Face of Nation : The Rebels took a five-point lead into the break after early goals from Luke Connolly and James Loughrey. However Cathal McShane and Peter Harte led a Red Hands revival with goals after the restart. Tyrone will host Dublin at Healy Park on 4 August, with the winners taking top spot in Super 8s Group Two.
Mickey Harte’s side will know that in the Championship semi-final a week after their Dublin game, a first half performance like the one they produced against Cork on Saturday will put their title aspirations to bed. The Tyrone boss will however take great satisfaction from the second 35 minutes, in which the Ulster side showed impressive adaptability to turn to the game on its head.
For 55 minutes against Dublin last week Cork did enough to suggest that they were a much better side than their relegation to Division Three earlier this year suggested.
Again on Saturday the Rebels showed that they are a far stronger side than their league position suggests, and will leave Dublin disappointed that their semi-final aspirations appear to be over.
It took just 15 seconds for Connolly to drill the ball underneath Niall Morgan for the opening goal as Cork tore through their opponents from the throw-in.
Ronan McCarthy’s side knew how Tyrone were going to set-up defensively, and sought to break through the white and red wall by displaying extreme patience in possession.
Indeed Loughrey’s goal, lashed high into the net on 15 minutes, came after 23 hand-passes which eventually found the defender in space. At the other end Tyrone could not keep the scoreboard ticking over as they usually do, and at one stage of the half went 18 minutes without a score.
