McKenna Cup 2024

[omagh_gael]

Full time and tyrone win by 3. Great result for a really young team against a very strong Donegal team.Very early days but an excellent platform to work from for the rest of the McKenna cup. Special mention to Niall Morgan who scored three and saved a penalty in his first game since a nasty injury last summer.

[never kickt a ball]

Power NI Dr McKenna Cup - Results
Donegal 1-07 0-13 Tyrone
Armagh 1-16 0-15 Queen's
Monaghan 2-11 2-15 Derry
Fermanagh P-P St Mary's
Antrim 0-12 3-12 Cavan
Down 1-15 0-07 UUJ


McKenna Cup: Fermanagh v St Mary's match called off

Fermanagh's opening McKenna Cup Section B game against St Mary's has been called off after the Brewster Park pitch was deemed unplayable.
The decision to postpone the match was taken shortly before throw-in following a morning of heavy rain on Sunday.
The fixture was scheduled to be the first in charge for new Erne boss Peter McGrath, who was appointed to succeed Peter Canavan in November.
No new date has yet been set for the game.
Fermanagh are scheduled to play Derry at Owenbeg next Sunday, while St Mary's face Monaghan at Clones.
Derry host St Mary's and Fermanagh entertain Monaghan in the final round of group games under floodlights on Wednesday 15 January.

[Throw ball]

Armagh score was 1-17 to 0.15. Played at a very slow pace with no intensity. One black card to Robbie Tasker of Armagh after 20 minutes. Very harsh decision. Given for a bit of pushing and shoving after a free had already been given. Think only one yellow in game to a Queen's player near end.

[never kickt a ball]

Tyrone beat Donegal in McKenna Cup opener at Letterkenny

Holders Tyrone finished strongly to beat Donegal 0-13 to 1-7 in their Dr McKenna Cup opener at Letterkenny.
Donegal, fielding eight All-Ireland winners, scored just twice in the second half as an experimental Tyrone stepped up the tempo to win by three.
Michael Murphy's goal helped Donegal lead 1-5 to 0-5 at half-time with Niall Morgan also saving a Murphy penalty.
However, Tyrone bossed the second half with Paddy McNeice finishing with four points and sub Peter Hughes impressing.
Donegal's Martin O'Reilly suffered concussion after taking a blow to the head during the second half and will remain in Letterkenny Hospital overnight for further observation.
Two superb Ronan O'Neill points rewarded Tyrone's early dominance, and it wasn't until the 16th minute that Colm McFadden registered Donegal's opening score.
Two Murphy points had the sides level on 0-3 each when Donegal were awarded a penalty for Morgan's foul on debutant Darach O'Connor.
Morgan was perhaps fortunate to avoid a black card for the challenge and the Tyrone keeper exploited his escape to produce a stunning save to keep out Murphy's kick.
But Murphy darted through a massive gap in the Tyrone defence to drill home a 31st-minute goal as the home side took a 1-5 to 0-5 lead into the interval despite having played against the breeze.
However, Tyrone regrouped in the second half with early scores from McNeice and Ronan O'Neill and when Morgan converted a '45, followed by another McNeice score, they were level.
Murphy nudged Donegal back in front, and Donegal goalkeeper Paul Durcan pulled off a superb save to deny Mattie Donnelly, but gifted an equalising point to McNeice with a poor kick-out.
Donegal appeared to lose their composure after O'Reilly sustained his injury and Rory Kavanagh was forced out of the action by a black card in the 58th minute, conceding the free from which Morgan regained the lead for the Red Hands.
Murphy looked fortunate to avoid a red card after appearing to strike Shay McGuigan, with referee Barry Cassidy instead handing the home captain a yellow card.
Morgan's third long-range place kick and a point from the impressive Hughes sealed Tyrone's victory.


POWER NI DR MCKENNA CUP RESULTS
Section A
Donegal 1-07 0-13 Tyrone
Armagh 1-16 0-15 Queen's
Section B
Monaghan 2-11 2-15 Derry
Fermanagh P-P St Mary's College
Section C
Antrim 0-12 3-12 Cavan
Down 1-15 0-07 UUJ

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/gaelic-games/25615030

[donegal lad]

Great win by Tyrone today over ourselves. The easiest wa to describe the game was Tyrone were much hungrier for it. Donegal didn't perform to any kind of standard especially in the 2nd half and today showed that midfield is still a problem area for them. I'll discipline in the tackle gifted Tyrone frees which they converted easily which seen them over the finishing line

[TabClear]

Great result for Tyrone today. I didn'texpect them to compete with a strong looking donegal  team but it sounds like they were that bit hungrier. Anyone at the game who could post up any stand out performances?

[sam03/05]

Great performance from a young Tyrone team.
Thought Tiernan McCann was superb, great athlete.
Ronan O'Neill was very good, Niall McKenna put in a great shift and covered every blade of grass.

Given that there is about 10 first team starters not even in the
Squad, things look good for the year ahead!

[J70]

Just remember boys, its McKenna Cup.

In January.

