Sport

McDermott point evens things up in Clones

Derry 2-9 Tyrone 2-9 A point by Damien McDermott three minutes into stoppage time saw Tyrone and Derry finish all square at …

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Mon May 19 2003 - 01:00

Derry 2-9 Tyrone 2-9 A point by Damien McDermott three minutes into stoppage time saw Tyrone and Derry finish all square at the end of this highly competitive Ulster Minor Championship quarter-final in Clones yesterday.

Tyrone had slightly the better of the exchanges in the first half and were only behind once in that period. That came in the 16th minute when Gavin Devlin converted a penalty for Derry after James Bateson had been fouled in the box.

Within a minute though Tyrone had cancelled out that score when Michael Murphy crashed the ball into the Derry net after being well placed by Patrick Early.

Tyrone led at half-time by 1-4 to 1-3 with Derry pulling back two late points by Colin Devlin and Benny Mullan.

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The second half turned into an even more fascinating affair. Tyrone had the ball in the Derry net through McDermott within a minute of the restart, but Derry responded with a period of power play that saw them hit 1-2 without reply between the third and eighth minutes. Colin Devlin managed to score his second goal at the end of a counter-attack that was started by centre back Mark Lynch.

The game continued to turn on a pinhead with the sides level four more times before the end of normal time.

Two minutes into stoppage time Derry's Lynch thumped over a magnificent point from a free about 45 metres from the Tyrone posts to put his side in front.

That looked as if it might be enough to see the reigning champions through, but Tyrone were not finished and star man McDermott popped up for the equalising point to send the issue to a replay.

DERRY: E McNicholl; M Chambers, J Keenan, M McIver; C McCallion, M Lynch (0-2), J O'Kane; B McGoldrick, J Bradley; A McCartney (0-1), C O'Kane (0-1), B Murphy; C Devlin (2-2), B Mullan (0-2), J Bateson (0-1). Subs: M Drumm for Murphy, Temp Sub: P O'Connell for Keenan.

TYRONE: D Tierney; B Boggs, K Hackett, D Kelly; D Burke, P Marlowe, M Murray; D Meenan, M Cunningham; P Early (0-2), R Mulgrew (0-1), E Laverty; R Gallen, M Murphy (1-0), D McDermott (1-6). Subs: B Hughes for Gallen. Referee: J McQuillan (Cavan).