Sport

Tyrone attack too sharp for Derry

Dr McKenna Cup Final/ Tyrone 3-14 Derry 1-10: Tyrone's year of grief and tragedy came full circle at Casement Park yesterday…

Mon Feb 21 2005 - 00:00

Dr McKenna Cup Final/ Tyrone 3-14 Derry 1-10: Tyrone's year of grief and tragedy came full circle at Casement Park yesterday, ending in joy with the retaining of the Dr McKenna Cup.

Mickey Harte's weakened side overcame an equally depleted Derry team to lift the trophy raised by the late Cormac McAnallen in Ballybofey last year.

Two quick-fire goals in the 35th minute killed off Derry's bid to unsettle Tyrone after the Oak Leaf men found Pascal McConnell's net in the first minute.

Stephen O'Neill gave Tyrone a 2-8 to 1-3 lead. First he benefited from Seán Cavanagh's mazy run, punching the fisted past beyond the exposed Michael Conlon in goal. And O'Neill then linked up with Cavanagh again to set up Colm McCullagh, who jinked inside one defender and then goalkeeper Conlon before tapping the ball into the net.

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Derry's Eamonn Burke stunned Tyrone into action with his first-minute goal, but Tyrone responded immediately through McCullagh and never looked back.

Tyrone's forward line, which included Brian Dooher's replacement Colm McCullagh and Stephen O'Neill at full forward, tormented the Derry defence with incisive passing.

Derry put up a fight in the second half, but couldn't claw back the 11-point half-time deficit. Their manager Mickey Moran was forced to call upon the injured Paddy Bradley midway through the second period and he scored four points.

TYRONE: P McConnell; R McMenamin (0-1), C Lawn, E Bradley; B Robinson, G Devlin, C Holmes; B Meenan (0-1), P Donnelly; C McCullagh (2-2), S O'Neill (1-3), S Cavanagh (0-4); M Coleman (0-1), O Mulligan (0-1), R Mellon. Subs: D Harte for B Robinson (half-time), M McGee for E Bradley (half-time), M Murphy for B Meenan (58 mins), E McGinley (0-1) for E Mulligan (47 mins), S Sweeney for R McMenamin (68 mins).

DERRY: M Conlon; K McGuckin, K McCloy, P Kelly; Francis McEldowney, D Scullion, C McWilliams; F Doherty, J McBride (0-2); Paul Murphy (0-1), C Gilligan, Paul Bradley (0-2); Pauric Murphy, E Burke (1-1), P McFlynn. Subs: S Kelly for K McCloy (half-time), E Bradley for P Murphy (45 mins), J Donaghy for Paul Bradley (66 mins), Paddy Bradley (0-4) for E Burke (53 mins).

Referee: B Crowe (Cavan).