SF Qualifier: Red Hands blow 14-man Tipp away

July 18, 2015

Tyrone's Sean Cavanagh
©INPHO

Tyrone 0-19
Tipperary 0-7

Sean Cavanagh will remember his record breaking 76th championship appearance in the Tyrone jersey as the Red Hands scored a convincing 12 point victory over 14-man Tipperary in Semple Stadium.

The Ulster side's greater experience and cohesiveness told in the second-half as, despite playing against the wind, they registered nine points without reply to seal their place in the last 12 of the All-Ireland series.

Cavanagh hit two first-half points as Mickey Harte's men went in at the break with a slender 0-7 to 0-6 but there was only one team in it after the resumption as the Premier County's challenge fell asunder.

Points from Connor McAliskey (4), Darren McCurry (3) and Mattie Donnelly (2) put some clear daylight between the sides before Kevin O'Halloran registered Tipp's solitary second-half point, with his fifth converted placed ball of the contest, in the closing stages.

The Premier County's woes were compounded in the 55th minute when substitute Liam Casey, who was only on the field two minutes, was shown a red card by referee David Gough for stamping on Colm Cavanagh while a black card brought Ciaran McDonald's participation to a premature end.

The Tipperary 15 that lined up for the throw-in showed three changes from the team announced in advance with Steven O'Brien, Ger Mulhair and Robbie Kiely all starting.

Mickey Harte, meanwhile made one late alteration to his line-up with Conor Meyler replacing Rory Brennan and the championship debutant was involved in the main talking point from the first-half.

As the half-time whistle approached, Meyler was on the receiving end of a robust tackle from Michael Quinlivan and a number players from both sides got involved in a pushing and shoving match.

Referee Gough subsequently issued yellow cards to Joe McMahon, Cathal McCarron, Peter Acheson and O'Brien.

By that stage, Tipperary had settled into the game after a nervous start, thanks in the main to O'Halloran's accuracy from placed balls, but whatever Mickey Harte said to his troops during his half-time team talk worked a treat as it was all one-way traffic in the second-half.

The visitors outscored their hosts by 0-12 to 0-1 and it was fitting that record breaker Cavanagh should bring the curtain down on the scoring with a fisted point.

McAliskey and McCurry shared the scoring honours with five points apiece and the Ulster SFC preliminary round loss to Donegal is now a distant memory for the Cavanagh captained outfit.

Tyrone - N Morgan; A McCrory, R McNamee, C McCarron; R McNabb, Joe McMahon, P Harte (0-2); C Cavanagh, M Donnelly (0-3); T McCann, M Bradley, C Meyler; D McCurry (0-5, 2f), S Cavanagh (0-3), C McAliskey (0-5, 3f). Subs: C McCann (0-1) for D McCurry, B Tierney for C Meyler, C Clarke for C Cavanagh, R O'Neill for M Bradley, P McNulty for P Harte, C McShane for C McAliskey.

Tipperary - E Comerford; C McDonald, P Codd, A Campbell; S Kennedy, R Kiely (0-1), B Fox; P Acheson, C O'Riordan; G Mulhair, S O'Brien, P Austin; K O'Halloran (0-5, 4f, 1'45), M Quinlivan (0-1), C Sweeney. Subs: J Lonergan for C Sweeney, L Casey for S O'Brien, J Feehan for C McDonald (BC), B Grogan for P Austin, B Mulvihill for C O'Riordan, C O'Shaughnessy for G Mulhair.

Referee - D Gough.


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