Landmark Victory for Cavan Minor Hurlers
April 16, 2014
Cavan captain Caoimhin Carney raises the Ulster MHL Division 2 Cup at Breffni Park.
Having beaten Tyrone with some comfort (3-13 to 2-5) in the opening round of the competition, Cavan were expected to have things very much their own way again in the league decider.
However, the O'Neill county had other ideas and it took a spirited and determined effort by the Breffni boys to seal the deal.
The blues played with a stiff breeze in the opening half but after notching nine wides (as opposed to Tyrone's three), their 0-5 to 0-4 interval lead didn't look at all secure.
Cavan captain Caoimhin Carney made it a two point game just seconds after the restart but after Brendan Molloy's effort (44) edged the visitors into the lead (0-8 to 0-7) for the first time in the match, it was very much a case of game-on.
Corner-forward James Loughran underpinned Tyrone's lead with a good goal (49) but sub. Paudi Donohoe struck gold three minutes later - after latching onto a Sean Keating delivery - to edge Cavan back into the lead, 1-9 to 1-8.
Despite the fact Tyrone lost James Loughran to a straight red card (56) it was tit for tat from there to the end with Tyrone full-forward Josh Ferguson levelling matters (2-8 to 1-11) once more in the 57th minute.
In a nail-biting finale, Cavan's Cormac Wall latched onto a Paul Leddy sideline puck and made no mistake in splitting the posts for proved to be the winning point with three minutes left of normal time.
Cavan:
N Clerkin; M Gaffney, C Kelly, E Gormley; N Duffy, S Keating (0-2, 2f, '65), D Owens; J Crowe (0-1), L O'Dea; A Crowe, C Carney (0-4, 1f), C Wall (0-1); P Leddy (0-2), S Shalvey, D Reilly.
Subs; E Magee (0-1) for S Shalvey; P Donohoe (1-0) for D Reilly
Tyrone:
A Devine; D Rush, P Kerr, E McNally; L Donnelly, D Rafferty, J Fox; P Daly (1-0), A Byrne; C McGettigan (0-1), D Conroy, C McNulty (0-1), J Loughran (1-0), J Ferguson (0-4, 3f), B Molloy (0-2).
Subs; P Conroy for J Fox; J Maxwell D Conroy. Tweet
