By Barry O'Donnell
Tyrone........0-21
Down.........1-19
HOLDERS Tyrone crashed out of the Ulster Championship against surprise packets Down after a real roller-coaster of a contest played out in front of over 18,000 nerve-wracked supporters in Pairc Esler last Saturday night.
Ninety minutes of engrossing, sea-saw action was served up by both sides, with fortunes fluctuating one way then another, but by sheer force of will the home side just edged across the winning line.
After a lacklustre showing for the majority of the initial encounter six days earlier, Tyrone were not wanting in terms of courage, character and heart, yet on this evening such traits also coursed through the veins of the hosts and no-one could deny them their triumph after several years in the doldrums.
Four Tyrone points on the bounce in the last five minutes of normal time, including a last gasp equaliser by brilliant super-sub Tommy McGuigan, left the match tied up at 0-16 apiece and heading for extra time. It appeared that Down had shot their bolt especially when the Red Hands subsequently forged four ahead in the first period of extra-time, yet a typical poachers goal strike by Benny Coulter swung the tie back in the hosts favour again and during a breathless finale they clung on frantically to their narrow advantage.
It made for a riveting spectacle and in truth a third instalment would have been the fairest outcome, the honesty and endeavour of the likes of Brian Dooher, Ryan McMenamin, Sean Cavanagh, Davy Harte and Philip Jordan ultimately proving insufficient to keep their side in the hunt for the Anglo-Celt Cup.
With neither Enda McGinley nor Brian McGuigan taking their places in the named starting fifteen, both Joe McMahon and Ryan Mellon were drafted in as replacements. And despite falling behind to a fisted point from Ambrose Rodgers after 20 seconds, Tyrone actually enjoyed the more enterprising start.
Sean Cavanagh was again proving a real handful as a targetman on the edge of the opposition square and with his attacking colleagues working well off him, his side eased ahead 0-5 to 0-2 just before the quarter hour mark. Colm Cavanagh landed three frees, while his older brother Sean and Moy team-mate Ryan Mellon with a superb effort from distance got on the scoresheet for the visitors. A close range Aidan Carr free represented Down's sole riposte.
Repeated early stoppages for quite petty infringements disrupted the rhythm and flow of the match, with both sides also guilty of sloppily squandering possession. Points from open play were at a premium during the opening half hour, Liam Doyle landing a hat-trick of dead ball conversions for the hosts, which sandwiched accurate frees struck over by Colm Cavanagh and Colm McCullagh. Cavanagh's participation however was to end shortly afterwards when he limped off to be replaced by Kevin Hughes.
Down captain Dan Gordon, such an influential figure in Omagh, was being effectively tracked by Joe McMahon for much of the first half, but sprung to life when he latched onto Coulter's pass to fire over.
Just before the interval Paul Murphy drew the home side level with a quality effort but a wonderful catch and accurate strike by Sean Cavanagh handed Tyrone a narrow 0-8 to 0-7 advantage at half-time.
Tyrone made a few adjustments before the resumption with Conor Gormley dropping back from midfield to centre-half back to track Coulter and Ciaran Gourley switching to midfield. They were given an early fillip when Martin Penrose darted through to hoist over but typical of this absorbing evening, Down then enjoyed a productive spell which yielded three successive scores. John Clarke and Danny Hughes split the posts with exceptional efforts and Doyle tagged on another left-footed free to leapfrog in front 0-10 to 0-9.
Tyrone's injury jinx struck again when sub Hughes himself hobbled off, Peter Donnelly drafted in at centre field, yet with the likes of Dooher and Harte working like trojans, they continued to carry the battle to the hosts.
McCullagh turned sharply to float over a tidy score and Sean Cavanagh converted a close range free, however accurate dead-ball finishes from Carr and Doyle punished some ragged Tyrone defending.
Coulter shrugged off Gormley to curl an exceptional score in off the right hand upright to hand Down a two point advantage, but they enjoyed a lucky reprieve midway through the half when Cavanagh's clever fisted pass put McMahon in the clear. He side-stepped the keeper but agonisingly rolled his effort against the outside of the post and Down mopped up the danger.
Approaching the last ten, Down made what appeared a decisive burst for the line. Coulter rampaged through to fist over and then Kevin McKernan and Doyle with a '45' eased Ross Carr's charges into a 0-16 to 0-12 advantage by the 64th minute.
However full credit to Tyrone who dug deep into their reserves of hunger and desire, they refused to throw in the towel. And in sub Tommy McGuigan they had the player keen to take the match by the scruff of the neck.
Having already converted a free, he exchanged passes with Gormley before planting the ball firmly over the bar. Two minutes from time he landed another one after the hard-working McMenamin was impeded.
Down's defending was getting pretty desperate and defender Damien Rafferty was sent-off after picking up a second yellow card for a reckless foul on Cavanagh. Still they seemed to have done enough until with the last kick of the game, McGuigan displayed nerves of steel to nonchalantly knock over a 40m free to square matters at 0-16 each. The visitors gutsy fightback looked to have knocked the stuffing out of the home side (even though the introduction of Kevin McGuigan brought them back up to the full complement of fifteen players) and when the first period of ten minutes each way proceeded, Tyrone stormed out of the blocks with four points.
It was a blistering spell of attacking football, McCullagh, Cavanagh, Jordan and man of the moment McGuigan all finding the range from various angles and distances to stretch heir side out in front 0-20 to 0-16.
Incredibly Down responded with a potent scoring spree of their own to lead at the short whistle. Carr (free) and Coulter registered white flags, before the Mayobridge marauder then swooped for a goal, fisting into the net at the back post after McMenamin failed to collect Carr's dangerous delivery.
Doyle hit his fifth free of the evening to give Doyle the edge 1-19 to 0-20 at the end of the first period of extra-time but shortly after the resumption, McCullagh had halved that advantage.
But despite wresting the initiative, Tyrone's accuracy let them down over the last nine minutes and they were unable to grab that precious equaliser, the final whistle the cue for a mass pitch invasion from the delirious red and back hordes.
