Ulster MFC: Derry draw first blood

May 28, 2017

Derry's Richie Mullan and Tyrone's Daniel Millar.
©INPHO/Presseye/Lorcan Doherty.

Derry 0-18 

Tyrone 1-14

Oisin McWilliams starred as Derry came from behind to edge out Tyrone in this afternoon's Ulster MFC quarter-final at Celtic Park.

Played as a curtain-raiser to the senior encounter between the same two counties, the game was an exciting affair which saw Tyrone take a 0-9 to 0-6 lead into the break, only for the hosts to come back strongly in the second half. Derry had fashioned a four-point lead before a late PT Cunningham penalty left them hanging on for the win. Tyrone, the Ulster league champions, finished with 14 men after corner back Peadar Mullan received a second yellow card with nine minutes remaining.

Darragh Canavan, son of the legendary Peter, was very prominent in the first half and opened the scoring from an early free. Derry replied with points from Patrick Quigg, Oisin McWilliams and Alex Doherty to take a 0-3 to 0-1 lead before the Red Hands hit five in-a-row per Cunningham, Matthew McGuigan, Peter McCartan, Jude Campbell and Daniel Millar to lead by 0-6 to 0-3 after 21 minutes.

Back came Derry to level through scores from Declan Cassidy, McWilliams and John Paul Delvin, but a trio of points from Cunningham and Canavan (two) left Tyrone in the driving seat at the interval.

Damian McErlain's Oak Leafers had regained parity within eight minutes of the restart thanks to efforts from Oisin McWilliams (two) and Richie Mullan before Ruairi Gormley edged the visitors back in front. But points from sub Lorcan McWilliams, Padraig McGrogan, Quigg and Mullan saw Derry surge four clear before Cunningham's penalty made for a tense finish.

Antrim stand between Derry a third successive Ulster MFC final appearance.

Derry - O Hartin; C McCluskey, O McGill, S McKeever; C McShane, D Rafferty, S McErlain (0-1); O McWilliams (0-4, 1'45), P McGrogan (0-1); P Quigg (0-3, 2f), D Cassidy (0-1), J P Devlin (0-1); R Mullan (0-2), A Doherty (0-1), C Murphy (0-1). Subs: B McCarron for C Murphy , L McWilliams (0-2, 1f) for A Doherty, M Bradley for S McKeever, M McGrogan for D Cassidy, F Mortimer (0-1) for J P Devlin, T Walsh for F Mortimer (BC).

Tyrone - L Quinn; C Breen, A Fox, P Mullan; D McGuigan, C Grimes, C Devlin; B McNulty (0-1), R Gormley (0-1); M McGuigan (0-1), P McCartan (0-1), D Millar (0-1); J Campbell (0-2), PT Cunningham (1-2, 1-0pen, 0-1f), D Canavan (0-3). Subs: A Connolly (0-1) for R Gormley, C Quinn for J Campbell, O Mallon (0-1f) for B McNulty, O Sludden for M McGuigan.

Referee - C Dourneen.


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