Tyrone and Down take significant strides towards Ulster Minor knockouts

Down hit three goals in their win over Donegal

John Campbell

Tyrone and Down took decisive steps towards the closing stages of the Ulster Minor Football Championship when they beat Monaghan and Donegal by emphatic margins.

The Red Hands overwhelmed Monaghan by 4-13 to 0-10 while the Mourne county outgunned Donegal by 3-9 to 1-6.

It was Tyrone who were quickly into their stride against the Farney outfit with Enda Donaghy, Peter Colton and Liam McGeary all on target, while Lorcan McMurray swooped for a brace of points.

Monaghan responded with Conor Meehan, Cian Rafferty, Killian Kearns and Senan Hanratty chalking up points that helped to trim Tyrone’s half-time advantage to 0-9 to 0-4.

Tyrone, though, took complete control after the break when Sean Óg Teague, Jamie Concannon, Shea McDermott and Darren McAnespie all found the Monaghan net, cementing their team’s dominance.

In Saturday’s other Group A Round 4 tie, Down got off to a sprightly start against Donegal with Paul McGovern landing two points, before Darragh Poland fired in a 13th minute goal with Donegal still awaiting their first score.

It was not until the second quarter that this arrived with the team trailing at the interval by 1-5 to 0-1. But worse was to come for the north-west side when Poland crashed home a second Down goal before Liam Blaney fired in a third.