All-Ireland: Galway hold off 14-man Tyrone as Donegal defeat Clare
- Published
Burns sent off as Tyrone lose opener in Galway
Last year's defeated finalists Galway battled to a 0-16 to 0-13 victory over resilient 14-man Tyrone in their opening All-Ireland round-robin match.
Tyrone's Frank Burns was shown a straight red card on 19 minutes for a heavy challenge on Jack Glynn as Galway led 0-7 to 0-3 at half-time.
The Red Hands put up a brave fight but Galway stretched clear in the closing stages to win their Group Two opener.
In earlier matches, Donegal defeated Clare and Mayo won at holders Kerry.
In a dramatic first half at Pearse Park, Galway, led by Shane Walsh, had edged into a 0-5 to 0-3 lead before the first-half flashpoint when Burns was dismissed for a mistimed tackle.
Glynn gathered the ball and was hit late and high by Burns, who immediately knew he was in trouble and it was no surprise to see referee David Gough show a straight red card.
Paul Conroy immediately capitalised to extend their lead, and things went from bad to worse for the Red Hands when goalkeeper Niall Morgan was shown a black card.
Moments after Morgan had caught Johnny Heaney with his leg as he jumped for the ball, which caused the home support to cry out, Peter Harte was hit high by Ian Burke, who was booked.
Morgan, who was out of his goal, raced towards Gough but was sent to the sidelines for 10 minutes for his protests.
Harte, after receiving treatment, went into goal for 10 minutes and Tyrone did well to limit the damage as they played with 13 men and limited Galway to a sole score through Peter Cooke.
Morgan returned in first-half injury-time and Darren McCurry, who earlier missed a straightforward free, reduced the margin to three deep in the half.
Mattie Donnelly and Cooke exchanged points at the start of the second half, but McCurry made it a two-point game with a well-taken free.
Canavan's point made it a one-point game, which came moments after Galway had spurned a goal chance through Shaun Kelly.
Galway rallied as Walsh and Matthew Tierney kicked over, but McCurry again responded with a superb point from play.
That pattern continued into the closing stages, and every time Galway restored their goal buffer Tyrone hit back to set up a tense finish.
However, with three minutes to play, Damian Comer's superb score was followed up by Walsh's sixth point of the game and Galway held on for an opening win, despite another McCurry point.
Donegal get confidence-boosting win
Earlier on Saturday, Donegal overturned a half-time deficit to fight back and defeat Clare 0-14 to 0-9 in their opening All-Ireland round robin match at Cusack Park.
Clare led 0-6 to 0-3 at half-time in the Group Four encounter in Ennis, but Donegal put in a much-improved second-half performance, spearheaded by Ciaran Thompson and Oisin Gallen, to run out five-point winners.
Ulster champions Derry and Monaghan, the other teams in Group Four, play their opener on 27 May.
Clare raced into a three-point lead early in the first half as Keelan Sexton and two Pearse Lillis scores gave the hosts the advantage.
Donegal, playing their first match since their humbling Ulster Championship quarter-final defeat by Down, got off the board through Thompson before two Eoin Cleary efforts nudged Clare further clear.
Gallen and Eoghan Ban Gallagher struck either side of Emmett McMahon's point to reduce the margin to three points at the interval.
Donegal produced a second-half comeback at Cusack Park
Donegal came out of the traps quickly after the restart and Gallen, Thompson and Caolan McGonigle soon hit the visitors level at 0-7 apiece.
From there it was one-way traffic as Aidan O'Rourke's men picked up a morale-boosting win, as Thompson and Gallen ended on four points from play each.
In the Group One opener, Mayo stunned holders Kerry 1-19 to 0-17 to end the Kingdom's 39-game winning run at the Fitzgerald Stadium in the Championship.
Eoghan McLaughlin's goal 10 minutes from time secured the win for Mayo, which saw Kerry fall to defeat in Killarney for the first time since 1995.