All-Ireland SFC qualifier: Tyrone ease past Limerick

Tyrone beat Limerick in the second round of the qualifiers

Tyrone booked their place in the second round of the All-Ireland qualifiers without playing anywhere near their best against Limerick at Healy Park.

In the end, a late Peter Harte goal saw the Red Hands run out winners by a comfortable nine-point margin.

But the performance will leave veteran boss Mickey Harte in no doubt there is work to do if they are to be genuine contenders for the Sam Maguire trophy.

Conor McAliskey ended with six points for Tyrone.

The first half was lacking in quality and Tyrone will feel they should have been more than 0-6 to 0-4 up at the interval.

They coasted into a three-point lead with Mattie Donnelly scoring from distance, skipper Sean Cavanagh landing a free and McAliskey registering from play.

Limerick missed their early opportunities with Ian Ryan wide with a free and keeper Brian Scanlon sending another two off target.

Gearoid Hegarty finally got Limerick off the mark, although a McAliskey free restored the three-point difference.

Ryan and corner-back Robert Browne cut the deficit to one as Tyrone struggled to get into their rhythm.

Darren McCurry and Scanlon exchanged frees before McAliskey's score from play left two in it at the interval.

Limerick had two players black-carded in the first half. Early on centre half-back Cillian Fahy had to be replaced by Brian Fanning and just before the break half-forward Darragh Treacy seemed to be harshly banished with Michael Brosnan taking over.

Tyrone pulled away in the second half with McAliskey (3), Ronan O'Neill, Tiernan McCann, Mark Bradley, Rory Brennan and Sean Cavanagh scoring points.

Harte rounded things off by palming into the net for his stoppage-time goal.

"We were very disjointed and just were not at ourselves for 55 minutes of that game." said Tyrone boss Mickey Harte.

"But we worked through it against a team which had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

"If we had taken our early goal chances it might have settled us better.

"But I am pleased with the way we pushed on in the end and I am not worried if the scoreline flattered us."

Saturday 27 June

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Qualifying Round 1B

Armagh 2-17 2-07 Wicklow

Louth 1-16 0-11 Leitrim

Wexford 2-16 2-11 Down

Ulster Senior Football Championship semi-final

Derry 0-10 1-09 Donegal

Sunday 28 June

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Qualifying Round 1B

Tyrone 1-14 0-8 Limerick

Leinster Senior Football Championship semi-finals

Meath 2-18 3-19 Westmeath

Dublin 5-18 0-14 Kildare

Ulster Senior Hurling Championship semi-final

Derry 1-17 3-16 Down