Tyrone U20 footballer, Eoin McElholm.
EirGrid Ulster U20 Football Championship
TYRONE 5-20 MONAGHAN 0-8
DERRY 5-16 ANTRIM 0-3
CAVAN 2-9 FERMANAGH 1-11
By Francis Mooney
Tyrone charged into the semi-final of the Eirgrid Ulster U20 Football Championship with a runaway 5-20 to 0-8 win over Monaghan at Coalisland, but the cancellation of the Donegal v Armagh tie due to an unplayable Ballybofey pitch means they must wait to learn who their opponents will be.
The Red Hands topped Section A after completing their round robin schedule unbeaten, avoiding the quarter-finals.
It was an awesome attacking performance from a Tyrone team firing on all cylinders, with no less than 14 players on the score-sheet.
Monaghan started brightly with points from Nickey Sherlock and Dara McKenna, but the Red Hands flicked a switch and assumed total control, out-scoring the visitors by 3-7 to 0-1 for the remainder of the first half.
By the end of the opening quarter, they had built up a 1-5 to 0-2 lead, with scores from Eoin McElholm, Gavin Potter and Conor Owens.
It was wing back Odhran Brolly who smacked in their opening goal, and Joey Clarke’s run set up Cormac Devlin to rifle home the second on 26 minutes.
McElholm added a third major in stoppage time to send the Red Hands in with a commanding 3-8 to 0-3 lead.
Ruairi McCullagh came off the bench to fire home 1-2 in the space of three minutes as Tyrone, now with the wind in their backs, continued to display hunger and drive.
Kian Duffy and Luke McManus pulled back Monaghan points, and Dara McKenna converted a ’45, but the visitors were fighting fires all over the pitch against a Red Hand side that moved the ball fast and attacked in numbers.
Further scores from substitutes Paddy McCann, Noah Grimes, Ronan Donnelly and McCullagh stretched the lead, and the rout was completed by Michael Rafferty’s late goal.
Derry qualified for the quarter-finals with a runaway win over Antrim at Owenbeg, routing the Saffrons by 5-16 to 0-3.
They led by 4-9 to no score at half-time, two of their goals netted by Ryan McNicholl, with Ruairi Forbes and Niall O’Donnell also hitting the net, and Ciaran Chambers sending over three eye-catching points.
Antrim broke their duck with scores from Niall Duffy and Callum Gribbin, but they could not contain a potent Derry attack, and the home side continued to hit the target, through Eoin Higgins and Conleth McGrogan.
They completed the job with a fifth goal, netted from the penalty spot by Odhran Murphy after Ciaran Chambers had been halted going for goal.
The Oak Leafers’ quarter-final opponents will be Cavan, who held on to beat Fermanagh by a single point, 2-9 to 1-11 at Brewster Park.
Cavan grabbed a goal after just two minutes, through Matthew Smith, but the Erne lads fought back with scores from Conor O’Hanlon and Caolan Fitzpatrick.
Smith was the main Breffni scoring threat, sending over a handful of scores to give his side a 1-6 to 0-5 interval lead.
They pushed further ahead through Favor Shehu, Darragh Lovett and Cian Keaney, but Fermanagh got themselves back into contention with a Micheal Burns goal and points from Conor O’Hanlon and Jack Quinlan.
The Breffni Blues hit back with a Lovett goal, and they held out despite a late flourish of Erne scores from Cian O’Brien and Caolan Fitzpatrick.
Monaghan will take on the losers of the rescheduled Donegal-Armagh tie in the other semi-final.