Ulster Minor Football League 2010

[drici]

Dubs take first Ulster Minor League
Tyrone 0-08 Dublin 2-14                             

Dublin captured their first ever Ulster MFL title when a strong first half performance saw off Tyrone in the final at Breffni Park on Tuesday evening.

Two goals inside a minute by Fearghal Duffy early in the first half did the damage as the Dubs led 2-9 to 0-7 after playing against the wind in the opening half.

Duffy used his pace to carry him past the Tyrone defence in the ninth and again in the tenth minute and finished well on both occasions as the Dubs opened up a 2-3 to 0-1 lead.

Harry Dawson also brought his shooting boots and he finished the night with five points, including one free with his unfavoured right boot.

Centre-back Michael Gibbs caused problems for Tyrone with his forward forays which reaped two impressive points.

Tyrone put Dublin under considerable pressure on the restart but a succession of wides did not aid their cause.

They were awarded a penalty in the second minute of the second half but goalkeeper Colin Murphy parried the spot kick of Conan Gruggan and then reacted well to bat away the ball as Gruggan raced to the rebound. Dublin face Kildare in the Leinster MFC quarter-final while Tyrone take on Antrim in the Ulster MFC Quarter Final.

SCORERS

Dublin: F Duffy 2-1, H Dawson 0-5 (0-1f), A Caffrey 0-3 (0-1f), M Gibbs 0-2, J Russell OCarroll, A Fallon, D Mylod (0-1f) 0-1 each.

Tyrone: C Gruggan 0-3 (0-1f), J McCullagh 0-2, D Donnelly, C McCullagh, R ONeill 0-1 each.

]DUBLIN – C Murphy; M Durkan, D Shatwell, J Small; P Maguire, M Gibbs, S Fitzsimons; P OCurry, JJ Martin; J Russell OCarroll, F Duffy, A Fallon; A Caffrey, H Dawson, D McCabe. Subs: D Mylod for Russell OCarroll (41), N McGovern for Small (48), N OFlynn for Fallon (52), G Heavey for Maguire (57), K Doyle for Dawson (59).

TYRONE – M McReynolds; S McGarrity, C Clarke, HP McGeary; N Studden, M Donaghy, C ONeill; C Gruggan, D Donnelly; M Carberry, D McCurry, C McCullagh; K Morgan, J McCullagh, R ONeill. Subs: E Deeney for McGeary (24), E McGahan for Donaghy (29), A McNulty for Donnelly (ht), S Tierney for Carberry (41), R Loughran for C ONeill (48)

[drici]

Greater focus needed


TYRONE failed to produce the form that they had shown in earlier rounds of the Ulster Minor League when they were beaten by Dublin on Tuesday night by twelve points in the final. Manager Raymond Munroe was naturally disappointed with the performance of his charges at Breffni Park.

It was a contest where the Red Hands played second best to their opponents from start to finish and Munroe made no excuses about the fact that Dublin have already championship games in Leinster under their belts against Kildare and Louth.

"We just didn't turn up and obviously we are disappointed as they are better players than they displayed out there tonight. One important ingredient, as I've already told the players, is that they have an appetite for the game and they certainly didn't have that tonight.

"We were beaten by a well drilled Dublin team albeit they are a wee bit ahead of us in their preparations. They have two games already played in the championship and when you look back to 2008 when we played Meath in the league final they were something similar and we found them tough but when we met them again in the All Ireland semi final we had made a big improvement.

"To be honest it wouldn't have really mattered there tonight if we had been up to championship pace, we didn't bring any appetite to the game. We made five substitutions and it didn't change it.

"The goals probably knocked us back a bit and it was always going to be difficult in the conditions to peg it back.

"I think though that we could have made it a bit closer on the scoreboard if we had shown more hunger for the game but we have three or four weeks preparation ahead before the championship and we hope to put things right during that time. We will go away and ask questions of everybody and hopefully come up with the right answers.

"There is talent there, there is no doubt about that, that's why they are here. They are all good players and don't become bad ones overnight but its applying our attitude right and realising that skill alone doesn't win any game.

"You have to take the competitive edge to the game as well; you have to want it bad enough and you have to be able to challenge the opposition no matter what they throw at you.

"You have to be able to think on your feet at this level. It doesn't matter what level you play for at school or club when you go our there you are facing the best players from other counties. Players that are able to think on their feet, play fast football, play to whatever the team's game plan is and that's were we have to get in a very short period."

Next up for Tyrone is the opening game in the championship against Antrim at Casement Park and while this was a setback for them there is no doubt that Raymond is determined to have them ready for that game.

"Every one of the last four years that I've been involved, at least we went out and competed in the championship. We may not have always won but we competed and I can assure you that we will have a team out on May 23rd that is going to compete with Antrim."

[ONeill]

Thanks for the updates in this thread drici. You do some sterling work on here.