Tyrone 0-14 Westmeath 1-7:TYRONE ARE making progress on their way back to mainstream championship football, but they made life unnecessarily difficult for themselves against 13-man Westmeath at Healy Park on Saturday. An injury to Seán Cavanagh is just one of several concerns facing manager Mickey Harte.
Colm Cavanagh is ruled out of Saturday's third-round qualifier tie, having dislocated his shoulder after coming in as a substitute for his older brother Seán, who suffered a neck injury late in the first half.
"It's a performance that will stand to us, I suppose, somewhere down the line. Hopefully, it will stand to us next week," said Harte. "It wasn't a classic or a vintage performance, but one when you grind out a result, and when you grind out a result, we're happy enough with that. Sometimes people say you didn't play well, but often that's to do with your opponents . . . It's not just about a team not playing well."
A Michael Ennis goal in the 29th minute had helped Westmeath to a 1-5 to 0-6 half-time lead, but manager Tomás Ó Flatharta admitted the double sending off midway through the second half of Damien Healy and Doran Harte left his side with an uphill struggle.
"There was a moment of madness when we lost two players. But in fairness to the boys they battled on and there was a long period in the second half when it could have gone any way," he said. "Discipline had been high on our agenda throughout the year, and I was disappointed with it. It really affected us."
Tyrone found it difficult to adapt to the numerical advantage following the dismissals, but eventually closed out the game with points from Tommy McGuigan, his sixth of the contest, Ryan Mellon and Damien McCaul, but they should have been made to pay the price for the late goal chance dragged wide by Dessie Dolan.
TYRONE: J Devine; R McMenamin, J McMahon, PJ Quinn; D Harte (0-1), C Gormley, P Jordan; R Mellon (0-1), E McGinley (0-2); B Dooher (0-2), B McGuigan, T McGuigan (0-6, two frees); M Penrose (0-1), S Cavanagh, C McCullagh. Subs: C Cavanagh for S Cavanagh (34 mins); O Mulligan for McCullagh (45 mins); Joe McMahon for Penrose (54 mins); R Mulgrew for C Cavanagh (58 mins); D McCaul (0-1) for Quinn (64 mins).
WESTMEATH: G Connaughton; F Boyle, K Gavin, J Keane; M Ennis (1-0), D Heavin, D Healy; M Flanagan, D O'Donoghue; D Dolan (0-4, four frees), J Smyth (0-1), D Harte; David Glennon, Denis Glennon (0-2, one free), A Mangan. Subs: D Bannon for Mangan (24 mins); D Duffy for David Glennon (44 mins); F Wilson for Bannon (49 mins); S Quinn for Smyth (69 mins); W Murtagh for Boyle (70 mins).
Referee: P Hughes (Armagh).
