Ulster Final Place Slips away from Tyrone

For Tyrone’s Senior Ladies a place in this year’s Ulster Final slipped from their grasp in Greencastle on Sunday. Winning 2-6 to 1-7 on the day mattered little, as they lost out by two points on aggregate in the two-legged semi-final to Armagh. In the end it was a bridge too far.

Leading by seven points with fourteen minutes of the second half to go, it looked as if John McAleers side were home and dry but a series of points either side of substitute Sharon Duncan’s 23rd minute goal knocked Tyrone for six and sent them tumbling out of this years Ulster series. This was a pulsating encounter which had the home crowd engrossed until the end, with Tyrone knowing they had to win by a five-point margin to go through. They got off to a poor start, with Caroline O’Hanlon and Aileen Matthews pointing for Armagh. It took Tyrone ten minutes to register a score, as Lucy Meehan pointed before Gemma Begley unleashed an unstoppable shot past Fionnula Mc Atamney despite the best efforts of the Armagh ‘keeper. With their tails up and in control, the home side latched on another point   through Sarah Connolly.

Things took a turn against Tyrone as centre-back Connie Fox was sin binned for an innocuous challenge, and Matthews scored her second point of the day for Armagh. Tyrone replied through Begley again, who fired over a long-range point to restore the three-point cushion with 22 minutes on the clock. Armagh then had two goal-scoring opportunities foiled as first Sinead Mc Laughlin cut out a dangerous ball across the face of her own goal,
and goalkeeper Elaine Mallaghan caught an Aileen Matthews free under the crossbar.

Into injury time and Tyrone staged a fantastic breakaway as Cathy Donnelly powered upfield, before a good run from Ann Dooher who fed Sarah Connolly and the Errigal Ciaran attacker made no mistake as she blasted home from the edge of the square to make it 2-3 to 0-3 at the interval. The second half degenerated into a series of injuries , stoppages and silliness with many indiscretions apparently escaping the attention of referee Michael Henry of Cavan. Matthews pointed twice again ,Claire Mc Alliskey pointed for Tyrone, as the play swung from end to end. Another good move upfield almost proved fruitful for Tyrone as Connolly and Mc Alliskey combined to send the Aodh Ruadh ace through, and despite being upended in the square the referee waved play on and Armagh were relieved to clear the danger and avoid a spot kick against them. Sarah Connolly again pointed for Tyrone, this time from a free, before the same player was harshly shown a yellow card after obstructing her Armagh opponent. Orla O’Neill fired over a free for the home side to make it 2-6 to 0-5, and it looked as though Tyrone were all set to see the game out with over 20 minutes of the second half played. However, the pendulum very soon swung in Armagh’s favour  again as a Matthews free was punched away by Tyrone goalkeeper Elaine Mallaghan, and straight into the waiting arms of substitute Sharon Duncan, who blasted her shot to the back of the Tyrone net. That score levelled the tie on
aggregate, and a subsequent Matthews point from a free put the Orchard girls in pole position.

Tyrone pressed for the scores that would have restored their advantage, but their efforts were in vain as Armagh corner-back Caoimhe Marley fired over a massive point from distance to copper-fasten her sides passage to their first-ever Ulster Senior Final, as Tyrone were left to rue the oppourtunity that slipped away from them as their championship season came crashing down. The rebuilding though should start right away.
The Scorers…

Tyrone: Sarah Connolly 1-2 (1f), Gemma Begley 1-1, Orla O’Neill, Claire Mc Alliskey, Lucy Meehan 0-1 Armagh: Aileen Matthews 0-4 (2f), Sharon Duncan 1-0, Patricia Mc Avoy,
Caroline O’Hanlon  0-1
The Teams…

Tyrone: Elaine Mallaghan, Eimear Teague, Maura Kelly, Sinead Mc Laughlin, Neamh Woods, Connie Fox, Siobhan Mc Garvey, Lucy Meehan, Lynda Donnelly, Claire Mc Alliskey, Ann Dooher, Cathy Donnelly, Orla O’Neill, Sarah Connolly, Gemma Begley Subs used: Eilish Gormley for Orla O’Neill, Katrina Mc Gahan for Gemma Begley

Armagh: Fionnula Mc Atamney, Caoimhe Marley, Fiona Quinn, Ailish
Murphy, Rhona O’Mahoney, Bronagh O’Donnell, Sinead Mc Cleary, Alma
O’Donnell. Caroline O’Hanlon, Mairead Tennyson, Mags Mc Alinden, Shauna
O’Hagan, Maria O’Donnell, Patricia Mc Avoy, Aileen Matthews