Three second-half goals helped Tyrone to victory over Derry in the Dalata Hotel Group Ulster U20 football semi-final. Photo courtesy of Tyrone GAA.
Dalata Hotel Group Ulster U20 Football Championship semi-finals
TYRONE 3-12 DERRY 0-19
DONEGAL 4-19 CAVAN 2-7
By Francis Mooney
All-Ireland champions Tyrone will meet Donegal in the Dalata Hotel Group Ulster U20 Football Championship final.
Their two points win over Derry at Owenbeg sets up a second clash of the series with Tir Chonail, who got the better of Cavan in the other semi-final at Ballybofey.
Next week’s decider gives the Red Hands an opportunity to reverse an eight points defeat to Donegal in the group stage.
The holders had to come from behind to carve out a narrow 3-12 to 0-19 win with the help of three second half goals.
The sides were level at 0-3 each after ten minutes, after Oisin Doherty, Eamon Young and Tommy Rogers had responded to Tyrone scores from Matthew Quinn, Eoin McElholm and Liam Og Mossey.
But the Oak Leafers enjoyed a strong second quarter, with Sean Young, Eamon Young and Ruairi Forbes pushing them 0-9 to 0-5 ahead.
The Red Hands finished the half strongly with Ruairi McCullagh adding a two-pointer to a 13 metre free, narrowing the gap to a single point, Derry ahead by 0-9 to 0-8 at the turnaround.
Conan Devlin scrambled home a goal less than a minute after the restart, and Conor O’Neill rifled home a second on 45 minutes to put them a point ahead.
McElholm grabbed goal number three for the Red Hands on the hour for a seven points lead, but they were hanging on at the end as Derry edged close with a Ruairi Forbes two-pointer and points from Conall Higgins and Conleth McGrogan.
Meanwhile, at MacCumhaill Park, Donegal powered through to the decider with a convincing 4-19 to 2-7 win over Cavan.
Donegal got into their stride early on, with Seanan Carr, Conor McGinty and Cian McMenamin sending over points.
Cavan responded through Dylan Edwards and Niall Magee, but the home side hit the first of their three first half goals through Conor McCahill on 12 minutes.
Five minutes later Carr netted a penalty, and they were firmly in control of the contest.
And three minutes before the break, McMenamin broke through to fire in a third goal, and added a couple of points to give his side a 3-9 to 1-2 interval lead.
The Breffni lads battled bravely with points from Matthew Smith, Darragh Noonan and Dylan Edwards, but they could do little to halt a fast-moving home attack, with Carr clinical in his finishing with a string of points.
And they finished the job off with a fourth goal, from substitute Dylan Mulholland in the 58th minute.
