Tyrone 3-20 Roscommon 0-14:There's no disputing the National Football League's form team following Tyrone's swashbuckling display at Omagh yesterday. The Ulster champions were a delight to watch, particularly in the first half when they ran the Roscommon defence ragged.
And Peter Canavan confirmed his return to top form with another magical display, finishing with eight points and countless unselfish assists, including two goals which he could have taken himself. Canavan was involved in virtually every attacking move, and didn't try to conceal his pleasure at Tyrone's slick combination play.
"We're starting to get things together and starting to play as a team, but there are still a lot of fellows who have just recently made their debuts, and we're still getting used to playing along with one another," said Canavan.
"But it's quite enjoyable to play along with these young fellows, they're full of running. It makes a change for me to be standing about and letting these young lads do the running. I used to have to do that for Plunkett Donaghy and Damien O'Hagan.
"We're getting a lot of scores at the moment. I suppose it's down to the fact that we're not doing the endurance training that we normally do at this time of year, so maybe that's the reason that the legs are that bit fresher."
It was vintage Canavan thoughout the opening half, the brilliant corner forward hitting three fine points from play and three supremely accurate free kicks. And with Brian Dooher running himself to a standsill, and linking well between defence and attack, Roscommon were never able to stem the Red Hand surge.
The home side were three points up inside the opening five minutes, through Canavan, Dooher and Kevin Hughes. Roscommon could manage just two points in the opening quarter, both scored by corner forward Jonathan Dunning. But all their best efforts were frustrated by a superb long range score from Dooher.
Along with Canavan, he continued to run the show, and it was Canavan who slipped the ball neatly to Brian McGuckin for a 25th minute goal which sent the Red Hands in at the break with a commanding 1-11 to 0-4 lead.
The Ulster champions allowed the Connacht champions back into it after the interval. John Tobin made a series of telling substitutions which freshened up his side, with Nigel Dineen and John Hanley leading the revival, and Dineen and Jarlath Egan clipping over the points which narrowed the gap to six points with 10 minutes to play.
Then both sides were reduced to 14 men, Roscommon full back John Whyte and Tyrone centre back Sean Teague sent off, both for second bookings. That appeared to disrupt Roscommon's rythmn, and Tyrone finished them off with two goals in a minute. Stephen O'Neill rounded off a delighful move with a fisted effort, and Cormac McAnallen blasted home his side's third.
TYRONE: P Ward, C Gormley, C Lawn, B Robinson (0-1), R McMenamin, S Teague, D McCrossan, C McAnallen (1-1), J Quinn, B Dooher (0-2), S O'Neill (1-5), G Cavlan (0-1), P Canavan (0-8), K Hughes (0-1), B McGuckin (1-0). Subs: B McGuigan (0-1) for Dooher, C Holmes for Gormley..
ROSCOMMON: D Thompson, D Gavin, J Whyte, I Daly, P Noone, F Grehan, M Ryan, S O'Neill, S Lohan (0-2), G Cox, J Hanley, J Tiernan, N Dineen (0-5), G Heneghan, J Dunning (0-2). Subs: D Connellan (0-2) for O'Neill, D Gillooly for Ryan, M Raftery for Gavin, J Egan (0-3) for Heneghan..
Referee: M Monaghan (Kildare)
