Senior Footballers fall to defeat against Tyrone in All-Ireland Quarter Final

Image Courtesy Paul Lundy

DUBLIN 0-16 

TYRONE 0-23

Dublin’s hopes of progressing to the last four of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship were dashed in Croke Park on Saturday evening as they succumbed to Tyrone by seven points. 

The contest was delicately poised as the Dubs trailed by the bare minimum by the 64th minute but their opponents finished with a flourish to earn a deserved spot in the semi-finals.

The Dubs made one late switch prior to throw-in with Brian O'Leary replacing Lorcan O'Dell and the Na Fianna clubman could not have issue with the amount of service that came his way as Dublin dominated possession in the first half. 

However, that they entered the break trailing by 0-11 to 0-10 was down to the inaccuracy they showed in attack, allied to Tyrone's ability to kick two-pointers with Peter Harte raising two of their four orange flags in the opening half. 

The second-half was similarly tight but Tyrone made better use of their attacking opportunities with goalkeeper Niall Morgan putting the finishing touches to their win when kicking their fifth two-pointer with the final kick of the game.  

Tyrone showed their kicking ability from the outset with Kieran McGeary kicking their first two-point score in the 2nd minute. 

While Stephen Cluxton replied soon after when converting a '45' after Morgan had denied Cormac Costello, the visitors added to their lead as Peter Teague kicked another two-point score in the 5th minute. 

Costello kicked two points in quick succession to leave just a point between the teams but Harte curled over a sublime score to continue Tyrone’s two-point trend. 

Dublin rallied well through another Costello point and an O’Leary brace to level matters by the end of the first quarter and a Niall Scully score in the 21st minute edged the Dubs ahead for the first time. 

Tyrone replied as they know best with another Harte two-pointer and a late free from Darren McCurry handed them a marginal lead by the interval.

The opening stages of the second-half produced a catalogue of errors on both sides with Costello dragging wide when handed a presentable goal chance in the 42nd minute.  

Paddy Small restored parity a minute later but Tyrone strung together three points on the bounce through Darragh Canavan, Ciarán Daly and Niall Devlin to seize the initiative. 

Dublin closed that deficit on a couple of occasions as the half evolved with substitute Con O’Callaghan, Ciaran Kilkenny and Paddy Small all on target but crucially, they never managed to get on level terms to put further pressure on their opponents. 

A Luke Breathnach point in the 64th minute saw Dublin to within a point once again but Tyrone’s stronger impact from the bench that yielded scores by Ruairí Canavan, Eoin McElholm and Ben McDonnell saw them pull away by the end.   

Scorers - Dublin: C Costello 0-6 (2f); B O’Leary, P Small 0-2 each; K McGinnis, N Scully, S Cluxton (45), C O’Callaghan, C Kilkenny, L Breathnach 0-1 each. Tyrone: P Harte 0-4 (2 2p); D Canavan, N Morgan (2p, 45) 0-3 each; D McCurry (1f), K McGeary (2p), P Teague (2p), C Daly, R Canavan 0-2 each; N Devlin, E McElholm, B McDonnell 0-1 each.

Dublin: S Cluxton; E Murchan, D Byrne, S MacMahon; B Howard, J Small, L Gannon; P Ó Cofaigh Byrne, K McGinnis; C Kilkenny, N Scully, S Bugler; P Small, C Costello, B O’Leary. Subs: C Murphy for McGinnis (44); C O’Callaghan for O’Leary (50); L Breathnach for Scully (56); R McGarry for Bugler (65); T Clancy for Murchan (68).

Tyrone: N Morgan; C Quinn, P Hampsey, P Teague; N Devlin, R Brennan, K McGeary; B Kennedy, C Kilpatrick; S O’Donnell, C Daly, P Harte; D McCurry, M Donnelly, D Canavan. Subs: M O’Neill for O’Donnell (temp, 10-22); B McDonnell for Brennan (44); E McElholm for McCurry (52); A Clarke for Quinn (55); C Meyler for Teague (temp, 58); R Canavan for Harte (63); M O’Neill for McGeary (68).

Referee: David Coldrick (Meath).