Ulster SFC Semi-final/Cavan 1-7 Tyrone 0-10: The scoring pattern kept the game on a knife-edge, but it was a pity about the quality of football in a dire Ulster semi-final before a sun-baked 25,084 crowd at Clones yesterday.
The draw was eventually secured by a point off what Tyrone manager Mickey Harte described as an illegally taken free by Cavan substitute Michael Lyng with the last kick of a bizarre eight minutes of stoppage allowance.
Harte was not complaining about the stoppage time, but he felt that the free was incorrect in its application. It happened to be Cavan's fourth opportunity with the placed ball in a hectic, hot-tempered finish.
This erratic series of free-taking chances for Cavan to cause the upset of the championship came after Stephen O'Neill gave a shell-shocked Tyrone the lead for the first time almost two minutes into time added on.
Lyng shared the place-kicking duties with substitute Dermot McCabe during this time and Tyrone players stood in horror as the long-range frees that could have decided the issue in Cavan's favour were being taken.
Lyng's crucial kick for the equaliser was awarded 40 metres out close to the sideline on the left. The Cavan man did a little shimmy forward to reduce the distance to 35 metres. The linesman's flag was raised to apparently bring this to the notice of the referee but it was suddenly dropped as Lyng scored.
The hostilities that created the stop-start trend and 56 frees spilled over at the final whistle with some additional handbagging. Harte has never looked more incensed than he did over the manner in which Lyng's equalising point was manoeuvred.
"He clearly stole a few yards and I think the linesman was aware of this by putting up his flag," said Harte.
Paul Brady, the Cavan right half back who flew home for the match from the States after winning an All American handball championship, had a superb match, but he may go into championship folklore for having been stretchered off with a red card flashed in his face.
The great all-rounder got involved in a nasty duel for possession with a Tyrone attacker and although he came off second best he earned a straight red card from an overworked Galway referee in Gearóid Ó Conamha.
It meant that Cavan were down to 14 men, losing their best player, from the 26th minute of the second half. However, Cavan were never headed until injury time. They unsettled the favourites with clever use of the ball and good variation in the first half to lead by 0-6 to 0-4 at the break.
The turning point for Cavan seemed to have arrived when Jason O'Reilly finished to the net after good work by Pierce McKenna after 53 minutes for a 1-6 to 0-6 advantage. But all and sundry in the Cavan camp agreed afterwards that the lack of a quick follow-up point or two at this stage put the damper on Cavan's chances of succeeding.
And so its back to Clones for both teams next Saturday at 5.30pm for the replay.
Harte, as usual, was fair in his summing up of the match. "We did well to come back into it in the second half after being down with an inferior display in the first.
"Cavan won hard ball around the middle and certainly deserved another chance. They will be disappointed that they fell short of victory on this occasion."
Harte explained the untidy nature of the game: "The day is gone when players remain in their allotted positions."
CAVAN: J Reilly; M Hannon, D Rabbitt, K Fannin; P Brady, Peter Reilly, Pádraig Reilly; N Walsh, P McKenna; M Cahill (0-1), M McKeever, F O'Reilly; J O'Reilly (1-2, 1 free), A Forde, L Reilly (0-3, 1 free). Subs: M Lyng (0-1 free) for A Forde (44), D McCabe for F Reilly (54), S Johnston for Peter Reilly (60).
TYRONE: P McConnell; R McMenamin (0-2), C Lawn, S Sweeney; D Harte, G Devlin, P Jordan; C Gormley, S Cavanagh; B Donnelly, P Canavan (0-3, 2 frees), M Penrose; O Mulligan (0-1), S O'Neill (0-4, 2 frees), E McGinley. Subs: B Dooher for Penrose, B McGuigan for Donnelly (both 35), R Mellon for Dooher (65), J Devine for McConnell (75).
Referee: G Ó Conamha (Galway).
