Tyrone 0-10 Cavan 0-8
Tyrone’s pathway back to Division One started at Healy Park on a miserable January afternoon, and while there may have been little flair and style about their victory over Cavan, the points were the only currency that mattered.
A dogged, defensive contest, played out in front of a crowd of 5,150, stifled both sets of attacks, and the fact that neither goalkeeper had a save to make over the 75-odd minutes tells much of the story.
In the end, Tyrone were able to strike from distance to pick off the scores that shaded this, the first of four Ulster derby ties they will play in Division Two.
“Cavan are good defensively, they set up well defensively, so it’s hard to break them down, even on a dry soil, but on wet ground like that, where any slip, any slide, or any drop of the ball gets eaten up, that makes life difficult,” said Tyrone boss Mickey Harte.
They are good at what they do, and make it hard for teams to score against them, so we had to content ourselves with having to deal with that.
“Cavan have been playing this way for a number of years now and they are growing in confidence with this style of play. They know what they’re doing, they know how to work collectively.
“It is very difficult to break them down because when you break one line there’s another line coming at you. As good defensive units do, they don’t let the man, if he gets through the first line he doesn’t get through the second or third line, they make him shoot under pressure or recycle the ball.”
But Harte was less than happy with the return he got from his attacking unit.
“We probably weren’t clinical enough with the chances we got. The big thing is, and we’ve been talking about this for a while now, is that our return from free kicks is not of the standard that it needs to be to be the top level so that’s something we have to really work on.”
Mark Bradley’s early score was on the only point from play in the opening half-hour.
Cavan held the lead briefly, when Martin Reilly converted a 45 to add to Niall McDermott’s free, but the home side, with Conor Meyler a busy presence along either flank, pushed ahead with a couple of Lee Brennan efforts.
Cavan applied a strong finish to the half, Martin Reilly and skipper Gearoid McKiernan both landing huge points from wide on the left.
That left it deadlocked at 0-5 each at the interval, and the Red Hands gained the upper hand, thanks to the experience of Colm Cavanagh, Justin McMahon and Cathal McCarron.
But it was young centre back Rory Brennan who provided a telling new point of attack, making piercing runs from deep to find gaps in the Cavan cover.
He set up a point for Mattie Donnelly and scored one himself, as they went three clear.
Tyrone tried to run down the clock by holding possession, and were almost made to pay the price for some sloppy distribution, rescued by a Brennan intercept and a Conall McCann block as Cavan went in search of the goal that was to elude them.
Cavan manager Terry Hyland insisted he had to fight fire with fire in terms of the counter-attacking game he correctly anticipated from his opponents.
“That’s probably the way that Ulster teams set up, and you don’t get many goal chances.
“That’s the way that Ulster teams set up, and you don’t get many goal chances.”
“We all talk about statistics and game plans, but the biggest one is always the score-board, and unfortunately that’s where we were behind, and that’s the one that counts.”
And with three more Ulster derby ties to come, including next weekend’s clash with Derry, Hyland is predicting a northern dogfight.
“It’s going to be a dogfight-type league I suppose. That’s’ the way it is, I can’t see any of the rest of them being any different.
“It’s not going to be an easy division, it’s one of those tough divisions. I think it will be a case of probably seven or eight points promotion, five or six points relegation.”
Both managers pointed to a heavy pitch and constant rain as major factors in the quality of this opening day contest.
Hyland said: “Weather conditions probably pulled it down a little today, in fairness to both sides. It was a tough day to play football.”
Tyrone: M O'Neill, A McCrory, J McMahon (0-1), C McCarron, N Sludden, R Brennan (0-1), T McCann, C Cavanagh, M Donnelly (0-1), C McShane, M Bradley (0-1), C Meyler, L Brennan (0-3, 2f), C McAliskey (0-2, 1 '45), R O'Neill.
Subs: D McCurry (0-1, f) for L Brennan (h-t), K McGeary for O’Neill (h-t), P Harte for McShane (44), C McCann for McCrory (44), P McNulty for Meyler (60), B Tierney for Bradley (63)
Cavan: R Galligan, P Faulkner, K Clarke (0-1), K Brady, C Brady, C Moynagh, F Flanagan, D Givney, G McKiernan (0-2, 1f), M Reilly (0-2, 1 '45), N McDermott (0-1, f), D McVeety, C Mackey (0-1), E Keating (0-1), J Brady.
Subs: P O’Connor for McDermott (34), E Henry for J Brady (47), M Argue for Givney (60), S Johnston for Keating (60), B Sankey for K Brady (71)
Referee: D Coldrick (Meath).
