Dan McNulty swung over an injury-time free to give Tyrone a 1-11 to 0-13 victory over neighbours Donegal in front of 3,239 spectators at Celtic Park.

That score handed the victors their twelfth provincial title at this level - and first since 2006 - and completed an Ulster clean sweep for this particular crop of players. For Donegal, who gave a good account of themselves only to come up marginally short, it would be a third successive Ulster U21 final defeat.

The Red Hands led by 1-6 to 0-6 at the interval, with wing forward Conor Meyler providing the only goal of the game as he sprinted through before planting the leather in the bottom corner of the net in the ninth minute: 1-1 to 0-2.

McNulty had opened the scoring with a free from distance in the sixth minute but the Tir Chonail men replied with points from senior star Hugh McFadden (free) and corner forward Eoin McHugh, whose close-range shot flew over the crossbar.

After a flurry of wides, Lee Brennan made it 1-2 to 0-2 after 15 minutes. The second quarter would be 'even Stephen' with the sides sharing eight points: Ciaran Thompson and Darrach O'Connor closed the gap to one as did McHugh and McFadden, with Brennan twice doubling the Tyrone lead in between.

The O'Neill County lost wing back Ciaran McLaughlin to a black card two minutes from the break but finished the half strongly with late points from Michael Cassidy and Brennan, donning the No.22 and 23 shirts respectively (having replaced corner back Feargal McGarrity and corner forward Mark Bradley respectively in the starting XV just before throw-in).

Brennan (free) replied to a fisted Willie Gillespie point upon the resumption and, after McFadden reduced the arrears to two points, Tyrone thought they had scored their second goal of the night only for McNulty to be called back by Cavan referee Noel Mooney for over-carrying.

McNulty kept going and restored the three-point cushion from a long-range free in the 39th minute, only for McFadden to chip over a free from the deck in the 43rd minute: 1-8 to 0-9. But Ruairi McGlone blasted a Tyrone point (and was immediately replaced by Bradley) to leave three between them with a quarter of the match left.

McFadden converted another free as the sides continued to trade blows and McNulty retorted in the 50th minute. As the tension mounted, members of both backroom teams were told to watch the last ten minutes from the stand.

Two Donegal points in a minute from O'Connor and substitute Eoghan McGrath had the gap down to the minimum with seven minutes remaining and Tyrone lost centre forward Mark Kavanagh to a black card in the 58th minute.

Stephen McBrearty tied the scores up in the last minute of normal time and there was high drama in Derry as word filtered through that there would be two additional minutes… McNulty popped over the winner at the death as the Red Hands sealed the provincial crown and an All-Ireland semi-final date with Roscommon in ten days' time.

After the final whistle, Kieran McGeary collected the Irish News Cup on behalf of his team-mates, while winning centre back Ruairi Brennan picked up the Man of the Match award.

Tyrone - S Fox; R Mullan, P Hampsey, M Cassidy (0-1); C McLaughlin, R Brennan, K McGeary; F Burns, C McShane (0-1); C Meyler (1-0), M Kavanagh, M Walsh; L Brennan (0-4, 2f), D McNulty (0-4, 3f), R McGlone (0-1). Subs: R Kelly for C McLaughlin (BC), M Bradley for R McGlone, S McKenna for F Burns.

Donegal - D Rodgers; C Morrison, C Parke, J O'Brien; R McHugh, D Mulgrew, E Gallagher; T McClenaghan, C Thompson (0-1f); O Crawford, L Connor, D O'Connor (0-2); W Gillespie (0-1), H McFadden (0-5, 4f), E McHugh (0-2). Subs: E McGrath (0-1) for C Morrison, S McBrearty (0-1) for T McClenaghan, J Brennan for L Connor, C Mulligan for O Crawford, C McGonigle for W Gillespie.

Referee - N Mooney.

Tweet

Most Read Stories