Having avoided a shock defeat to Mayo in the semi-final, Tyrone will be taking nothing for granted in Sunday's ESB All-Ireland minor football final and should live up to their favourites' tag against a Cork team who will fight to the bitter end. By Randal Scally.

Tyrone and Cork will meet in the ESB All-Ireland minor football final for the first time since 1972 in what promises to be an exciting Croke Park curtain-raiser.

The Rebels emerged victors 38 years ago, but will go into Sunday's decider as 3/1 outsiders with Tyrone priced at 3/10. Despite it being 10 years since they last lifted the Tom Markham Cup, Cork are bidding to join neighbours Kerry on top of the All-Ireland minor football roll of honour with 11 titles.

It's the first time since 1993 that Cork will be represented in both All-Ireland senior and minor finals. By coincidence, their manager Brian Cuthbert was left corner forward on the '93 team that defeated Meath and he will hope to bring that experience to bear this weekend.

Tyrone are seeking their fifth title since 1998 and their eighth in all. Since bridging a 25-year gap with their victory over Laois in '98 when current senior boss Mickey Harte was manager, the Red Hands have been the most successful county in the grade, adding further titles in 2001, '04 and '08, defeating Mayo after a replay in the latter final. Raymond Munroe was manager then and he's back again for another tilt at the Markham Cup.

While Tyrone may not have any survivors from their '08 side, they have been All-Ireland favourites since early in the season, handing out heavy defeats to last year's champions Armagh in the Ulster final and Kerry, who Cork had only a point to spare over in the Munster final, in the All-Ireland quarter-final. However, they had to dig deep to avoid a shock loss to Mayo in the semi-final and they don't need to be told that a similar performance will not be good enough to beat Cork.

Unlike the senior finalists, both teams have already put silverware on the sideboard by winning their provincial championships. Tyrone lost the Ulster league final to Dublin in the spring, but haven't looked back since. After trailing Antrim by 0-7 to 1-5 at half-time in their Ulster championship quarter-final at Casement Park, Raymond Munroe's charges took control on the resumption, reeling off five unanswered points in the first 10 minutes before midfielder Hugh Og Conlon fisted John McCullagh's high delivery to the net to establish a 1-13 to 1-7 lead, and they eventually won by 1-13 to 1-8.

Thomas Canavan's goal on the stroke of half-time proved decisive as Tyrone overcame Down by 1-10 to 0-10 to set up an Ulster final showdown with Armagh. Backboned by players from St. Colman's Hogan Cup winning team, Down came into the game with high hopes and led by 0-3 to 0-1 early on. But that was as good as it got for them as Canavan popped over three points before being set up for the only goal by Stefan Tierney.

Ryan Devlin, John McCullagh and Ronan O'Neill were all on target in the second half as the Red Hands qualified for another provincial decider.

As it transpired, Tyrone captured their third Ulster title in four year with a devastating display, which saw them romp to a 1-14 to 0-5 victory over All-Ireland champions Armagh. The Red Hands dominated from start to finish and killed off the game with a Devlin goal nine minutes from the end. They signalled their intentions by racing into a 0-4 to 0-0 lead inside eight minutes and had extended their advantage to 0-9 to 0-2 by half-time.

Tyrone maintained their blistering form with a 2-12 to 0-9 defeat of Kerry in their first visit of the season to Croke Park. The Ulster champions already had one foot in the semi-final when they led by eight points at half-time thanks to two goals in the space of three minutes early in the second quarter from Harry Og Conlon and Michael Donaghy.
They outscored their opponents by five points to one in the third quarter, and there was no way back for the beaten Munster finalists who could do nothing to prevent the skilful Ronan O'Neill top-scoring for Tyrone with five points.

Tyrone were expected to ease past the challenge of Mayo when they returned to Croke Park on August 22, but the Westerners played all the football in the first 40 minutes or so to lead by 0-14 to 1-4. It was difficult to see a way back for the favourites, but the introduction of Dara Donnelly among others had the desired affect as they outscored Mayo by 2-6 to 0-2 in the time remaining to book their final place on a 3-10 to 0-16 scoreline.

Richard Donnelly ignited their revival with a thunderous shot to the net in the 43rd minute and after first half goal-scorer Ronan O'Neill slotted between the posts a minute later, he then turned provider in the 48th minute for another terrific goal by Dara Donnelly. From there, Tyrone kicked on with a series of points by O'Neill, Stefan Tierney and John McCullagh to pull clear.

