TG4 ULSTER CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINAL

TYRONE 5-12 DOWN 2-8

Three goals in three first half minutes drove Tyrone on to next months TG4 Ulster senior football final on Saturday at Kingspan Breffni Park.

Down had the bulk of the play in a good ten minute spell though,  but they failed to capitalise on that dominance and were punished by free scoring Tyrone forwards who interlinked and cut a swath through the static Down defence.

Jimmy McCloughans side in the end cruised through but he admitted he was concerned about the 2-8 conceded ,

“ We had some problems at times and yes we did concede a lot, there are areas that we must improve on and that work has already started”

The opening twelve minutes were evenly matched and certainly Down had several good chances to press home their advantage, Cathy Donnelly Sarah Connolly and Gemma Begley traded points with Aileen Pyers and Kyla Trainor as Tyrone led 0-3 to 0-2. Pyers, centre half Downey and Trainor had several other chances early on but they failed to find the target.

The goal avalanche started on 15 minutes, Gemma Begley on the end of a good move, Sarah Connolly deftly clipped the ball past McCourt on 16 minutes and the impressive Cathy Donnelly beat the hapless goalkeeper within a minute when she capitalised on a poor clearance.

Down replied with their first goal on 20 minutes, good work down the exposed right flank allowed captain  Ellis McConville get the ball across to the unmarked Aillen Pyers who palmed the ball home, there’s no doubting though that  Down were shell shocked and failed to to get to grips with  the Tyrone forwards.

 Connolly and Murphy hit points before Katrina Murphy struck the goal of the game, finding the Down net from some 20 metres.

By half time this tie was dead and buried Tyrone led by twelve points Lucy Meehan getting in on the act with an injury time point  leaving the half time score 4-6 to 1-4.

A low scoring opening ten minutes of the second half saw Sarah Connolly hitting the crossbar and Tyrone hit four wides before Lucy Meehan got her second point of the evening on six minutes. Substitute Claire McAliskeys first touch of the game produced a fifth Tyrone goal on 13 minutes but Down to their credit on a night best forgotten by them, never gave up on their task.

Young Saval star Lyndsay Cunningham struck a point  and Michaela Downey, more or less left picking up the pieces beat Elaine Mallaghan on the 20 minute mark for her sides second goal.

Gemma Begley hit two points  to bring her tally to 1-3 in the last ten minutes, Connolly, Joline Donnelly and Katrina Murphy ended the scoring as Tyrone drove on to a final meeting with Armagh.

A comfortable victory for Tyrone  with Anne Doohers workrate superb, Sarah Connolly has become an equally good play maker as scorer while Neamh Woods impressed in defence but as the Tyrone boss pointed out there was some worrying trends and improvement will certainly be needed as the build up to the Armagh clash continues, 14 wides too tells its own tale.

First and foremost this week is the opening rounds of the WJ Dolan senior, Intermediate and Junior football championship and the manager has his fingers crossed that his squad come through with no major problems and the build up to the July 1^st TG4 Ulster final will be an injury free zone.

Armagh meanwhile at times played some good football against Monaghan in their semi-final encounter, the second game at Cavan. 0-17 to 1-9 the final score with the sharp shooting of Aileen Matthews helping the Orchard side through to only their second senior Ulster decider.

MATCH STATS.

TYRONE TEAM AND SCORERS: Elaine Mallaghan, Eimear Teague, Maura Kelly, Marie Gallagher, Neamh Woods, Lynda Donnelly, Siobhan McGarvey, Sarah Donnelly, Lucy Meehan (0-2), Anne Dooher, Cathy Donnelly (1-1), Katrina Daly. Katrina Murphy (1-2), Sarah Connolly (1-3), Gemma Begley (1-3)

Subs used Claire McAliskey (1-0) For Daly, Joline Donnelly (0-1) For S Donnelly, Sinead McLaughlin For L Donnelly, Orla O’Neill For Dooher

DOWN  Elaine McCourt, Gearldine Campbell, Colleen McShane, Aodhain McAvoy, Sinead Fagan, Sinead Murphy, Kerrie O’Neill, Aine Keary, Cora McKibben, Kyla Trainor (0-3), Michaela Downey (1-0), Ellis McConville, Aillen Pyers (1-3), Lisa Morgan (0-1) Sonya McGaw.

Subs used McGowan for McAvoy, McCurry For Campbell, Cunningham (0-1) For McGaw, Lennon For McShane.

The build up to the Ulster final has already started for Tyrone and the Tyrone county board have asked clubs to organise themselves for the trip to Clones. County Chairperson Anne Marie Meehan has appealed to clubs to get buses booked now and organise trips to the Ulster decider to support the senior side

“ It’s a great chance for our clubs to really get behind the county side, I ask all clubs to come along and wear their club and county colours, these girls have put in the workrate and have done us proud” said the chair.

It was a good weekend for Tyrone ladies football with the countys development squad also collecting the Ulster B under 14 championship crown.