Senior footballers power past Tyrone into All-Ireland final

DUBLIN 2-17 TYRONE 0-11

It's Dublin v Mayo in the All-Ireland SFC final once again, a repeat of last year's thrilling decider that went to a replay before the Dubs secured back-to-back titles.

A good start is half the battle ..... and the Dubs got that with Con O'Callaghan's superb fifth minute goal which put the Red Hands on the backfoot from the outset.

The game was bookended by Dublin's other goal when Eoghan O'Gara swept the ball powerfully to the net past Niall Morgan as Jim Gavin's side ran out deserved 12-point victors.

Dublin's work-rate in the first half was outstanding, highlighted by the number of occasions forwards tracking back, such as Paul Mannion and Con O'Callaghan executed great tackles and dispossessions on Tyrone players in possession.

Indeed the Dublin goal came after Ciaran Kilkenny reacted quickest to a spilled ball around midfield and quickly put Dublin on the attack and once Con got the ball he only had one thing on his man as he turned his marker before arrowing for goal.

They were patient also, holding onto possession and waiting to inject pace, via likes of James McCarthy and Jack McCaffrey, to make and incision into the Tyrone defence for forwards to pick off the scores.

By the break Dublin were 1-9 to 0-5 ahead and well in control.

Dublin's subs made their usual positive impact off the bench, with Paul Flynn kicking three points from play including two great long-range strikes, Kevin McManamon was unlucky not to get a goal soon after his introduction and Dublin may have had a couple of other goals but Jack McCaffrey blazed wide with the goal at his mercy and Paul Flynn was denied by Morgan on another occasion.

At the other end Tyrone were awarded a late penalty but Stephen Cluxton denied Peter Harte from the penalty spot to keep his goal intact.

The game also marked the end of one of the modern greats of the game, Tyrone's Sean Cavanagh, who confirmed his retirement from intercounty action after the game.

Afterwards Dublin manager Jim Gavin said: "We got an early goal. It was an opportunity and we took it. In the second half we had more chances and we weren’t clinical enough.We know that the next day that won’t be good enough."

SCORERS - Dublin: C O’Callaghan 1-2, Dean Rock 0-5 (0-4f), Eoghan O’Gara 1-1, P Flynn 0-3, P Andrews 0-2, C Kilkenny, B Fenton, J McCaffrey, P Mannion 0-1 each Tyrone: P Harte 0-4 (0-3f), N Sudden, C Cavanagh 0-2 each, T McCann, D McClure, S Cavanagh (0-1f) 0-1 each.

DUBLIN: Stephen Cluxton; Jonny Cooper, Cian O’Sullivan, Michael Fitzsimons; John Small, Philip McMahon, Jack McCaffrey; Brian Fenton, James McCarthy; Niall Scully, Con O’Callaghan, Ciaran Kilkenny; Paul Mannion, Paddy Andrews, Dean Rock. Subs: Paul Flynn for Scully (44); Kevin McManamon for Andrews (44); Darren Daly for Small (52); Eoghan O’Gara for Rock (63); Eric Lowndes for Mannion (65); Diarmuid Connolly for O’Callaghan (69).

TYRONE: Niall Morgan; Aidan McCrory, Ronan McNamee, Cathal McCarron; Tiernan McCann, Padraig Hampsey; Peter Harte; Colm Cavanagh, Conall McCann; David Mulgrew, Niall Sudden, Kieran McGeary; Mark Bradley, Sean Cavanagh, Matthew Donnelly.

Subs: Declan McClure for Conall McCann (29); Rory Brennan for McGeary (ht); Darren McCurry for Mulgrew (41); Ronan O’Neill for Bradley (49); Conor Meyler for S Cavanagh (54); Pádraig McNulty for McNamee (59).

REF: D Coldrick (Meath).