Tyrone's Niall Morgan offloads possession as Dublin's Dean Rock and Paiul Mannion close in.
Allianz National Football League Division One
TYRONE 1-10 DUBLIN 1-7
By Michael Devlin at Healy Park
The 19-point hammering Tyrone received in Tuam last week was a million miles away when the final whistle sounded in Healy Park tonight.
Down and out after their humiliation at the hands of Galway six days ago, character and guts were in abundance from Mickey Harte’s men who chiselled out a three-point win over Dublin on an atrocious night in Omagh.
Storm Jorge incessantly raged throughout the evening at Healy Park, and the decision to go ahead with the game was called into question more than a few times.
The effect of the elements influenced every kick, catch and tackle in the game. A routine free from Dean Rock in the first half that looped in the wind and eventually rolled off into the corner was barely believable.
The Ballymun man was otherwise unerring from dead balls, but it was Tyrone keeper Niall Morgan who upstaged him with his own place kicking, landing some ludicrous strikes in the second half in particular as Tyrone endeavoured to keep pace with the Dubs.
Dessie Farrell’s men got the perfect start when Colm Basquel raced through and rattled the top corner of Morgan’s net after a few seconds. But thereafter, scores were invaluable in the harsh conditions.
Tyrone though had a verve about them from the start, and reeled off the next four points with Conor Meyler and Rory Brennan finding the target before Morgan hit his first clinker of the night in the 22nd minute.
Rock duly popped over a free at the other end before a resurgent Peter Harte finished off a fine Tyrone team move to level the scores.
The energetic Liam Rafferty had been everywhere in the first 35 minutes, and he nearly had Tyrone a goal up when his effort cannoned off the underside of the bar just before the interval.
Liam Rafferty on the ball for Tyrone with Dublin's David Byrne and Brian Fenton.
Padraig Hampsey was sinbinned for his part in the unsavoury scenes in the tunnel at halftime, but when the game restarted it was Harte again who had Tyrone in the lead with his second of the evening.
The All-Ireland champions, now a man up for ten minutes, launched into a lengthy period of possession dominance, Cillian O’Shea and Niall Scully both taking scores before Rock put them two ahead by the 49th minute.
A Tyrone response came through Edendork duo Darren McCurry and Morgan, the latter floating over another beauty from off the ground.
He then whipped over a 14-yard free from the side that bent around the wind perfectly to edge Tyrone back in front by the hour mark, by which time Hampsey had returned and Scully had been sent to the sin bin on a black card offence.
Another Rock free left the game was finely poised again at 0-10 to 1-7, before Tyrone struck for the killer blow in the 68th minute.
Good work from Liam Rafferty and Tiernan McCann along the sidle line released Rory Brennan, and the centre-back produced a splendid finish to the roof of the net past Evan Comerford.
Arguably Dublin should have cancelled out that goal minutes later when they weaved through the heart of the Tyrone defence only for sub Kevin McManamon to drag his shot wide. It was a sign that this was to be Tyrone’s night after all.
The four added minutes passed as the wind howled on and rain kept falling, and while the two points banked by the hosts could prove hugely valuable by the end of this Division One campaign, it was the manner of Tyrone’s performance after a week of soul-searching that would have satisfied Mickey Harte the most.
Scorers for Tyrone: Niall Morgan 0-4 (4f), Rory Brennan 1-1, Peter Harte 0-2, Conor Meyler 0-1, Liam Rafferty 0-1.
Scorers for Dublin: Dean Rock 0-4 (4f), Colm Basquel 1-0, Brian Fenton 0-1, Nially Scully 0-1, Cillian O’Shea 0-1.
TYRONE: Niall Morgan; Michael Cassidy, Ronan McNamee, Liam Rafferty; Michael McKernan, Rory Brennan, Michael O’Neill; Colm Cavanagh, Padraig Hampsey; Frank Burns, Niall Sludden, Darren McCurry; Peter Harte, Brian Kennedy, Conor Meyler.
SUBS: Ben McDonnell for B. Kennedy (HT), Tiernan McCann for M. O’Neill (45), Kyle Coney for N. Sludden (59), Ronan O’Neill for M. McKernan (65), Niall Kelly for P. Hampsey (71).
DUBLIN: Evan Comerford; Michael Fitzsimons, Eoin O’Brien, David Byrne; Eoin Murchan, Colm Basquel, Cillian O’Shea; Brian Fenton, James McCarthy; Brian Howard, Sean Bugler, Niall Scully; Paul Mannion, Ciaran Kilkenny, Dean Rock.
SUBS: Jack McCaffrey for Eoin O’Brien (HT), Kevin McManamon for S. Bugler (47) John Small for M. Fitzsimons (50) Cormac Costello for C. Basquel (60), Aaron Byrne for J. McCaffrey (65)
Referee: Cormac Reilly (An Mhí).
