Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
STRONG HANDS STOP CAR’ RUN
TYRONE huffed and puffed before eventually blowing Carlow’s shaky house down with a storming second-half performance.
Mickey Harte’s Red Hands trailed after 27 minutes but got their act together to streak through to Round 3.
Five unanswered points in a row in the run up to half-time put the All-Ireland hopefuls ahead.
And secondhalf goals from Niall Sludden, Peter Harte and Richard Donnelly (inset) secured the 10-point win at Netwatch Cullen Park.
Carlow boss Turlough O’Brien described playmaker Harte as a ‘magician’ after setting up Sludden’s goal and stroking home a penalty.
And Tyrone defender Frank Burns said they’re in a good place as they eye up a Super 8s place.
Burns said: “Mickey has taken Tyrone this way before so hopefully we can do it again.”
Burns kicked a neat point in the big win and added: “It was history in a way, it was Tyrone’s first time ever playing Carlow in the Championship.
“We’d never been down to this so-called bear bit before.”
Carlow led Monaghan in the qualifiers at the same venue with 10 minutes to go last year before caving in.
They hinted at going one better this time when they led 1-2 to 0-3 after Darragh O’Brien’s 16th minute goal.
But they didn’t score again until the 40th minute and Tyrone hit the interval with a 0-8 to 1-2 lead.
It was all Tyrone in the second-half and Carlow only scored their second point from play in the entire game in injurytime.
SCORERS - TYRONE: R Donnelly 1-2, C McAliskey 0-5 (0-3f), P Harte (1-0 pen), N Sludden 1-1, M Donnelly 0-2, F Burns, C Meyler, D McClure 0-1.
CARLOW: D Foley (0-3f), P Broderick (0-4f) 0-5, D O’Brien 1-0.