All-Ireland MFC: Donnelly salvages second chance for Tyrone

September 21, 2008

Mayo's Kieran Charlton fires a shot at goal as Tyrone's Stephen MacRory chases him down during the ESB All-Ireland MFC final at Croke Park
Mayo 0-14 Tyrone 0-14 A Matthew Donnelly point two minutes into added time saw Tyrone escape from Croke Park with a second chance to overcome Mayo in the ESB All-Ireland MFC decider. After falling behind in the opening stages, the Red Hands took in a one-point lead at the interval and didn't lose their lead until Aidan O'Shea smashed over a cracking point eight minutes from time for the Connacht Champions. Paddy McNeice and Ciaran Girvan handed back the advantage for the O'Neill County, but Mayo levelled and almost stole the show when a superbly struck free from Aidan Walsh from the left flank sailed straight between the posts on the hour and looked to have the title in the bag. However, in the middle of such hysteric Tyrone kept their cool and managed to find an unmarked Donnelly on the edge of the square two minutes past the hour and he shot with accuracy to salvage a replay for the Ulster side. It took four and a half minutes for the opening score to arrive through Mayo centre-forward Aidan O'Shea thumping a shot off the upright which broke to Raymond Geraghty at full-forward and he quickly struck over. Cathal Freeman raced through afterwards to double the advantage before the Ulster Champions registered their fourth wide of the opening ten minutes, with Kyle Coney guilty of inaccuracy on three of the occasions. A Conor O'Neill free 25 metres from the posts eventually got the Red Hands off the mark on 11 minutes, but Cathal Freeman was on hand again to distance Raymond Munroe's side by two once more. Good work from Coney around the centre of the field released Ciaran Girvan for Tyrone's second, but three white flags without reply from Aidan O'Shea and Aidan Walsh (2) for the Westerners saw them take a three-point advantage just past the quarter. Paddy McNeice and Cathal Freeman both hit singles to maintain the gap at four, but the closing ten minutes before the break saw Tyrone hit some form. Tyrone thundered through what had been a stingy Mayo defence up till then, with points from the superb Paddy McNeice, Conor O'Neill, Niall McKenna and Ciaran Girvan for a half-time lead of the minimum. Two minutes into the restart the faultless Cathal Freeman was continuing his good work throughout the match for his side by setting up Shane Nally to level with ease. However Tyrone could well have stunned their opponents seven minutes into the second period when Kyle Coney, who had a relatively quite afternoon by his standards, found Conor O'Neill with a quick free who in turn released Paddy McNeice through the middle and forced a fine save off Robert Hanley in the Mayo goal that deflected over the bar. Over the 40-minute mark Alex Corduff and McNeice traded scores, a well struck Conor O'Neill free put the Ulster Champions two in front but a swift move up field in the following attack from Mayo ended with Cathal Freeman bring the deficit back to one. Ten minutes from time substitute Dean Gavin picked the pocket of the Tyrone defence to win an invaluable free in front of the posts for which Aidan Walsh much obliged and levelled the game. Just a minute later Mayo were in front through a sublime point off the left boot of Aidan O'Shea which ranged 45 metres. Raymond Munroe's young men came in reply with McNeice creeping in from the right to fire over and Ciaran Girvan pointing the way to the lead after Alex Corduff had his goal chance caught on the line by Ronan McNabb for the Heather County. Dean Gavin proved his worth when sent through by Ray Geraghty by keeping his composure and levelling the game for the sixth time, and when Aidan Walsh was presented with the chance to win the game for his side on the hour, he made no mistake in dividing the posts 40 metres from goal. However, Tyrone's youthful prospects never seemed to panic even when their chance of a goal from the next attack went a begging. On 62 minutes a quick free from Coney found a totally unmarked Donnelly and his sky-scrapping kick eventually fell straight between both Mayo posts and salvaged another possibility for Tyrone to recapture the All-Ireland MFC crown. Mayo - R Hennelly; D Dolan, K Keane, J Broderick; S McHale, E Reilly, S Nally (0-1); J Cafferty, G McDonagh; C Freeman (0-4), A O'Shea (0-2), R Geraghty (0-1); K Charlton, A Walsh (0-4, 3f), A Corduff (0-1). Subs - D Gavin (0-1) for Charlton (39), D O'Hara for Geraghty (49). Tyrone - T Harney; F McQuaid, G Teague, R Pickering; S MacRory, P Harte, R McNabb; N McKenna (0-1), M Rogers; C Gervin (0-3), D McNulty, M Donnelly (0-1); K Coney, P McNeice (0-6, 1f), C O'Neill (0-3, 3f). Subs - R Tierney for MacRory (49), S Warnock for Rogers (53), B McGarvey for McNabb (56). Ref - R Hickey (Clare)

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