Tyrone 2-15 Cork 2-12: Red Hands reel in Rebels

Tyrone trailed by seven points in the first-half but staged a second-half comeback to see off Cork, 2-15 to 2-12.

Cork came to Croke Park on Saturday evening, with little to show from their games against Kerry and Dublin this summer other than moral victories. Facing up against Tyrone, the resurgent Rebels were all too familiar with getting a pat on the back for a defeat - and they came to Jones' Road for a win.

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Cork smelt blood right from the off. Winning the throw-in, they broke into attack. Captain Ian Maguire stormed in on goal, creating the overlap and hand-passing to Luke Connolly. The Nemo Rangers star made no mistake, burying it past Niall Morgan in the Tyrone net.

The Red Hands did respond through a Cathal McShane point, but it soon became clear that the Rebels had their homework done. Ronan McCarthy's charges were patient in their build-up play, taking on few low percentage chances. This frustrated the Red Hands, and Cork weren't coughing up possession upon which Tyrone could build their trademark counter-attacks.

In the 19th minute, Cork struck again. Similar to Maguire earlier, James Loughrey burst into the Tyrone area. Instead of opting to use Mark Collins who was available on the overlap, the Mallow man backed himself and blasted it into the net. Cork led 2-3 to 0-2, and Tyrone were shell-shocked.

The remainder of the half ensued in a cagey manner, with the Munster side taking a 2-4 to 0-5 lead into the break.

Mickey Harte gave his side the hair-dryer treatment at the half-time, judging by how late they were to return to the pitch.

Whatever was said in that dressing room, it certainly had its desired effect. Seán White opened the scoring for Cork, but from there Tyrone took control, scoring 2-2 without reply.

The first goal came from the in-form Cathal McShane. Mattie Donnelly made a marauding run into the area, hand-passed to Michael McKernan, who played in McShane. The full forward palmed it into the net.

Minutes later, Tyrone attacked again. Niall Sludden had a sight on goal, but as he prepared to pull the trigger, he was pushed to the ground by Mattie Taylor. Peter Harte stood up to the resulting penalty, and smashed it past Mark White to give Tyrone the lead for the first time in the game.

Cork were rattled, but managed to muster a response. Connolly steadied the ship with a well-taken point, before Michael Hurley elected to fist over the bar with the goal at his mercy.

The sides went point-for-point as the clock ticked on, with substitute Michael Hurley impressing for the Rebels.

However, Tyrone had another purple patch, kicking three quickfire points without reply which killed the Cork challenge.

As Mattie Donnelly fired over an injury-time score to put four between the sides, he gave a fist-pump to the crowd, sensing Tyrone had their business done.

Cork chased the game late on, but ultimately ran out of time. Although they're out of contention with one game remaining, they'll be hoping they can finish the summer on a high when Roscommon head for Páirc Uí Rinn in two weeks' time.

Referee: Maurice Deegan (Laois)

Attendance: 36,530

Scorers for Tyrone: Peter Harte 1-5 (1-0 penalty, 0-3 frees), Cathal McShane 1-5 (0-4 frees), Mattie Donnelly 0-3, Conor Meyler 0-1, Tiernan McCann 0-1.

Scorers for Cork: Luke Connolly 1-3 (0-2 frees), Michael Hurley 0-4, James Loughrey 1-0, Mark Collins 0-2 (0-2 frees), Seán White 0-1, John O'Rourke 0-1, Mattie Taylor 0-1.

Tyrone

1. Niall Morgan

2. Hugh Pat McGeary

3. Ronan McNamee

4. Rory Brennan

5. Michael McKernan

6. Kieran McGeary

7. Frank Burns

8. Colm Cavanagh

9. Brian Kennedy

10. Mattie Donnelly

11. Niall Sludden

12. Peter Harte

13. Darren McCurry

14. Cathal McShane

15. Conor Meyler

Subs:

Michael Cassidy for Hugh Pat McGeary (half-time)

Pádraig Hampsey for Brian Kennedy (half-time)

Richard Donnelly for Darren McCurry (half-time)

Tiernan McCann for Michael McKernan (52nd minute)

Connor McAliskey for Niall Sludden (56th minute)

Cork

1. Mark White

18. Stephen Cronin

3. Thomas Clancy

4. Kevin Flahive

5. Liam O' Donovan

6. Tomas Clancy

7. Mattie Taylor

8. Ian Maguire

9. Killian O' Hanlon

10. Kevin O' Driscoll

11. Sean White

12. Ruairi Deane

13. Mark Collins

14. Brian Hurley

15. Luke Connolly

Subs:

James Loughrey for Tomás Clancy (13th minute)

Paul Kerrigan for Brian Hurley (49th minute)

Michael Hurley for Mark Collins (52nd minute)

Seán Powter for Seán White (59th minute)

John O'Rourke for Kevin O'Driscoll (59th minute)

Stephen Sherlock for Stephen Cronin (67th minute)