Anguished Tyrone triumphant

But they came to Castlebar last Sunday, saw they had to get back to business, and conquered Mayo in an emotional National League Div. 1A game.
Not surprisingly, in what was also a difficult occasion for Mayo, it took nearly a quarter of an hour for the first score to arrive. However, the tension dissipated toward the interval when Tyrone hit 1-4 without reply.
With Ciaran Gourley wearing the No. 31 jersey — McAnallen’s No. 3 having been retired for the season — the All-Ireland champions were suddenly able to up a gear as Enda McGinley’s palmed goal made it a 1-8 to 0-3 at the changeover.
Kevin Hughes and Sean Cavanagh had complete control of midfield, and when Mark Harte scored his side’s second goal from the penalty spot on the hour mark, there was no way back for Mayo who had flattered for a while after Damien Munnelly’s goal.
Despite the victory, which moves Tyrone up to second place in the table, there were no smiling faces afterward. “However hard it’s going to be, we have to move on,” said manager Mickey Harte. “We know that’s what Cormac would want us to do. The game was tough on everybody, but we owe it to Cormac’s memory to do the very best we can.”

KERRY 2-10, WESTMEATH 0-10
Kerry moved two points clear at the top of the division with a win over Westmeath in Mullingar. The only solace for Westmeath manager Paidi O Se was that his nephews weren’t on duty because An Ghaeltacht’s appearance in the All-Ireland club final, but even without the O Se contingent, Kerry were by far the dominant team.
As ever, Seamus Moynihan was outstanding and with Mike Frank Russell back to something like his sharpest form, Kerry took advantage of Westmeath’s poor shooting and scored all-important goals through Eoin Brosnan and Russell, who converted a penalty. A semifinal place now beckons for the Kingdom is they get the better of Mayo on Sunday.

DUBLIN 0-12, FERMANAGH 0-12
Dublin squandered the chance of maximum points when they were caught in the closing stages by Fermanagh at Brewster Park. Although the Dubs went into the final quarter six points clear, and although the home team had Shane McDermott sent off for a second yellow card, it finished 0-12 apiece.
As Stephen Maguire kicked 8 points to play a major part in Fermanagh’s revival, Dublin manager Tommy Lyons was none too enamored of his team’s performance. “We thought we had the game won and we sat back,” he said. “It’s all about attitude and our attitude was poor.”

CORK 3-10, LONGFORD
Cork claimed their second win of the season with a victory against Longford under lights at Pairc Ui Rinn, where first-half goals by Micheal O Croinin and Philip Clifford proved decisive. Longford were unable to make much of an impact after the interval and when Alan Cronin fired home Cork’s third goal the contest was over.

DIV. 2B
LIMERICK 2-5, MEATH 1-8
Limerick remained on top following a controversial draw with Meath at the Gaelic Grounds. Meath manager Sean Boylan was incensed at referee Michael Daly’s decision to award Limerick a late equalizing goal after Conor Mullane had scrambled the ball home.
Boylan insisted that the Daly had awarded a free out to Meath before consulting with his umpire and then allowing the goal to stand. “Who referees anyway? Is it the referee, the players or the umpire,” he fumed while admitting that overall Limerick deserved a draw.

LAOIS 1-10, GALWAY 1-10
There was another entertaining draw at Portlaoise where Laois and Galway shared the points. Colm Kelly and Padraic Joyce had goals for their respective sides and in a championship style finish with both counties playing some tremendous football, Tom Kelly kicked over a superb equalizing point for Laois in the last minute.

OTHER GAMES
Armagh defeated Sligo, 1-12 to 0-10 at Crossmaglen to keep their hopes of a place in the knockout stages alive, while there was deadlock at Wexford Park where Wexford and Cavan played out a 1-11 apiece draw.
In Div. 2A, Donegal kept up their momentum at the head of the table with a 1-14 to 1-6 success against London, and Offaly and Roscommon stayed in the hunt with wins over Monaghan and Leitrim. In 2B, Kildare notched up a fifth win when they edged out Louth by 0-15 to 1-11 to remain three points clear of Wicklow, who beat Tipperary, and Down, who were easy winners over Waterford.

HURLING
CLARE 1-15, GALWAY 1-12
Clare made it three wins out of three in Div. 1A of the National Hurling League when they edged out Galway by 1-15 to 1-12 at Salthill last Sunday. Taking advantage of the Atlantic gale blowing down the ground, Clare amassed 1-14 during the first and that proved to be enough.
Without goalkeeper Davy Fitzgerald, who was suspended for two months when he criticized a referee following a recent Fitzgibbon Cup semifinal, Clare took the game by the scruff of the neck with Niall Gilligan cracking over six points and with Frank Lohan picking off a goal from his new posting at full forward to build up a 1-14 to 1-2 halftime lead.
Eugene Cloonan had pulled a goal back for Galway with a 20-meter free, but the second half proved to be frustrating for Galway and critically they failed to score in nine of the last 10 minutes as Clare held out.

WATERFORD 6-17, DUBLIN 2-12
Waterford also registered a third victory when they emphatically accounted for Dublin at Parnell Park. A young Dublin team was unable to cope with their opponents for whom Paul O’Brien hit a hat-trick of goals, while John Mullan, Dan Shanahan and Paul Flynn found the net as well.

KILKENNY 2-14, LAOIS 2-10
After a couple of defeats, All-Ireland champions Kilkenny got back to winning ways when they defeated Laois at Nowlan Park. Laois had a golden opportunity to establish a commanding lead in the first half only to shoot 11 wides with the backing of the breeze, and they were eventually caught by an Eddie Brennan goal in injury time.

DIV. 1B
TIPPERARY
Tipperary kept the pressure on leaders Cork in Div. 1B when they crushed Wexford at Wexford Park. Tipp, for whom Lar Corbett and John Carroll each contributed two goals, were in control throughout and effectively had the points in the bag when they led by 3-12 to 1-4 at the break.

CORK 0-14, ANTRIM 2-5
Cork held on to their 100 percent record but they were made to work hard to defeat Antrim by 0-14 to 2-5 at Casement Park. Antrim had goals by Ciaran Connolly and Liam Watson, while Jonathan O’Callaghan kept Cork in touch with eight frees in a total of 9 points.

OTHER GAMES
Limerick registered their first win of the campaign when they defied the odds to beat Offaly by 1-13 to 1-6 at Birr. Westmeath, who got the better of Roscommon by 3-14 to 0-19, and Down, who defeated Kildare by 2-16 to 0-9, shared the lead on five points in Div. 2A, while Kerry opened a commanding lead at the top of Div. 2B with their 2-15 to 0-12 win over Meath. In the division’s other game, Mayo were 3-13 to 0-7 victors over Carlow.