Tyrone 1-7
Derry 1-14

A superb finishing display saw Derry advance through the preliminary round of this year's Cadbury Ulster Under 21 Football Championship at the expense of neighbours Tyrone last night at Omagh.

The hosts looked to be on their way to victory when senior panellist Mattie Donnelly hit the Derry net with ten minutes to go, but the Oak Leafers fought back in the closing stages with their lethal corner-forward Aaron Kerrigan striking 1-2 to sink the Red Hands.

Tyrone had erased early points from Kerrigan and James Kielt in the opening quarter via scores from Niall McKenna and Peter Harte, but the visitors imposed themselves on the game after that and registered scores from Emmet McGuckin, a James Kielt '45', Caolan O'Boyle and Lee Moore to send them into a 0-7 to 0-5 half-time lead.

Derry looked to keep the momentum going after the restart, but when Diarmuid McNulty crossed to Donnelly for the Tyrone goal 11 minutes in the game looked to going the way of the home side.

However, they would manage only one more point in the time remaining as Derry struck for 1-7 with Kerrigan's cracking goal coming in the 59th minute to set-up his side's meeting with Fermanagh in the first round.

Derry - A Warnock; D Bell, C McWilliams, O Duffy; C Nevin, B Doyle, B McCallion; A Kelly, C O'Boyle (0-1); E McGuckin (0-1), J Keilt (0-5, 5f), C McGoldrick; A Kerrigan (1-4), L Moore (0-2), L Kennedy (0-1). Subs - C McFeely for McGoldrick, B Herron for Kelly.

Tyrone - T Harney; A Girvan, R McNamee, K Mossey; R McNabb, L O'Neill, G Teague; M McKenna (0-1), N McKenna (0-1); K Gervin, P Harte (0-2, 1f), C Harkin; K Coney, M Donnelly (1-2, 1f), D McNulty (0-1). Subs - D McDermott for McNamee, B McGarvey for M McKenna.

Ref - S McLaughlin (Donegal) Tweet

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