Rock earns draw for senior footballers with late goal

DUBLIN 1-9 TYRONE 0-12

A late, late Dean Rock goal salvaged a draw for Dublin in Saturday night's dour NFL Division 1 tussle at Croke Park.

Tyrone looked set for victory as they defended in mass to hold onto a three-point lead in the final moments before Rock's 69th minute effort rewarded the Dubs for trying to the end.

A Shane Carthy point effort rebounded off an upright and Eoghan O'Gara did very well to rescue possession before lofting the ball across the face of the Tyrone goal from where Rock clinically fisted to the net and earn Dublin one league point as they prepare for next Saturday night's clash with Mayo in Castlebar.

“We kept going until the final whistle, showed a never-say-die attitude and we're just thankful to get a draw at the end of the day,” said Dean afterwards.

“We were three points down and staring defeat in the face. We just managed to orchestrate a goal and, thankfully, hung on for a draw then at the end.”

This game had shade of the 2011 All-Ireland semi-final against Donegal in terms of entertainment value as Tyrone retreated deep into their own territory and were effective on the counter-attack.

Dublin struggled to break down the Ulster side's resistance throughout the night with Rock responsible for 1-6 of Dublin's tally, four points coming from well taken frees.

Goal opportunities at both ends were very scare with Nicky Devereux having one sighting in the 22nd minute but his effort was smothered by keeper Niall Morgan while seven minutes from time Stephen Cluxton saved to deny Tiernan McCann from close range.

By the interval the sides were level 0-6 each after two Rock frees had closed out the half.

A Seán Cavanagh free regained the lead for Tyrone four minutes into the second half as it took Dublin ten minutes to register their first point of the period when Emmett O Conghaile took responsibility to carve through the Tyrone cover and clip over on the run.

Tyrone moved ahead again with points from Mattie Donnelly and Barry Tierney but Dublin rallied with scores from Rock and sub Paul Flynn after Bernard Brogan's ball into the Tyrone danger area broke for the Fingallians man.

However, Mickey Harte's men looked poised for a successful raid on Croke Park when they opened up a three-point advantage with time running out but Dublin keep chipping away at the Tyrone rearguard and were rewarded with Rock's goal as the game moved into the last minute of normal time.

SCORERS - Dublin: D Rock 1-6 (0-4f), B Brogan, E Ó Conghaile, P Flynn 0-1 each. Tyrone: S Cavanagh 0-4 (0-4f), D McCurry 0-2 (0-2f), N Morgan (0-1f), J McMahon, P McNulty, M Donnelly, B Tierney, M Bradley 0-1 each.

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; E Culligan, R O'Carroll, J Cooper; N Devereux, P McMahon, J McCaffrey; D Bastick, E Ó Conghaile; T Brady, D Rock, C Kilkenny; K McManamon, P Andrews, B Brogan. Subs: C O'Sullivan for Bastick (29), P Flynn for Kilkenny (ht), O'Gara for Andrews (ht), J McCarthy for McMahon (59), S Carthy for E Ó Conghaile (64), C Costello for Brady (67).

TYRONE: N Morgan; A McCrory, R McNamee, C McCarron; R McNabb, J McMahon, P Harte; C Cavanagh, P McNulty; T McCann, M Donnelly, B Tierney; D McCurry, S Cavanagh, C McShane. Subs: M Bradley for McShane (ht), PJ Lavery for McCarron (55).

REF: D Gough (Meath).

ATTENDANCE: 27,469.