Tyrone find extra gear to edge Cavan in Ulster championship thriller
April 21, 2024
Ruairí Canavan and Conall Devlin of Tyrone fail to stop Brian O'Connell of Cavan scoring a point ©INPHO
Tyrone came through an epic battle against Cavan this evening to set-up an Ulster senior football championship semi-final date against Donegal in seven days’ time.
It finished 1-23 to 3-16 (after extra time) at Kingspan Breffni, where the 9,952 in attendance were treated to a thriller which saw Tiarnan Quinn’s free ultimately proving the difference between the sides in the end.
Having conquered Monaghan late on the last day, underdogs Cavan made a decent start here with Cian Madden’s goal surging them in front after 10 minutes, but the Red Hands recovered well and hit them net themselves via debutant Liam Gray eight minutes late to make it 1-5 to 1-1.
Tyrone respond!
— BBC SPORT NI (@BBCSPORTNI) April 21, 2024
Liam Gray on his Championship debut for the Red Hands ⚪️🔴
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With Darragh Canavan, Ruairi Canavan and Darren McCurry all in fine shooting form, the visitors moved towards a comfortable 1-10 to 1-4 half-time lead and looked to have it in the bag after frees from Niall Morgan and McCurry sailed over Gary O’Rourke’s crossbar.
However, a Padraig Faulkner goal breathed life into the Breffni men as they backed it up with another from Conor Brady and, despite McCurry moving Tyrone two ahead late on, points from Paddy Lynch (free) and Brian O’Connell forced extra time for the hosts.
It's anybody's game now!
— BBC SPORT NI (@BBCSPORTNI) April 21, 2024
Ladies and gentlemen...the Ulster Championship! 🍿🤯
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Darragh Canavan and Niall Devlin sent over the first two scores of the added period for the Red Hands and one at the other end from Tiarnan Madden left a point in it at the break.
The second-half of extra time would see the 2021 All-Ireland champions’ experience standing to them, as a turnover from Cathal McShane on ‘keeper O’Rourke would lead to a tap over free for Quinn which meant Lynch’s at the far end left Cavan one short in the end.
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