Cork footballers seal Division 1 return with brilliant win in Tyrone
Ruairí Deane of Cork celebrates with Steven Sherlock and Brian Hurley. Picture: Oliver McVeigh/Sportsfile
Cork’s ten-year exile from the top-tier is over after securing promotion from the Allianz Division 2 Football League after a hard-earned three-point win over Tyrone at O’Neills Healy Park on Sunday afternoon.
The Rebels didn’t make it easy for themselves in a game where they were the better team over the course of 70 minutes.
Cork led by a point at the short whistle having played against a strong wind. They were clinical with just two wides compared to Tyrone’s nine.
The Rebels looked in trouble though at stages in the second half. They trailed by two points at one juncture, but they finished well to pick up a deserved win and more importantly promotion.
Sub Brian Hurley made a huge difference with 0-4 including a two-pointer. The Rebels showed maturity and accuracy to get over the line.
The celebrations after the game told the story, a great day for Cork football after so many dark days.
Tyrone had the advantage of a relatively strong wind in the first half, but it was a fairly even opening with both sides sussing each other out.
Cork got the first score after six minutes through a Mark Cronin free from a challenging angle followed quickly by a Colm O’Callaghan effort and a Steven Sherlock free.
The teams traded points with the Rebels defending excellently with Brian O’Driscoll and Luke Fahy very effective against a Tyrone side who didn’t exactly commit too many numbers forward despite being with the wind.
Fahy was everywhere with the defender slotting over a neat point to push Cork four points clear. The away side were in command and should have been further ahead when they missed a goal chance after 14 minutes. Cronin set up Seán McDonnell but his effort was straight at Tyrone goalkeeper Oisín O’Kane.
The Ulster outfit went down the other end and slotted over a two-pointer courtesy of Ethan Jordan.
It didn’t rock Cork, who were composed and direct against the wind. Captain Ian Maguire, Chris Óg Jones and Tommy Walsh all pointed to give their side a 0-8 to 0-3 lead after 20 minutes.
Jordan was leading Tyrone’s attack and he slotted over a free to cut the deficit. They landed two of the next three points and also hit the crossbar from Darren McCurry, 0-9 to 0-6 with five minutes to the break.
McDonnell with Cork’s score in that period.
Tyrone finished the half strongly with points from Darragh Canavan and Matthew Donnelly, 0-9 to 0-8 in favour of the Rebels at half-time.
John Cleary’s charges were wind-assisted for the new half but they were rocking with Tyrone missing two goal chances through sub Eoin McElholm and then seconds later, Ben McDonnell.
A Canavan free drew the Ulster team level before Donnelly gave Tyrone the lead for the first time after 38 minutes, 0-10 to 0-9.
Jones though straight away pointed to tie up proceedings. O’Callaghan raised his third white flag to give the Rebels a slender 0-11 to 0-10 lead after 45 minutes.
Tyrone landed two of the next three points as the game remained on a knife-edge.
McCurry nudged the Red Hand County ahead followed by a Canavan effort, 0-14 to 0-12.
A Cronin point was timely for Cork as they looked to rediscover their swagger as Dara Sheedy drew parity with 19 minutes remaining.
A Sherlock two-pointer was inspirational as Cork started to get a grip around midfield.
The St Finbarr’s player converted a free as the Leesiders led 0-17 to 0-14 after 55 minutes.
Tyrone put two points together to leave the bare minimum in it, but sub Hurley bisected the posts for Cork as they needed to regain their composure going into the closing stages.
A beauty of an effort from Sherlock pushed the Rebels 0-19 to 0-16 clear with six minutes remaining.
A Hurley orange flag brought the small but loud Cork fans to their feet.
Tyrone did get three quick-fire points but impressive Hurley fisted over the last score as the Rebels picked up a deserved win and promotion back to Division 1.
M Donnelly 0-6, E Jordan 0-5 (0-2 f, 1 2pt), D Canavan 0-4 (0-1 f), D McCurry 0-2, C Kilpatrick, C Daly 0-1 each.
S Sherlock 0-5 (1 2pt, 0-2 f), B Hurley 0-4 (1 2pt), C O’Callaghan 0-3, S McDonnell, M Cronin (0-1 f), C Óg Jones 0-2 each, T Walsh, L Fahy, I Maguire, D Sheedy 0-1 each.
O O'Kane; B Cullen, P Teague, C Quinn; J Clarke, N Devlin, B McDonnell; B Kennedy (c), C Kilpatrick; S O'Donnell, R Cassidy, D Canavan; D McCurry, M Donnelly, E Jordan.
E McElholm for E Jordan (h-t, inj), F Burns for B McDonnell (48), C Daly for R Cassidy (53), M McKernan for B Cullen (58), C Bogue for D McCurry (66).
P Doyle; S Meehan, D O’Mahony, M Shanley; B O’Driscoll, T Walsh, L Fahy; C O’Callaghan, I Maguire (c); P Walsh, D Sheedy, S McDonnell; M Cronin, C Óg Jones, S Sherlock.
B Hurley for D Sheedy (53), R Deane for P Walsh (59), R Maguire for L Fahy (60), S Walsh for S McDonnell (66), D Buckley for I Maguire (69).
Martin McNally (Monaghan).
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