Allianz Football League Division 1

TYRONE 1-15 CAVAN 0-9

By Michael Devlin at Healy Park

Tyrone took a major step towards securing their Division One status with a nine-point win over Cavan tonight at a blustery Healy Park.

Much like seven days ago against Monaghan, Mickey Harte’s men put their foot on the gas in the second half, opening out a sizeable lead that Cavan never looked like making back.

The dismissal of Killian Clarke just after half time was a turning point in the game. Cavan struggled to curtail Tyrone’s running game thereafter and a goal from Peter Harte in the 53rd minute wrapped up the result.

Tyrone’s teak-tough defence only allowed Cavan to two points from play, while nine different players got on the score-sheet for the O’Neill County.

The win moves Tyrone up to five points in the Division One table with Dublin and Galway left to play, while Cavan now find themselves rooted to the bottom of the table and needing to take points from their remaining fixtures against Monaghan and Dublin to have any hope of staying in the top tier for another year.

Tyrone went in at the break 0-8 to 0-4 up, aided by a stiff breeze blowing down towards the Gortin Road end of the field.

The visitors got scoring under way with Jack Brady popping over a free in the seventh minute, having forced his way through the Tyrone defence to within sight of Niall Morgan’s goalmouth moments before only to get bottled up in possession.

Conor McAliskey, making his first start for Tyrone this season after returning from injury, kicked a free to open Tyrone’s account before Niall Sludden dipped under a tackle to take a lovely score in the ninth minute. A Cathal McShane mark took the score to 0-3 to 0-1 soon after.

The visitors were enjoying their fair share of possession, but time and again their attempts to breach Tyrone’s massed defence only saw them surrendering the ball amidst the swarm of white jerseys.

Tyrone’s attack were trying to utilise the long direct delivery of ball, but only sporadically they made headway against a similarly steadfast Cavan defence. Harte and McAliskey free kicks nudged Tyrone into a four-point lead, before Martin Reilly responded for Cavan with a placed ball in the 25th minute.

There was a sniff of a goal on for Tyrone three minutes later when Matty Donnelly cut a trademark dash through the defence to slip a pass to Ben McDonnell, who opted to flick it across goal for Kieran McGeary to palm over Raymond Galligan’s crossbar.

Jack Brady added his second point from a free shortly after before Harte did the same for Tyrone after Conor Meyler was fouled. Another tidy Niall Sludden point moved Tyrone five clear before Cavan’s Dara McVeety found some rare space to score from play as the half came to a close.

It was now Cavan’s turn with the wind but their challenge was accentuated when midfielder Clarke was dismissed after receiving a second yellow card for a careless tackle on Kieran McGeary.

Tyrone were able to take advantage of the extra man as they began to enjoy more space around the Cavan defence. McAliskey chipped over his third point from a free before Frank Burns got on the end of a Tyrone counter attack to fist over the bar.

Raymond Galligan sent over a long-range free for Cavan in the 44th minute, but Tyrone were turning the screw and the introduction of Darren McCurry and Kyle Coney injected some new attacking flair to the Red Hands’ attack.

And it was some McCurry trickery that created the opportunity for Peter Harte to race through and slot the ball past Galligan, the goal immediately followed up by a delightful effort from Coney as Tyrone opened up a 1-12 to 0-5 lead. Corner-back Hugh Pat McGeary then wandered upfield for a point soon after as Tyrone looked to move through the gears.

Cian Mackey was brought on by Mickey Graham and the Castlerahan man made an immediate impact with a point from play. Back came Tyrone though and Harte brought his tally for the night to 1-3 with another free before McGeary repeated the trick from minutes before with another point from a foray down the left flank.

Frees from Mackey (2) and Niall McKiernan after the hour mark concluded Cavan’s scoring for the evening as Tyrone comfortably saw out the remainder of the game with captain Mattie Donnelly tapping over a simple free.

Scorers for Tyrone: Peter Harte 1-3 (3f), Connor McAliskey (3f), Niall Sludden 0-2, Hugh Pat McGeary 0-2, Cathal McShane 0-1 (1m), Kieran MCGeary 0-1, Frank Burns 0-1, Kyle Coney 0-1, Mattie Donnelly 0-1 (1f).

Scorers for Cavan: Cian Mackey 0-3 (2f), Jack Brady 0-2 (2f), Martin Reilly 0-1 (1f), Dara McVeety 0-1, Raymond Galligan 0-1 (1f), Niall McKiernan 0-1.

TYRONE: Niall Morgan; Padraig Hampsey, Ronan McNamee, Hugh Pat McGeary; Tiernan McCann, Frank Burns, Ben McDonnell; Cathal McShane, Richard Donnelly; Matthew Donnelly, Niall Sludden, Conor Meyler; Connor McAliskey, Peter Harte, Kieran McGeary. Subs: Darren McCurry for C. McAliskey (44), Kyle Coney for C. McShane (45), Harry Loughran for K. McGeary (55), Lee Brennan for R. McNamee (60), Rory Brennan for P. Hampsey (61).

CAVAN: Raymond Galligan; Jason McLoughlin, Padraig Faulkner, Conor Moynagh; Ciaran Brady, Christopher Conroy, Conor Rehill; Paul Graham, Killian Clarke; Martin Reilly, Dara McVeety, Niall Murray; Niall Clerkin, Jack Brady, Conor Madden. Subs: Thomas Galligan fpr P. Graham (HT), Gerard Smith for Niall Clerkin (HT), Niall McKiernan for J. Brady (49), Cian Mackey for C. Conroy (53), Stephen Murray for N. Murray (65).

Referee: Padraig Hughes (Ard Mhacha).