The crossbars in Omagh are wild low but it is our little secret!
MODEST RED HANDS KEEPER MORGAN HITS THE HEIGHTS BUT ADMITS IT’S THANKS TO THE FITTINGS AT HEALY PARK
HE has been raising the bar for years, but Tyrone’s Niall Morgan has added a new string to his bow in recent League games by rising above the crossbar to save points from the opposition.
The Edendork man jumped two feet above his own crossbar to save a Matthew Tierney 45 inside the closing 10 minutes against Galway.
When he repeated the feat (below) to deny Mayo’s Diarmuid Duffy in the early stages of last Saturday night’s Division One tie in Omagh, RTE commentator and former Kerry boss Eamonn Fitzmaurice claimed the crossbars at O’neills Healy Park were “a small bit lower than standard” – something Morgan doesn’t deny.
“I don’t want to let the secret out, but the crossbars in Omagh are wild low,” stated Morgan. “I think it makes it look better when you can take them down from over the top.”
A low crossbar didn’t halt Darragh Canavan from finding the back of the net in the second half as his 1-4 haul helped Tyrone overturn a threepoint half-time deficit after Cillian O’connor’s contentious penalty in the first half. However, it was only when Canavan was joined by Darren Mccury for the second half that Tyrone looked a threat and Morgan hailed the impact of his Edendork clubmate after their 1-15 to 1-11 win.
“Darren [Mccurry] gave us the link between the defensive side of things and the forwards. Darragh [Canavan] was ploughing the lone field up top by himself in the first half.
“Darren created that link between the two and it was good to have that outlet whenever
Mayo were pressing.
“We were able to get that pass away because we’d two men up top rather than one. It is great to see them playing together. It hasn’t happened that often. Darren missed the first game with suspension.
“They played together against Derry, but the conditions were just mental that night. It is nice to see that it might just work out between the two of them.”
Tyrone will need as much help as they can get up front as they’ve suffered a double injury blow in their defence after both Michael Mckernan and Aidan Clarke picked up knocks against Mayo while attacker Seanie O’donnell was stretchered off with a back injury.
The Red Hands must brace themselves for a Kerry backlash after Con O’callaghan’s hat-trick helped Dublin to a 3-18 to 1-14 win in Croke Park last Saturday night.
That loss was the Kingdom’s heaviest League defeat of Jack O’connor’s tenure and the Kerry boss has never lost back-to-back League games.
Morgan knows Tyrone will be up against it as they try to repeat last season’s round five win over Kerry.
“That’s probably the first time this season we’ve put that sort of a performance together for a full half,” reflected Morgan.
“We’ve threatened it on occasions, but you obviously want it for two halves. That’s the biggest thing.
“I don’t think it has eased the pressure – we are still going to need at least one more win to get safe.
“I think it is time we stopped trying to get safe every year in Division One and show that we can still play at that top table. Our performances are going to have to be a whole lot more consistent.
“There’s no harder place to go than Killarney. They’ve got everybody back in so it won’t be easy.”