[never kickt a ball]

Cavan and UUJ ease to Dr McKenna Cup Section C victories

Goals were key as Cavan claimed a 3-12 to 0-12 win over Antrim in the McKenna Cup Section C opener at Creggan.
Cavan led by 1-3 to 0-4 at half-time, with their goal coming in the opening minute from Kevin Tierney.
This game opened up hugely on the restart, with goals from David Givney and Tierney in a 14-minute spell central to victory for the visitors.
Ten players scored for Down in the 1-15 to 0-7 win over UUJ at Newry with Peter Fitzpatrick hitting the goal.
At a wet and windy Creggan, Tierney's first-minute goal gave Cavan an immediate advantage and all Antrim's first-half points came from CJ McGourty with Martin Reily, Eugene Keating and Givney on target for the Breffni County.
Cavan increased their lead to five after the restart as the conditions improved although two Michael Pollock scores then left only a kick of the ball between the sides.
However, Givney's goal increased Cavan's advantage to 2-9 to 0-9 and Tierney hammered in the Breffni County's third goal after good work by Keating.
At Pairc Elser, UUJ started brightly thanks to scores from Antrim's Niall McKeever and Down's Paul McPolin, but Down registered five unanswered points and never looked back.
Mark Poland led the charge for the hosts with five points, with Down leading by 0-7 to 0-3 at the interval.
James McCartan's charges began the second half in the best possible fashion with Fitzpatrick's goal, as they moved 1-11 to 0-3 ahead by the 49th minute.
Caolan O'Boyle, Danny Savage and Danny McClean worked hard for the students but Down were full value for their 11-point win.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/gaelic-games/25616051

Ah god bless the BBC

[never kickt a ball]

Derry defeat Monaghan in Dr McKenna Cup clash at Clones

Ulster champions Monaghan succumbed to Derry as the Oak Leaf County claimed a 2-15 to 2-11 in the Dr McKenna Cup Section B opener at Clones.
Enda Lynn and James Kielt goals helped Derry move 2-4 to 0-6 ahead before Ryan Wylie netted for Monaghan to cut the margin to a point by half-time.
A Christopher McGuinness goal put Monaghan 2-8 to 2-5 ahead but seven unanswered points put Derry in control.
The other Section B game between Fermanagh and St Mary's was postponed.
Monaghan led by 0-4 to 0-2 after 20 minutes helped by two Paudie McKenna points but goals from Lynn and Kielt helped Derry move 2-4 to 0-6 today.
It could have been even better for Derry at that stage as Mark Lynch also hit the woodwork with a goal effort.
Wylie's goal cut the margin to a point at the break as he finished to the net after keeper Thomas Mallon had made a brilliant double-save to deny McGuinness.
Points from Paul Finlay and McGuinness nudged Monaghan ahead after the restart and while Kielt quickly levelled, McGuinness then netted to put the home side three up after the brave Mallon had produced another pointblank save.
However, Derry responded to Monaghan's second goal by striking seven unanswered points to lead by four, which included three Kielt scores and two points from Lynn.
That remained the margin at the finish as Derry held on to beat the Ulster champions.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/gaelic-games/25615405

[Redhand Santa]

Was an impressive second half from a very inexperienced tyrone team. Lots of good performances across the team.

McKinley and McCann did well going forward. Thought Niall McKenna had an average first half but improved at midfield in the second half. Grugan did well for his debut. Mcguigan picked up a lot of ball, needs to use it a bit better at times but that will hopefully come.

O'Neill and McNeice did well up front. The rest of the team also worked hard. Mcrory made a terrible call for the goal but improved after.

[ONeill]

Why was Kane taken off?

Mickey always seems to hit the ground running in Jan. No turkey in Tyrone.

[Redhand Santa]

Didn't notice an injury. Just didn't seem to be happening for him in midfield. I think he's better suited to the forward line at county level.

[stronghold]

Mickey Harte unrepentant over his McKenna Cup stance

Use accessible player and disable flyout menus

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte insists that he has to play his university contingent during the McKenna Cup to prepare his squad for the National League.

The build-up to this year's McKenna Cup has again been dogged by the issue of the university teams losing many of their players to the various county squads but Harte put forward a strong defence of his stance after Sunday's opening win over Donegal.

"Some of the universities will have played 10, 11 or 12 games since late September. We have played no competitive games since we played Mayo (in August)," Harte told BBC Sport Northern Ireland.

"How can we possibly go out to try and formulate a team for the season with the National League starting in the first week of February if we haven't a chance to put our team together?

"It is an inter-county competition. We don't go into any third-level competition and demand that things should be a certain way. They are really invitees to this particular competition.

"They do give us all an extra game and I'm very grateful for that but I think the terms and conditions that we play under should suit inter-county teams first."

[Wildweasel74]

Funny the only person has a real problem with this rule is himself, tyrone have a large pick of players and am sure lads who dont go to uni and havent played for tyrone and may be a prospect dont get a run out. His problems are no different that any other of the county managers. He rather see the Uni out of the competition all together by the sound of it, where as i thought havent them in, brought the Mckenna cup back to life again