Tyrone grab late win
February 04, 2007
A blistering third quarter plus the introduction of some timely subs helped Tyrone power their way (0-11 to 0-10) to an exciting NFL opening round win over Dublin in front of a crowd of 81,678 at floodlit Croke Park.
Little went the way of the winners though in the first half and they trailed by 0-2 to 0-7 at the interval and in desperate need of inspiration.
Cue the introduction of Colm McCullagh up front and Kevin Hughes to the middle of the field. Both men helped re-ignite Tyrone's challenge.
Dublin had been very much in the driving seat up until Tyrone shook themselves free of their lethargy.
Newcomer Diarmuid Connolly and David Henry scored fine points apiece in the early stages as Dublin surged into a 0-5 to 0-1 lead after just 15 minutes.
With seven wides in the first half Tyrone looked disjointed even though man of the match Sean Cavanagh did his best to galvanise his team-mates.
Two early poinys from Owen Mulligan and Raymond Mulgrew hinted at better things to come at the start of the second half though.
A massive long range point from Sean Cavanagh in the 47th minute made it 0-5 to 0-8 and Dublin seemed caught in their opponents' headlights.
By the 56th minute there was only a point between the sides after scores from Colm Cavanagh and McCullagh.
Mulligan duly levelled in the 56th minutes and the O'Neill County set their sights for home eight minutes later when Mulgrew gave the Ulster men the lead.
It was nip and tuck thereafter but Tyrone kept their noses in front even though they had Ryan McMenamin red-carded late on for a foul on Ciaran Bonner.
Tyrone - P McConnell; R McMenamin, C McGinley, N McGee; D Harte, D Carlin 0-1, M Penrose; M Murphy, S Cavanagh 0-2; O Mulligan 0-4, R Mulgrew 0-2, C Cavanagh 0-1; R Mellon, C Donnelly, E McGinley. Subs - C McCullagh 0-1 for Donnelly; K Hughes for Murphy; C Gormley for Penrose; T McGuigan for McGinley.
Dublin - S Cluxton; D Henry 0-1, N O'Shea, P Griffin; P Casey, C Moran, G Brennan; D O'Mahony, D Magee 0-1; D Murray, A Brogan 0-1, D Connolly 0-3; D O'Callaghan 0-2, K Bonner 0-1, C Keaney 0-1. Subs - S Ryan for Magee; B Cullen for O'Mahony; B Brogan for O'Callaghan; C Goggins for Murray.
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