O'Connor inspires Cork comeback against Tyrone

Tyrone 2-10 Cork 0-17

O'Connor inspires Cork comeback against Tyrone

By John Fogarty

Tyrone 2-10 Cork 0-17

Cork remain top of Division 1 after a marvellous second-half fightback in Omagh, led by substitute Donncha O'Connor.

The Ballydesmond man was excellent on his arrival in the 49th minute as Cork strung together seven points without reply to seal a victory which looked anything but likely at half-time.

But Tyrone failed to score from play after the break, Darren McCurry posting four frees, as Cork looked the stronger all around, dominating midfield and keeping the home side at bay in the back-line.

There will be debate about Colm O'Neill's 69th minute point, which Tyrone players argued didn't sail between the posts.

However, it appeared from our angle that the kick was good and it put Cork two up before McCurry's injury time free.

Tyrone hit Cork with an early goal, Conor McAliskey taking a long, wind-assisted Peter Harte pass and managing to get his shot off despite the attentions of Conor Dorman and Stephen O'Donoghue.

A trio of Cork scores without reply brought them back into the game, Colm O'Driscoll, Mark Collins and O'Neill all finding their range into the teeth of the breeze.

The platform for the latter too came from the Tyrone kick-out as Cork managed to isolate the Tyrone fielders and exploit the breaks.

Cork, though, weren't so sharp on their own kick-out as shown when McAliskey intercepted a Micheál Martin kick-out towards the end of the half before sticking the ball between the sticks.

But it was Tyrone's second goal that undone a lot of Cork's good work, Dorman bringing down Padraig McNulty in the penalty area but seemingly not enough for referee Marty Duffy to issue a black card.

Peter Harte executed the penalty with aplomb to put Cork 2-2 to 0-4 in the 18th minute.

The impressive McAliskey added another and the visitors looked to be in difficulty.

Two O'Neill frees in quick succession did some good but Tyrone outscored them by three points to one in the final 10 minutes of the half to lead 2-6 to 0-7 at the interval.

Scorers for Tyrone: D McCurry (0-7, 5 frees); C McAliskey (1-3); P Harte (1-0, pen).

Scorers for Cork: C O'Neill (0-8, 3 frees, 1 45); B Hurley, D O'Connor (0-2, 1 free each); C O'Driscoll, M Collins, C Dornan, F Goold, D Hodnett (0-1 each).

Subs for Tyrone: C McCann for J McMahon (36); PJ Lavery for D Quinn (43); D McBride for R McKenna (58); P McNiece for R McNamee (68). Black card: R McNabb (70+1).

Subs for Cork: P Kerrigan for S O'Donoghue (26); D O'Connor for C O'Driscoll (49); D Goulding for M Collins, D Hodnett for K O'Driscoll, J Hayes for J O'Rourke (all 55); B O'Driscoll for T Clancy (62). Black card: F Goold (67).

TYRONE: N Morgan; R McNamee, R McKenna, J McMahon; D Quinn, R McNabb, A McCrory; C Cavanagh, P McNulty; T McCann, M Donnelly, P Harte; S Cavanagh, D McCurry, C McAliskey.

CORK: M Martin; M Shields, C Dorman, J Loughrey; Tomás Clancy, S O'Donoghue, J O'Sullivan; E Cadogan, F Goold; K O'Driscoll, J O'Rourke, C O'Driscoll; C O'Neill, M Collins, B Hurley.

Referee: Marty Duffy (Sligo)

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