20 July 2009
They battled bravely to the bitter end but Antrim came up six points short against All Ireland champions Tyrone in Sunday’s Ulster Senior Football final at St Tiernach’s Park, Clones.
Brilliantly led by man of the match Sean Cavanagh Tyrone were quick out of the blocks and took command after the game’s top scorer Paddy Cunningham had given Antrim an early lead.
However Ryan McMenamin fisted over and equalizer, Tommy McGuigan landed a long-range effort and Joe McMahon sent over a third point to get Tyrone back on track and when
Cavanagh took a Stephen O'Neill's pass to cut through for a superb goal, Antrim were facing an uphill struggle.
The champions actually pulled nine points clear by the thirtieth minute (1-8 to 0-2) and a real rout looked a distinct possibility, but Antrim battled back brilliantly and hit the last three points of the first-half to cut the arrears to six.
With the breeze at their backs, and their brilliant supporters cheering them on, Antrim must still have fancied their chances as the second half got underway, but Tyrone came out after the break and fired over three unanswered points through Mulligan, McGuigan and Cavanagh to regain a vice-like grip on the game.
Once again Antrim dug deep and they hit back with three points, two from Cunningham and one by Michael McCann, to cut the arrears to six once again.
The Saffron followers were in full cry when they cut the gap back to five on a couple of occasions but Tyrone were always able to find an answer when it was most needed.
There was a glimmer of hope when Paddy Cunningham and Michael McCann had goal chances but both shots rose over the bar and Tyrone held on comfortably to take their twelfth Ulster title.
Despite the defeat it was a proud day for the Antrim fans in the 32,000 crowd. Their heroes lost to the best team in the land and there is no shame in that.
Of course the great summer adventure is not over yet and the fans will get the chance to cheer their heroes again next weekend when they take on Kerry in the qualifiers.
Antrim scorers: Cunningham 0-11, Gallagher 0-1, M McCann 0-2, Close 0-1
Tyrone scorers: McMemanin 0-1, T McGuigan 0-3, Joe McMahon 0-2, S Cavanagh 1-4, Mulligan 0-3, Hughes 0-2, Harte 0-1, B McGuigan 0-1, Jordan 0-1
Antrim: P Graham, C Brady, A McClean, K O'Boyle, T Scullion, J Crozier, J Loughrey, M McCann, A Gallagher, T O'Neill, K Brady, N McKeever, P Cunningham, S Burke, T McCann. Subs: J Finucane, P Carey, C Close, A Douglas, D Edwards, C Fleming, B Hasson, D McCann, C Murray, K Niblock, C McVeigh, N O'Connell, D O'Hagan, M Pollock.
Tyrone: J Devine, PJ Quinn, Justin McMahon, R McMenamin, D Harte, C Gormley, P Jordan, K Hughes, S Cavanagh, B Dooher, T McGuigan, Joe McMahan, M Penrose, S O'Neill, O Mulligan.
View Gallery
