Michael O'Neill of Tyrone in action against Niall Kearns and Dessie Ward of Monaghan during the Bank of Ireland Dr McKenna Cup Final between Monaghan and Tyrone at Athletic Grounds in Armagh.
Bank of Ireland Dr. McKenna Cup Final
TYRONE 0-11 MONAGHAN 1-5
By Michael Devlin at the Athletic Grounds
The 2020 Dr McKenna Cup final won’t go down as a classic by any means, but Tyrone showed enough quality over the course of the evening to see off opponents Monaghan and retain the silverware into the new decade.
The Red Hands’ strong finish to the first half, inspired by the attacking thrust of substitute Darren McCurry, gave them a five-point lead to take down the tunnel at the break.
The second half was a more caustic affair, with only five points shared between the sides before Barry McBennett’s opportunist goal right at the end brought Monaghan back to within a score.
In truth, both teams spluttered their way through the game, but Mickey Harte’s men were able to showcase that bit more expertise and craft to record a 17th competition triumph.
Monaghan Seamus McEnaney fielded a number of experienced campaigners in his starting line-up, but he was dealt a blow in the opening minute when they were shorn of the services of Colin Walshe through an injury.
Tyrone registered the first two scores of the game, target man Frank Burns finding the target before rookie Michael O’Neill came up the field to finish a patient move in the seventh minute.
Monaghan meanwhile were getting no joy at the other end, with Tyrone All-Star full back Ronan McNamee supervising his square with the resolute assuredness. It took a Shane Carey effort from range to open the Farney account in the ninth minute.
Daniel Kerr did well to maintain his balance and point for Tyrone, but in response Conor McCarthy cut through the Red Hand defence twice level the game at three each by the 20th minute.
Tyrone’s own attack was far from harmonious, and it took the introduction of McCurry in the 24th minute to inject some much-needed impetus.
The Edendork sharp-shooter’s influence was immediate as Tyrone put up the remaining five scores of the half, McCurry with a few beauties off both his left and right side while Kieran McGeary and Ronan O’Neill also landed points as Tyrone led 0-8 to 0-3 at the break.
It was a tepid start to the second half with Ronan O’Neill restarting the scoring in the 43rd minute. That was cancelled out by a Carey free, the evening’s first score from a placed ball.
The fractured pattern of the game continued for the another 15-minute spell, with only McCarthy and O’Neill (free) adding to their teams’ totals to bring the score to 0-10 to 0-5.
The pace of the game had dropped off, and both sides were guilty of sub-standard shooting, but with the clock ticking down however, that lead of five points was never in danger at being eroded by an erroneous Monaghan. Ronan O’Neill eventually lifted the dearth with a lovely left-footed score to put Tyrone six up.
With two minutes of injury time to go however, Monaghan struck for a goal to give them a slight, if ultimately futile, glimmer of hope. Dessie Ward’s high effort came down off the post, and McBennett was in the right place to stroke home the easiest of goals from the rebound.
Tyrone scorers: Ronan O’Neill 0-4 (1f), Darren McCurry 0-3, Michael O’Neill 0-1, Kieran McGeary 0-1, Frank Burns 0-1, Daniel Kerr 0-1.
Monaghan scorers: Conor McCarthy 0-3, Barry McBennett 1-0, Shane Carey 0-2 (1f).
TYRONE: Niall Morgan; Conor Quinn, Ronan McNamee, Hugh Pat McGeary; Michael Cassidy, Michael O’Neill, Tiernan McCann; Colm Cavanagh, Conan Grugan; Conor Meyler, David Mulgrew, Kieran McGeary; Ronan O’Neill, Frank Burns, Daniel Kerr.
SUBS: Darren McCurry for D. Mulgrew (24), Ben McDonnell for C. Cavanagh (HT), Niall Sludden for M. O’Neill (54), Niall Kelly for R. McNamee (56)
MONAGHAN: Conor Forde; Colin Walshe, Drew Wylie, Conor Boyle; Shane Carey, Ryan Wylie, Paraic Keenan; Niall Kearns, Barry McBennett; Michael Paul O’Dowd, Robbie McAllister, Dessie Ward; Jason Irwin, Keith McEnaney, Phillip Donnelly.
SUBS: Kieran Duffy for C. Walshe (4), Dermot Malone for P. Donnelly (HT), Karl O’Connell for C. Boyle (46), Ryan McAnespie for MP O’Dowd (54), Kieran Hughes for K. McEnaney (65)
Referee: Ciaran Branagan (An Dún)
