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Stephen O'Neill of Tyrone and Mayo goalkeeper David Clarke. INPHO/Mike Shaughnessy
Penalty King

Division 1 FL: O'Neill snatches late win for Tyrone over Mayo

Mickey Harte’s side grabbed victory in dramatic circumstances in Castlebar.

Tyrone 1-12
Mayo 1-11

Stephen O’Neill fired a late penalty to the net to secure the spoils for Tyrone in dramatic fashion in Castlebar this afternoon.

O’Neill raised the green flag after Mark Donnelly had been fouled to deliver Tyrone’s second successive win in Division 1.

Mayo were left reeling after James Horan’s side had appeared to be on the cusp of maintaining their own perfect start to the league.

After last Sunday’s win over Kerry, Mayo seemed set to build on that after they produced a powerful late rally as they recovered from a four-point deficit, 0-12 to 0-8, in the closing stages.

Substitute Keith Higgins unleashed a bullet to the net after being set up by Jason Doherty and then Donal Vaughan tied the game by notching a point soon after. Then Doherty swung over two points from frees to edge Mayo into a 1-11 to 0-12 advantage.

But Tyrone kept their heads and were rewarded for a late charge when O’Neill displayed the composure to tuck the ball past Mayo goalkeeper David Clarke from the penalty spot.

Tyrone had lead 0-6 to 0-4 at the break with Sean Cavanagh and goalkeeper Niall Morgan both on the mark in the scoring stakes. Mayo rallied after the interval with Kevin McLoughlin impressing but then Tyrone stitched together a string of points to forge an advantage.

It looked as if they would close out the game from there but ultimately it took O’Neill’s late strike to seal their success.

Scorers for Tyrone: Stephen O’Neill 1-1 (1-0 pen), Sean Cavanagh (0-2f), Peter Harte, Niall Morgan (0-2f) 0-2 each, Ronan McNamee, Martin Penrose, Cathal McCarron, Conor McAliskey, Darren McCurry (0-1f) 0-1 each.
Scorers for Mayo: Jason Doherty 0-6 (0-5f), Kevin McLoughlin 0-3 (0-3f), Keith Higgins 1-0, Donal Vaughan, Lee Keegan 0-1 each.

TYRONE: Niall Morgan: Aidan McCrory, Justin McMahon, Conor Gormley, Ryan McKenna, Joe McMahon, Ronan McNamee; Conor Clarke, Sean Cavanagh; Patrick McNeice, Peter Harte, Plunkett Kane. Conor McAliskey, Stephen O’Neill, Mark Donnelly.

Subs: Cathal McCarron for Gormley, Martin Penrose for Kane, Darren McCurry for Harte, Jonathan Lafferty for McNeice

MAYO: David Clarke; Kevin Keane, Ger Cafferkey, Keith Higgins; Tom Cunniffe, Colm Boyle, Chris Barrett; Aidan O’Shea, Seamus O’Shea; Lee Keegan, Richie Feeney, Cathal Freeman; Kevin McLoughlin, Jason Doherty, Michael Conroy.

Subs: Barry Moran for Seamus O’Shea, Enda Varley for Freeman, Alan Dillon for Barrett, Donal Vaughan for Boyle

Referee: Maurice Deegan (Laois)

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