Coalisland ended a 20-year wait for O'Neill Cup honours when they recorded a surprise victory over Carrickmore in the Tyrone SFC final at Healy Park.

Coalisland 0-9
Carrickmore 0-7

And rather fittingly, their long-awaited success was masterminded by former county star Damien O'Hagan, who captained them to their last O'Neill Cup in 1989. Coalisland took the game to their more fancied opponents from the start and led by 0-2 to 0-0 at the end of the first quarter thanks to points from Paddy McNeice and captain Plunkett Kane.

Brian Toner extended their advantage before Carrickmore finally opened their account through Barry Daly in the 20th minute. Finbarr Magill and McNeice traded points before Kevin McNally pointed to leave the Carmen men just a point adrift, 0-3 to 0-4, at the break.

A McNally point from play brought Carrickmore level on the restart, but they could never get their noses in front as scores from McNeice and the Toner brothers, Brian and Philip, pushed Coalisland 0-8 to 0-5 in front.

McNally closed the gap again, only for Brian Toner to reply. Carrickmore piled on the pressure in the closing stages, but all that they could muster was a solitary point from corner forward Magill as Coalisland stood firm.

Coalisland - J Curran; L O'Neill, P Donnelly, L Wylie; S McNally, N Kerr, P O'Farrell; P McGahan, P Toner (0-1); P Kane (0-1), B Toner (0-3), S Curran, P McNeice (0-4) , T O'Hagan, G Toner. Subs - M Early for Kane, D Thornton for O'Hagan.

Carrickmore - P McCallan; P Daly, C McGurk, B McLaughlin; P Hughes, C McAleer, P Cunningham; C Gormley, N Loughran; C Daly, B Daly (0-2) , P McMahon; K McNally (0-3) , M Donnelly, F Magill (0-2). Subs - G McCallan for McMahon, M McCallan for Hughes. Tweet

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