TYRONE picked an awful February afternoon to turn logic on its head. The Jekyll and Hyde nature of the Ulster champions - and the unpredictability of football in general - was exemplified in the wind and rain, at Dungannon yesterday. Just two weeks after an horrific drubbing at the hands of Kerry, Tyrone regrouped to end Cork's unbeaten sequence in the Church & General National Football League Division One campaign.
In recording a merited two point win (albeit with the type of short passing moves out of defence in the closing minutes likely to cause heart failure), Tyrone have placed survival in the top flight in their own hands. A win over Cavlan in Sunday week's final series of matches would be sufficient for them to avoid relegation.
Strange day, and a strange game. Cork, who had previously bestrode the league like a colossus, were shown to be rather human. When Liam Honohan swung over a long range point after 70 seconds, the handful of visiting heads in the 4,000 crowd nodded in anticipation of another Cork win, and the bulk of the home support grimaced at the thought of another Tyrone defeat. Premature.
Cork didn't score for another 35 minutes, even with the aid of a strong wind in the first half, while Tyrone produced evidence that there is life without Peter Canavan, still injured and unavailable. The only consolation for Cork was that results elsewhere meant the defeat didn't hamper their progress into the quarter final stages.
Enda Kilpatrick, providing strength and heart, and Peter's brother, Pascal, furnishing skill and agility, took control around the middle of the park. The Kilpatrick Canavan combination won an enormous amount of possession, and used it adroitly. What's more, Tyrone's forwards also used the ball exceptionally well, particularly in the first half, with a number of intelligently worked moves and smartly taken points.
Ciaran "Dinky" McBride emphasised Tyrone's determination as early as the sixth minute when forging along the end line and unleashing a shot, intended for the back of the net, which rose over Cork keeper Kevin Dwyer's head and the crossbar. Cavlan then finished a move involving some nine Tyrone players for another fine point; Logan also drilled one into the teeth of the wind and over the bar; McBride grabbed his second (after a fine pass from Canavan), and Brian Gormley secured his only point in injury time to leave Tyrone, somewhat unbelievably, ahead by 0-5 to 0-1 at the break.
Cork had fallen between" a rock and a hard place in the first half, neglecting their normal passing game for long passes into the attack, "often resulting in innocuous wides. In the second half, however, with such temptation set aside by the reality of facing the wind (and attempting to haul back a four point deficit into the bargain), Cork's game plan changed significantly.
Also, Tyrone, perhaps tempted to defend their advantage, failed to garner as much possession. The Cork half backs, particularly Ciaran O'Sullivan and Martin Cronin, came increasingly into the game and helped Honohan and Damien O'Reilly to break the Kilpatrick Canavan dominance at midfield. Indeed, Cork - with points from Pat Hegarty and Colin Corkery - resurrected their hopes with two points inside the opening 10 minutes of the half.
A decisive moment arrived in the 47th minute, however. Hegarty played a lovely ball through and, for the first time, Corkery got the measure of Fay Devlin. But, with a goal in his sights, Corkery's shot was superbly blocked by keeper Finbarr McConnell and, just as importantly, swept down the field for Mattie McGleenan to point. A couple of minutes later, Cavlan notched a point to increase Tyrone's lead to four points again.
Cork, though, continued to fightback. A lovely Ciaran O'Sullivan Brian Corcoran O'Reilly move ended with the midfielder taking a point when a goal was on his mind, and then Aidan Dorgan kicked a 57th minute point to leave just two points between the sides.
It was a case of all hands on deck for Tyrone in the dying minutes, exemplified by Sean McLaughlin's brave head on injury time tackle on impressive Cork substitute Ollie O'Sullivan which prevented a goal opportunity for the visitors, gave away a free and earned the Tyrone man a booking. Strangely, with two minutes and 20 seconds of added time already played, Corkery opted to tap over the resultant free (leaving a point between the sides), rather than attempt to conjure up a possible goal. Tyrone celebrated their redemption by flowing down the field from the kick off for Cavlan to score the insurance point which give them a deserved win.
