Round-up: Electric Ireland Ulster MFC action
A general view of O'Neill's Healy Park. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
Electric Ireland Ulster MFC
Tyrone 1-16 Armagh 0-10
Derry 1-12 Down 1-11
Cavan 2-13 Donegal 2-12
Monaghan 3-14 Antrim 1-10
All-Ireland champions Tyrone cleared the first round of the Ulster MFC with a comfortable 1-16 to 0-10 win over Armagh at O’Neills Healy Park.
The only goal of the game gave them the perfect start as Conor Fuffe smashed the ball to the roof of the net in the third minute.
The Red Hands were always in control, adding points through Brian Og McGuckin, Matthew F Daly, Ruairi O’Neill and Finbar Quinn, with the visitors staying in touch with converted frees from Shane Toner and Oran Lenaghan.
Tyrone led by 1-6 to 0-4 at half-time, and pushed further ahead with a couple of Logan O’Connor scores, while McGuckin brought his tally to four.
Matthew J Daly landed a two-pointer for a nine points advantage, before the Orchard side pulled back a handful of points through Cayden Feeney, Toner, and Tadgh Feeney.
Conaill Campbell sent over a winning point deep into stoppage time to give Derry the narrowest of 1-12 to1-11 wins over Down at Find Insurance Celtic Park
The Mourne lads went ahead early on with scores from Dylan McAleenan and Dyklan KJelly, before the Oak Leafers hit the net with a ninth minute Cahir McDonnell strike.
Connal Gallagher and McAleenan traded scores, and the home wide led by 1-5 to 0-5 at the break.
Down fought back with points from Sam Murdock, Frankie McHugh and McAleenan, but it was Derry who built a lead going into the closing stages via Tomas Devlin and Gabriel Gormley.
Campbell’s late point proved to be the winner, with Down pulling back a goal right at the death, palmed to the net by McHugh.
Another close encounter at Kingspan Breffni saw Cavan edge out Donegal by 2-13 to 2-12.
The home side got in for an Oisin Smith goal early on, and built up a seven points lead through Darragh O’Hare, Huge Morgan and Jay Graham, with a two-pointer.
Donegal responded with an Even Duffy goal, and a couple of MJ Ward points, but they trailed by 1-8 to 1-4 at the turnaround, before raising the tempo to go level through Anthony McGuinnes, Ward and Matthew McGinley.
Jake Brady and Darragh Eccleston, with a two-pointer, had Cavan four clear before Tadhg banged in a second Donegal goal, and Ward narrowed the gap to a point.
Back came the Breffni lads for Jay Graham to hit the net on 53 minutes, and they held out in a frantic finish.
Monaghan were comfortable 3-14 to 1-10 winners over Antrim at Inniskeen, finishing strongly to get their campaign off to an impressive start.
They led by 1-7 to 0-6 at the interval, and dominated the second half, finishing the job off with goals from Malachy Treanor and Mickey Doogan Burke.
The Farney lads played some delightful football, with accurate finishing from Alex McGinnity, Mantas Palauskas, Caoilte Kelly and Doogan Burke.
