Red Hand minors ease into decider

June 18, 2007
Tyrone minors made it a day to remember for the Red Hand County at Clones as the youngsters easily accounted for their Armagh counterparts to book their place in the Ulster MFC decider. Tyrone 2-12 Armagh 0-8 Tyrone's passage to the decider proved to be a more straightforward task than may have been anticipated as, after conceding a goal after just 25 seconds, Armagh failed to serve up any sort of a challenge to their ruthless opponents. The Orchard County had barely shook hands with their opposite numbers when Tyrone struck for their first goal as Conor O'Neill was the beneficiary of some poor handling by 'keeper Sean Corry, taking full advantage of the gift by blasting to the net from close range. That strike seemed to set the tone for the remainder of the encounter as it was Tyrone who had the more purpose about their play with the midfield pairing of Mark McKenna and Colin Harkin dominating in that sector, thus supplying a constant service into a full-forward line which possessed plenty of pace and guile. The trio in that inside attacking unit contributed 2-6 of the final tally with O'Neill and Tiernan O'Hagan both registering 1-1, while Paul McAleer also played his part by sending over a quartet of fine points. Armagh did recover some of the lost ground from conceding the early goal and they managed to reduce the deficit back to the minimum by the end of the opening quarter but Tyrone shovelled on the coal on the approach to half time to lead 1-6 to 0-5 at the interval. A converted Paddy McNeice free six minutes into the second half stretched Tyrone into a double scores advantage, 1-7 to 0-5, and when O'Hagan netted his side's second goal midway through the half, the game was essentially ended as a contest. Armagh's afternoon was compounded when Alan McCann received his marching orders after seeing yellow for a second time in the closing stages and Tyrone saw out the game at a pedestrian pace with their opponents rarely threatening. Tyrone will now meet the winners of Monaghan and Derry in the provincial decider and on the back of this landslide victory they will fancy their chances of continuing their winning run. Tyrone - M. O'Neill; P. Martin, A. Girvan, C. Arkinson; C. McCrory, R. McNab, K. Mossey; M. McKenna, C. Harkin; P. McNeice (0-3), K. Coney (0-1), P. Hughes; P. McAleer (0-4), T. O'Hagan (1-1), C. O'Neill (1-1). Subs - S. Curran (0-1) for Harkin, B. McNulty (0-1) for Convey, P. Harte for McNeice, S. O'Neill for Hughes, M. Rodgers for Arkinson. Armagh - S. Corry; T. Turley, M. McConville, B. McKenna; R. Conlon, G. McCoey, J. Grimley; S. Sheridan (0-1), A. McCann; D. Comiskey (0-1), F. Hanratty (0-3), T. Donnelly; J. Clarke (0-1), R. Clarke, M. Shields. Subs - D. Fearon for Turley, E. McVerry for R. Clarke, A. Duffy (0-1) for Grimley, S. McCreesh for Donnelly, J. Donnelly (0-1) for J. Clarke. Referee - G. Walsh (Antrim).

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