Tyrone 2-11 Kildare 0-12:Old soldiers never die. A couple of shimmering second-half performances from Stephen O'Neill and Owen Mulligan turned this NFL Division Two game on its head and meant Tyrone ran out comfortable winners. Surrounded by youngsters and up-and-comers who were looking to them for inspiration, they rolled back the years to win a game that had looked well beyond them for much of the early exchanges.
A busy Kildare side had by far the better of a tepid first half. Despite finding themselves 0-2 to 0-0 down after 15 minutes, they rattled off five points without reply to be well in front 10 minutes later. With Mikey Conway and Tomás O’Connor particularly impressive, they were strong-running and unrelenting in that period, leaving Tyrone spluttering in their wake. A half-time total of 0-6 against Tyrone’s 0-3 was the least they deserved.
But Mickey Harte’s side came out for the second half a changed outfit, with Mulligan and O’Neill the main protagonists. Kildare couldn’t cope with either of them and when centre-back Peter Harte augmented their work with strong runs through the middle, Kildare were split open.
As it happened, both Tyrone goals came from that source. Harte first latched onto a Mulligan pass on 41 minutes before flicking inside to Martin Penrose who palmed to the net. By the time Harte repeated the dose 15 minutes later – this time finishing himself after a sumptuous Mulligan through ball – Tyrone were opening the shoulders. His goal made it 2-7 to 0-10 and Tyrone pulled away from that point on.
Mulligan ended the night with the man-of-the-match award and O’Neill with five points (three from play). Between them, they gave Tyrone followers plenty of cause for optimism as the year shakes itself of winter.
Tyrone:P McConnell; A McCrory, C Clarke, PJ Quinn; C McCarron, P Harte (1-0), Seán O'Neill; M Murphy, A Cassidy; Matthew Donnelly, P Hughes, M Penrose (1-0); O Mulligan (0-3, 0-2 frees), Mark Donnelly (0-1), S O'Neill (0-5, 0-2 frees). Subs:D McCaul (0-1) for Quinn, 32 mins; R O'Neill (0-1) for Hughes, 32 mins.
Kildare:S Connolly; P Kelly (0-1), C Fitzpatrick, O Lyons; B Flanagan, T O'Neill, E O'Flaherty (0-1, 45); D Flynn, R Sweeney; T Moolick, M Conway (0-7, 0-5 frees), P O'Neill (0-2); J Kavanagh, T O'Connor, A Smith. Subs:J Doyle (0-1) for Moolick, 20 mins; H McGrillen for Flanagan, 41 mins; E Callaghan for Smith, 46 mins; M O'Flaherty for Fitzpatrick, 50 mins
Referee:M Duffy (Sligo)