DONEGAL AND TYRONE will face off in this year’s EirGrid Ulster U21 football final after claiming semi-final victories tonight in Omagh and Cavan respectively.
It’ll be the first provincial decider meeting between the counties since 2000 when Tyrone triumphed and both will be hoping to banish the painful memories of recent defeats. Tyrone lost the 2011 and 2012 finals to Cavan while Donegal were defeated in the last two deciders by the Breffni men.
Here’s how they won tonight’s semi-final ties.
Donegal 4-9
Monaghan 1-5
Donegal’s goalscoring power saw them prove too strong tonight for Monaghan in a game that was initially delayed due to floodlight failure at Healy Park in Omagh.
In difficult conditions for football, Donegal got the job done in a comfortable fashion compared to the last-gasp goal they needed from Ryan McHugh to beat Cavan at the quarter-final stage.
Jack O’Brien and Lorcan Connor bagged Donegal’s first-half goals as they went in front by 2-5 to 0-2 at the break. It was a handsome lead considering they were in front narrowly by 0-2 to 0-1 with six minutes left in the opening half.
Monaghan fired home an early second-half goal from Kevin Loughran to give themselves some hope and they cut the gap to 2-6 to 1-3 by the 42nd minute when DCU Sigerson Cup winner Dessie Ward pointed.
But in the final quarter Donegal took over again with Ciaran Thompson notching their third goal. Lorcan Connor hit his second goal and Donegal’s fourth of the night and that sealed a resounding 13-point success.
Scorers for Donegal: Lorcan Connor 2-0, Ciaran Thompson 1-2, Jack O’Brien 1-0, Hugh McFadden 0-2 (0-1f), Eoin McHugh (0-1f), Dara McDaid, Willie Gillespie, Eamonn McGrath, Darach O’Connor 0-1 each.
Scorers for Monaghan: Conor McCarthy 1-2 (0-2f), Feargal McMahon (0-1f), Fergal McGeough 0-1 each.
Tyrone 2-12
Armagh 2-8
Tyrone eventually saw off Armagh in tonight’s semi-final tie in a game that had to be moved from Brewster Park in Enniskillen to Kingspan Breffni Park in Cavan due to poor weather conditions.
Tyrone settled best as they reeled off three early points but the teams were level after the opening quarter when Aidan Nugent shot to the net for Armagh. Tyrone didn’t let that setback deter them with Lee Brennan raising a green flag in the 17th minute and then Conor Meyler bagged their second goal five minutes later.
At the interval it was 2-6 to 1-1 in favour of Tyrone but Armagh mounted a comeback in the second-half. Ethan Rafferty along with Ryan and Cathal McShane chipped in with points to cut the deficit to 2-8 to 1-6 by the 41st minute.
Tyrone always did enough to grab the scores that could enable them to keep Armagh at an arm’s distance during the second-half. A Jack Grugan point for Armagh left them 2-10 to 1-8 adrift with five minutes left but then Lee Brennan and Mark Kavanagh struck the points that looked to have rounded off Tyrone’s win.
Armagh did grab a consolation goal in injury-time through Grugan and Tyrone were reduced to 14 men when Kieran McGeary was sent-off after receiving a second yellow card. But the Red Hands held on to clinch a spot in next week’s final
Scorers for Tyrone: Lee Brennan 1-2 (0-2f), Conor Meyler 1-0, Daniel McNulty 0-4 (0-3f), Kieran McGeary, Cathal McShane 0-2 each, Ruairi McGlone, Mark Kavanagh 0-1 each.
Scorers for Armagh: Jack Grugan 1-1, Aidan Nugent 1-0, Ethan Rafferty 0-5 (0-5f), Ciaran O’Hanlon, Ryan McShane 0-1 each.
