McKenna Cup: Tyrone and Armagh ease to victories

Tyrone midfielder Cathal McShane is tackled by Ciaran McCoey of St Mary's

Tyrone made it two wins from two McKenna Cup games while Armagh also secured a Section C victory on Sunday.

The Red Hands cruised to a 1-12 to 0-3 success over St Mary's at Healy Park with Patrick Quinn scoring the only goal of the game in the second half.

The holders remain on course for the semi-finals and in with a chance of a fourth successive McKenna triumph.

Armagh picked up their first win of the campaign after overcoming Antrim 2-11 to 1-4 at Creggan.

The Orchard men led 0-6 to 0-2 at half-time before goals from Stefan Forker and Oisin Mac lomhair secured the win.

Jamie Clarke, the prolific forward who was moved back into the Armagh defence for the game, was sent-off for two yellow cards.

It's been a week of firsts for Errigal Ciaran's Aidan McCrory - last weekend he scored his first goal for Tyrone, a crucial second half strike against Armagh, and at Healy Park he captained his county for the first time.

Another pre-match development saw Colm Cavanagh restored to the squad, having had his red card dismissal against Armagh rescinded on appeal.

His point, and three Connor McAliskey efforts, helped the Red Hands open up a 0-5 to 0-1 lead, but they failed to score in the final 18 minutes of the half.

St Mary's narrowed the gap through Emmet Bradley, but they were reduced to 14 men in stoppage time when defender James Morgan, who had already been booked, picked up a black card.

Tyrone led by 0-5 to 0-2 at the interval, but St Mary's could have gone level when Jerome Johnston's penalty was superbly saved by Mickey O'Neill.

The Red Hands rallied immediately with Quinn palming home the goal, their first score in 26 minutes.

And they finished with a flourish, scores from Sean Cavanagh, Rory Brennan, Kyle Coney and Cathal McShane condemning the students to a second defeat.

Antrim: C Kerr; M Kane, C Burke, C O'Rawe; J Laverty, D Lynch, P Mc Aleer; J Carron, O Gallagher; C Murray, CJ McGourty, D McAleese; C Johnson, Mich Magill, E McNeill.

Armagh: M McNeice; M McConville, B Donaghy, M Murray; M Shields, F Moriarty, J Clarke; A Findon, S Campbell; S Forker, M McKenna, E McVerry; O Mac Iomhair, C Rafferty, N McConville.

Tyrone: M O'Neill; A McCrory, R McNamee, C McCarron; R Brennan, D Quinn, P Harte; C McShane, P McNulty; M Donnelly, D McCurry, P Kane; P Quinn, C McAliskey, S McGuigan. Subs: N Morgan, S Cavanagh, K Coney, P Hughes, T McCann, E McKenna, N McKenna, R McKenna, Justin McMahon, B Tierney.