cunningham, S O’Hare, M Mallon; R Donnelly (0-01), R McHugh; R Strain (0-01), C Devlin (1-03), G Potter (0-01); R Cassidy (0-02, 1f), P McCann, E McElholm (0-02, 1 mark).

Subs: C Owens (1-01) for McCann (45), N Grimes for Cassidy (51), B Hughes for Cunningham (61), J Martin for Strain (61)

Donegal: A Cullen; D Gallagher (0-1), C Gallagher, K Magee; S Martin (0-01), E Friel, O Caulfield; S Ward (0-01), C Reid; C McGeever, K McCormack (0-01), C McGinty; D Marley (0-01), P McElwee, L McGlynn (0-01, f).

Subs: J Doherty for Friel (25), G Kelly for Reid (h-t), M Callaghan (0-01) for McElwee (h-t), C McColgan for McGinty (48), K Molloy (1-00) for McCormack (52)

Referee: A Marron (Monaghan)

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