Allianz Hurling League Division 2B Final

Derry 1-14 Tyrone 1-8

By Paul McIntyre at Owenbeg

Derry captured the Allianz League Division 2B title after they saw off rivals Tyrone at Owenbeg.

The final score somewhat flattered Derry, who only pulled away from Tyrone in the final 10 minutes.

As the clocked ticked ever closer to its end, the sides were level at 0-11 to 1-8 and extra-time was looking a real possibility. But second half replacement Seán Kelly’s goal on the hour mark lit a spark that had been missing in the Oakleafers attack, and Derry pushed on for what was in the end, a deserving victory.

Derry dominated the possession stakes, and thus created more scoring chances, but an off-colour attack registered 16 wides over the 70-plus minutes.

Tyrone, meanwhile, were much more economical as Aidan Kelly’s accuracy from placed balls kept the underdogs firmly in the contest.

Derry made a flying start and after just four minutes of action, they led 0-3 to 0-0 thank s to points from Cormac O’Doherty, Darragh McGilligan and full forward, Christy McNaughton.

Tyrone eventually raised a white flag in the 14th minute through an Aidan Kelly free, and two-minutes later, Kelly cut the gap to just one.

Tyrone then took the lead in the 19th minute. Kelly’s astute pass into the Tyrone full forward line was delightfully brought under control by Rory Weir, and the Eoghan Ruadh twisted pass Mark Craig to fire under Oisin O’Doherty and into the net.

But Derry fought back and points from Ruairí Ó Mianáin and Cathal Murray saw the sides go in at the break tied 0-7 to 1-4.

Ó Mianáin was now on free taking duty for Derry and his 38th minute free was sandwiched between two Kelly strikes for Tyrone.

James McCann then fired Tyrone into a one-point lead in the 52nd minute and the possibility of a shock was still on the cards.

Cormac O’Doherty was reestablished as Derry free taker and the captain made no mistake with efforts in the 54th and 56thminutes respectively.

Then in the final 10 minutes, Derry found another gear and took control of the contest.

Corey O’Reilly’s ran through the heart of the Tyrone defence and he picked out Kelly who made no mistake with a low crisp drive past Conor McElhatton in the Tyrone goal.

Kelly then added a point in the final minute as Derry celebrated their promotion as champions of Division 2B.

Scorers for Derry: Cormac O’Doherty 0-7 (7fs), Seán Kelly 1-1, Ruairí Ó Mianáin 0-2 (1f), Darragh McGilligan 0-1, Cathal Murray 0-1, Christy McNaughton 0-1, Corey O’Reilly 0-1.

Scorers for Tyrone: Aidan Kelly 0-6 (6fs), R Weir 1-0, Lorcan Devlin 0-1, James McCann 0-1.

Derry: Oisin O’Doherty, Paddy Kelly, Mark Craig, Seán Cassidy, Aimon Duffin, Richie Mullan, Meehaul McGrath, Cormac O’Doherty, Ruairí Ó Mianáin, John Mullan, Corey O’Reilly, Darragh McGilligan, Cahal Murray, Christy McNaughton, Paul Cleary.

Subs: Callum O’Kane for J Mullan (37), Séan Kelly for Cleary (51), Pádhraig Neilis for McNaughton (57), James Friel for C O’Doherty (68).

Blood Sub: James Friel for R Mullan (62-63).

Tyrone: Conor McElhatton, Dean Rafferty, Ruairí Devlin, Oran McKee, Ben Gormley, Fionn Devlin, Rory Weir, James McCann, Cormac Munroe, Bryan McGurk, Aidan Kelly, Lorcan Devlin, Tiernan Morgan, Seán Óg Grogan, Joe McToal.

Subs: Turlough Mullin for Grogan (28), Michael Little for Weir (60), Anthony Crossan for Morgan (67), Eoin Winters for R Devlin (70), C Taggart for C Munroe (70+3).

Referee: James Connors.