Tyrone 1-11 Cavan 1-9 Thirteen-man Tyrone took their place in the ESB Ulster MFC decider on Sunday after seeing off Cavan's late surge with a smash and grab act in injury time at St Tiernach' Park, Clones. Tyrone's star attacker Kyle Coney struck a pivotal 1-2 on the day to inspire his side to victory, but it would prove to be a nervy close for the Red Hands as Kevin Tierney's goal had Cavan leading five minutes from time. The sides were level on 0-3 each before Cavan's Marc Leddy brought down Conor O'Neill in front of the Breffni goal on 22 minutes and Coney drilled the resulting penalty to the middle of Alan O'Meara's net for a three-point advantage. Three unanswered points from Paddy McNiece (2) and Coney saw Tyrone into a six-point lead at the interval that could well have been nine but for a brave save from O'Meara to deny Peter Harte the net, assuring the scores stayed at 1-6 to 0-3 at half-time. O'Neill extended Tyrone's advantage to seven early in the restart before Mickey Graham's side began to put the pressure on the leaders. Breffni substitutes Barry Reilly, Mark Kelly and Packie Leddy (twice) all raised white flags. In the meantime, Red Hands centre-back Gavin Teague would receive a second caution before Cavan had cut the gap down two points entering the closing ten minutes of the game. Tierney's goal five minutes from time should have given Cavan the incentive to book their place in the Ulster final, but it didn't and Tyrone levelled soon after through a Paddy McNiece free, which was followed up by Coney restoring the advantage for Raymond Munroe's side. Coney would see red moments later after be dismissed for a second yellow card but he had done enough for his side at that stage, and Ronan Tierney wrapped it up for the defending champions pointing over the final score of the afternoon two minutes into the added on time. Tyrone - T Harney; F McQuaid, B McGarvey, R Pickering; S McRory, G Teague, P Harte (0-1); C Girvan, N McKenna (0-1); K Mossey, M Donnelly, P McNiece (0-3) (2f); K Coney (1-2), D McNulty (0-1), C O'Neill (0-2) (2f). Subs: R Tierney (0-1) for B McGarvey, M Rodgers for C Girvan. Cavan - A O'Meara; D Barkey, M Leddy, D Tighe; K Meehan, F Flanagan, C Smith; G McKiernan, O Minagh; N Murray, N McDermott (0-3) (2f), N Smith; C McClarey, K Tierney (1-1), R Maloney-Derham. Subs: P Leddy (0-2) for K Meehan, B Reilly (0-1) for F Flanagan, M Kelly (0-1) for C McClarey, F Flanagan for O Minagh. Ref - C Brannigan (Down) Tweet

Most Read Stories