Derry hurlers battle to league title success at Owenbeg

Allianz National Hurling League Division 2B Final

Derry 1-14

Tyrone 1-8

THE HURLERS dug deep to land the national hurling title in Owenbeg on Saturday evening to complete their league campaign unbeaten and the perfect boost heading into the Christy Ring Cup.

Having beaten Tyrone by 10 points when they met back in February so many expected them to again ease to victory. That was not how manager Johnny McGarvey looked at it and this was as tough as he had expected.

“We came here expecting a battle, many might have been surprised how tight that game was but not us, we expected it be a real dogged affair and a war,” he said.

It may not have been pretty but the result was what mattered for the Lavey man.

“It was a horrible game but we came out on top and that is what matters. We set our stall out to get promoted and win this league. We would not be happy with our performance so we have plenty to work on.”

One of those factors that will have disappointed him the most was the 17 wides they hit over the game.

“It has been the story of our league so far, in Wicklow I think we had over 20 and against Roscommon too we were well up in the teens. Hard to put a finger on why, but it gives us loads to work on.

“We showed real character to not let it affect us and I think in the first 15 minutes of the second half was what won that game for us. Our defence was unreal against them, they have been like that and we have conceded very little in the league.”

“We will enjoy this tonight but it is all about the Christy Ring, we will go back at it. The Christy Ring is our aim, we have Wicklow, Tyrone again and Kildare, going to be a real battle.”

With the aid of the wind at their backs, Derry started in lightening fashion with the opening three points inside four minutes. Cormac O’Doherty struck over the opener with a free before the excellent Darragh McGilligan and then Christy McNaughton added one apiece. Derry then became ragged with their shooting, including O’Doherty who is usually so accurate from placed balls.

Confidence

Tyrone, who were winning a lot of the possession from the ‘dirty ball’, gained confidence while Derry’s seemed to take a hit from the misses. Aidan Kelly from placed balls reduced the deficit to the minimum midway through the half. O’Doherty from a free before the visitors struck for their goal on 19 minutes. James McCann turned the ball over and Kelly found Rory Weir to fire to the net despite a great effort from Oisin O’Doherty to keep it out.

O’Doherty and Kelly with frees and one from Lorcan Devlin moved Tyrone two clear. Derry had the game level by the break though with a superb effort from Cahal Murray and then RuairÍ ÓMianáin who had taken over the free taking duties.

Kelly with a free edged Tyrone back in front 1-5 to 0-7 just 40 seconds after the resumption. ÓMianáin and Kelly traded points before ÓMianáin placed in Corey O’Reilly to level matters on 49 minutes.

It remained point for point with O’Doherty resuming the free taking and converting two for the home side. Then came the key moment on 60 minutes as a great run from Meehaul McGrath opened up the Tyrone defence and the slitter broke for substitute Sean Kelly to rifle it to the net. McGarvey’s men never looked back from that and O’Doherty with a further two frees and one from Kelly suddenly had them six clear. Tyrone pushed for a goal to get them back into contention but the Derry rearguard stood firm and never looked like letting them in with both Paddy Kelly and Richie Mullan in particular turning over vital possession and clearing their lines.

Derry will now turn their focus to the Christy Ring beginning with Wicklow in two weeks' time.

Team & Scorers

Derry: C O’Doherty 0-7 (f), S Kelly 1-1, R ÓMianáin 0-2 (1f), C O’Reilly, C McNaughton, D McGillian and C Murray 0-1 each.

Tyrone: A Kelly 0-6 (f), R Weir 1-0, J McCann and L Devlin 0-1 each.

Derry: OisÍn O’Doherty; Paddy Kelly, Mark Craig, Séan Cassidy; Aimon Duffin, Richie Mullan, Meehaul McGrath; Cormac O’Doherty, Ruairí ÓMianáin; John Mullan, Corey O’Reilly, Darragh McGilligan; Cahal Murray, Christy McNaughton, Paul Cleary.

Subs: Callum O’Kane for J Mullan (47), Séan Kelly for Cleary (51), Pádhraig Neilis for McNaughton (58), James Friel for C O’Doherty (68).

Temp Sub: J Friel for R Mullan (63-63).

Tyrone: Conor McElhatton; Dean Rafferty, Ruairí Devlin, Oran McKee; Ben Gormley, Fionn Devlin, Roru Weir; James McCann, Cormac Munroe; Bryan McGurk, Aidan Kelly, Lorcan Devlin; Tiernan Morgan, Sean Og Grogan, Joe McToal.

Subs: Turlough Mullan for Grogan, Michael Little for Weir, Anthony Crossan for Morgan, Eoin Winters for R Devlin, Cormac Taggart for Munroe.

Referee: James Connors (Donegal).