Cork have made a habit of staging comebacks this season. In their Munster championship opener against Clare, they finished strongly to claim a 1-9 to 0-9 victory. Brian Hurley rattled the Banner net in the 13th minute, but Clare had regained parity by half-time and the sides were still deadlocked on 1-6 to 0-9 heading towards injury-time, But two late points from Daniel McEoin and another from Hurley saw the Rebels through to a semi-final against Tipperary.

Tipp knocked Cork out of last year's championship, so revenge was sweet for Brian Cuthbert's side when they triumphed by 2-12 to 2-9 at Thurles. The game looked to be over as a contest at half-time when the Rebels held a 2-7 to 1-2 lead with Mark Surgue and Shane Duggan finding the net, but the home side rallied strongly in the second half and twice got to within two points of Cork, who were relieved to hear the final whistle.

Brian Hurley was Cork's match-winner against Kerry in the Munster final, supplying 1-6 of their 1-8 tally, including the winning goal with three minutes remaining. The Kingdom led by 0-4 to 0-3 at half-time and put themselves in a winning position eight minutes into the second half when Mark Reen burrowed through for the opening goal. But the Rebels stuck to their task and Hurley's late winner gave them a dramatic 1-8 to 1-7 victory.

Cork also required a last-gasp goal from Stephen O'Mahony to edge out Armagh by 3-11 to 0-19 in their All-Ireland quarter-final at Croke Park. The All-Ireland champions hit the ground running and led by five points after 18 minutes. John O'Rourke replied with a goal for Cork, but the Orchard County still led by 0-12 to 1-5 at the break.

A quick 1-1 from substitute Dan McEoin levelled matters after the restart before O'Mahony gave Cork the lead with five minutes to go. Armagh scored the next three points to lead by two, but there was still time for more drama as O'Rourke pierced the Orchard defence before setting up O'Mahony for the winning goal.

Cork produced the comeback of all comebacks to edge out Galway by 3-15 to 5-8 in a wonderfully entertaining All-Ireland semi-final. Despite trailing by a whopping nine points with 16 minutes to go, they still had the character and wit to eke out a place in the All-Ireland final.

A brace of goals from Peadar O Griofa gave Galway a 2-5 to 1-5 advantage at the break, but Cork were on level terms within three minutes of the restart thanks to a Brian Hurley strike. Galway then hit 2-1 on the spin with Niall Walsh and Conor Rabbitte grabbing the goals, while Shane Maughan added a point.

When full forward Rabbitte rattled home a fifth Galway goal in the 44th minute, the Tribesmen were sitting pretty on a 5-6 to 2-6 lead. But Cork refused to throw in the towel and with Damian Cahalane driving them on from midfield, Kevin Hallissey netted and a flurry of points brought them back to parity with three minutes remaining.

Galway regained the lead through Maughan, only for Hurley to respond with two late frees, the latter and match-winning score coming from a dubious free in the third minute of injury-time.

As impressive as they were in the final quarter of their respective All-Ireland semi-finals, both teams have a lot of improving to do and will be looking for more consistent displays in the final. Tyrone look set to be without first choice goalkeeper Mark McReynolds, who picked up an injury in a recent training session, but they have quality throughout their team with Niall Sludden, Hugh Og Conlon, Conor Grugan, Richard Donnelly and 16-year-old corner forward Ronan O'Neill among their key performers. Liam Girvan is also back in contention for a starting place after missing most of the campaign through injury.

Cork will look to the likes of Tomas Clancy, Damien Cahalane (who is a son of former senior star Niall), team captain Daniel Fitzgerald, Kevin Hallissey and the free-scoring Brian Hurley to upset the odds. They are sure to be on a high after their thrilling win over Galway and will benefit from the large Cork support that will be present in Croke Park, but Tyrone showed against Mayo that they have ability to get out of tight corners and their stronger bench should give them a vital edge.

It is also impossible to overlook the fact that whereas Tyrone enjoyed emphatic wins over Armagh and Kerry, Cork had only the minimum to spare over the same opposition. Verdict: Tyrone.

Ladbrokes.com odds: Tyrone 3/10; Draw 9/1; Cork 3/1 Tweet

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