Tyrone 0-14 Leitrim 1-7
Tyrone continued their unbeaten start to their Division 3B Allianz Hurling League campaign following a hard fought victory over Leitrim in Healy Park. Following several good victories over the Ridge County in 2012, Mattie Lennon’s charges were in confident mood ahead of the game and they got off to a good start after Conor Grogan put them in front after 2 minutes. However, Leitrim were in no mood to capitulate like they had previously, and Centre Half Forward Padraig O’Donnell put Leitrim in front following a quickfire double consisting of a 65 and a long range free.
Ciaran McCrudden, a late replacement for Tiernan Morgan, hit the equaliser with his Eoghan Ruadh clubmates Mark Winters and Duibhir Marshall putting Tyrone into a 4 points to 2 lead after 11 minutes. Leitrim responded again through an O’Donnell Free, before Tyrone captain Damian Casey was on target from play and then a free. Tyrone then gained a penalty follow some reckless Leitrim tackling in the square but unfortunatly Casey was off target with pick and the chance went begging. Conor Grogan added his second point of the game and the half finished with Tyrone in a 0-7 to 0-3 lead.
Casey extends Tyrone’s lead within moments of the throw-in following a ’65 before Leitrim hit a purple patch. A flurry of scores through Shane Kiernan, Michael Poniard and another O’Donnell free but them within 2, but Marshall hit his second of the day on 47 minutes to extend the Tyrone lead to 3. However, on the 58th minute it became all square. A free was launched to the square by Clement Cunniffe and sub Liam Moreton netted in the subsequent scramble. Gerard Gilmore put Tyrone back in front in the 60th minute before Leitrim went down to 14 men after James Glancy saw red after a second bookable offence. Casey and Cunniffee swapped frees before referee Colm Cunning dismissed Tyrone Full Back Jason Kelly for a second bookable offence. Tyrone finished the stronger, and late points from Matthew Mulgrew, Conor Grogan and Damian Casey put them within touching destance of the promotion playoff as they secured victory for Mattie Lennon’s relieved charges.
Tyrone: John Devlin; Conor McNally, Jason Kelly, Ruairi Devlin; Conor Casey, Stephen Donnelly, Aidan Kelly; Chris Cross, Mark Winters 0-1; Gary Fox, Damian Casey 0-5, Conor Grogan 0-3; Ciaran McCrudden 0-1, Matthew Mulgrew 0-1, Duibhir Marshall 0-2 Sub: Gerard Gilmore 0-1 for Fox (50)
