Allianz FL D2: Tyrone defeat Offaly

Allianz Football League Division Two

Tyrone 0-28 Offaly 2-13

By Francis Mooney at O'Neill Park, Dungannon

Tyrone condemned Offaly to a fifth straight defeat and almost certain relegation as they hit form in the second half at O’Neill Park in Dungannon to rack up a nine points win.

Offaly trailed by just two points at the break after playing into a strong breeze, but they came up against a re-energised opponent after the restart as the home side cut loose in an attacking frenzy..

Fourteen Red Hands got their names on the score-sheet as they made little of the departure for Australia of leading marksman Darragh Canavan, with younger brother Ruairi seizing his opportunity to finish top of the list.

With the wind in their backs, Tyrone reeled off early scores through Seanie O’Donnell, Aidan Clarke and Lorcan McGarrity, but they struggled to impose themselves on the game against an opponent intent on inflicting frustration and uncertainty.

Holding possession for long spells, they were assisted by a home side that sat deep and allowed the Leinster men to recycle possession and hold the ball for lengthy spells.

They built patiently for Keith O’Neill to fire over his second score to narrow the gap to one.

Ruairi Canavan, in for his first start of the season to replace older brother Darragh, arrowed over a two-pointer, but the Leinster men continued to string phases of passes together.

The Ulster team struggled to get hands on the ball, but when they did, they raided at pace for Canavan and McGarrity to combine in sending O’Donnell in for his second.

Brothers Diarmuid and Cormac Egan were central to the visitors’ tidy phases of possession play, one of which almost led to a goal as O’Neill broke through to smash a shot against the underside of the crossbar.

Offaly increasingly broke tackles to craft scores for Cormac Egan and Harry Plunkett.

The visitors' went level as Jordan Hayes sliced through the heart of the Tyrone defence to unleash a shot which appeared to be going wide, but Lee Pearson stretched to pull it back across the goalmouth, and midfielder Jack McEvoy was there to finish to the net.

McEvoy was a towering figure, battling for the possession that led to Darragh Flynn’s score, but Brian Kennedy’s two-pointer helped the home side to take a slender 0-12 to 1-7 lead into the interval.

Malachy O’Rourke’s half-time talk seemed to have done the trick when his side reeled off three quick scores through Ben Cullen, Niall Devlin and Mattie Donnelly.

Now it was the Red Hands who were attacking relentlessly, and a Harry Plunkett two-pointer provided only temporary respite for the Faithful, ahead of another flourish of scores as they fell six behind.

Offaly were struggling to track the runs of Ben Cullen and Conn Kilpatrick, and McGarrity should have hit the net as a kick-out malfunction allowed him to get in and crack a shot off a post.

A black card for goalscorer McEvoy signalled another Tyrone onslaught, with Darren McCurry coming off the bench to stroke over three points, with Donnelly also bringing his haul to three.

It was one-way traffic in the final quarter, with subs Michael McKernan and Ruairi McCullagh also on target, but Offaly did finish on a high as Darragh Flynn broke through to grab a late consolation goal

Scorers for Tyrone: R Canavan 0-5 (1tp, 2f), D McCurry, R Cassidy, M Donnelly, S O’Donnell 0-3 each, B Kennedy (tp), N Devlin 0-2 each, M McKernan, R McCullagh (f), A Clarke, C Quinn, C Daly, L McGarrity, B Cullen 0-1 each.

Scorers for Offaly: D Flynn 1-2, J McEvoy 1-0, K O’Neill 0-4 (2f), H Plunkett 0-3 (1tp), C Egan 0-2, M Dalton, R Egan 0-1 each

Tyrone: R O’Kane; A Clarke, P Teague, C Quinn; B Cullen, N Devlin, M Rafferty; B Kennedy, C Kilpatrick; S O’Donnell, R Cassidy, C Daly; L McGarrity, M Donnelly, R Canavan.

Subs: J Clarke for Cullen (51), D McCurry for McGarrity (51), M McKernan for Daly (59), F Burns for Devlin (62), R McCullagh for Canavan (65).

Offaly: C Melia; S O’Toole Greene, R Egan, L Pearson; C Egan, D Egan, D McDaid; J McEvoy, A Leavy; M Dalton, J Hayes, K O’Neill; H Plunkett, N Furlong, D Flynn.

Subs: C Murphy for Furlong (52), E Dunne for Dalton (60).

Referee: J Molloy (Galway).