McCurry is too hot for dogged Louth side
Tyrone 2-19
Louth 0-14
THEY implore us not to read much into December football or, God forbid, to reach for conclusions in January, but then again they used to write off the National League as a bit of a Phoney War too.
Like it or not, modern inter-county teams have to hit the turf at warp speed come February nowadays, and it just won’t happen if you sit with the feet up before or after the festive season.
Louth proved the point last year as an O’Fiaich Cup final appearance and a trip to the last four of the O’Byrne Cup pre-empted a profitable spring campaign
Twelve months on, and after narrow enough defeats to Down and Meath in challenge matches, Colin Kelly’s Class of 2017 hung tough with Tyrone for long periods in Crossmaglen on Sunday.
Minus their ‘Ulster 7’ the Red Hands did eventually flex their muscles and streak clear in the final quarter, but Louth weren’t at full strength either and took a bit of shaking-off.
Personnel-wise, there were some old hands, a generous smattering of new faces and even a handful of re-acquaintances, and the vast majority played themselves onto the right side of Kelly’s ‘naughty’ and ‘nice’ list.
The manager hinted afterwards that his first 26-man National League panel will be a hard pick and that wasn’t just managerial spin.
He started with four new recruits in Liam Dullaghan, Conor Martin, Conor Branigan and Kevin Carr. Normally, you just hope debutantes can hold their own, but that quartet actually stood out from the crowd.
Add Andy McDonnell and Paraic Smith to the list and already you have six players who weren’t around last term.
Eoin O’Connor, Ronan Carroll and Derek Crilly didn’t feature on Sunday, but they too are back on the roster, and Kelly has also promoted minors Ross Nally, Cian Callan and Sam Mulroy to his senior set-up.
It should make for an interesting six weeks up in Darver, but it’s a festive headache, Kelly will relish.
The Reds’ chief has a new backroom team, but the gameplan and set-up looked broadly similar to last season.
The team gradually worked their way into the game as a fast-starting Tyrone side threatened to make it an uncomfortable afternoon.
Darren McCurry and Cathal McShane certainly looked intent on catching Mickey Harte’s eye.
They were the first two names on the scoresheet before Jim McEneaney got Louth off the mark.
The Reds were guilty of turning over possession too easily in those early exchanges and three further scores from Rory O’Neill, and McCurry twice, all came on the break.
Conor Branigan marked his first appearance with a fine score from the right to close the gap, but an early black card for James Stewart forced Kelly to send Padraig Rath into the fray earlier than he would have liked, following his exertions with Leinster less than 24 hours earlier.
But as the half wore on Louth grew in confidence. McEneaney was reliable over dead balls, and a couple of collectors items from Conor Martin and Padraig Rath saw the Reds close the gap to two, 0-8 to 0-6.
McShane and Lee Brennan ensured Tyrone finished the half with a flourish, but at 0-10 to 0-6, Louth were in with a shout.
Two superb points from Smith and Declan Byrne, who also scored for Leinster on Saturday, cut the gap to three, but almost on cue Tyrone plundered their first goal as Rory O’Neill, out-muscled Rath under a high ball from McShane and then slapped his own breakdown past Neil Gallagher.
Even then Louth’s challenge didn’t fade. Ronan Holcroft, Byrne, McDonnell and Holcroft from a free this time, brought the gap back down to four.
As you might expect from a Division 1 outfit, Tyrone did start to turn the screw in the final quarter and while Louth could only muster two more Holcroft frees, the Red Hands plundered 1-6, with McCurry capping a fine personal display with the second goal. TYRONE: M O’Neill; R Mullan, H P McGeary, M Cassidy; C Clarke, N McKenna, J Munroe 0-1; C McShane 0-3, D McClure; C Meyler, R O’Neill 1-2 (1f), K McGeary; D McCurry 1-9 (6f), C McCullagh 0-1, L Brennan 0-2. Subs: R McHugh 0-1 for K McGeary (ht), F Burns for McCullagh (64).
LOUTH: N Gallagher; A Williams, J Bingham, K Carr; D Maguire, J Stewart, L Dullaghan; A McDonnell 0-1, C Martin
0-1; C McKeever, P Smith 0-1, C Branigan 0-1; J McEnaaney 0-3 (3f), G McSorley, T Durnin. Subs: P Rath 0-1 for Stewart (17), D Byrne 0-2 for Durnin (39), R Holcroft 0-4 (3f) for McEneaney (42), D Marks for Dullaghan (49), T McKenna for Martin (55), D Finn for Carr (61).
REFEREE: Padraig Hughes (Armagh).