Fermanagh 1-17
Tyrone 2-18
TWO second half Tyrone goals was enough to see the Red Hands take the spoils from a hard fought National Hurling League game in Enniskillen.
Straight from the throw in, Tyrone had a good goal chance when Fearghal Donagh charged through but his shot was well saved by Fermanagh goalkeeper Mark Slevin.
Jimmy Tormey got Fermanagh off the mark with a good score after three minutes, before Tyrone registering their first point from Niall McGarel.
Daniel Teague and Pierce Mullin traded points, before the Erne men took control of the game with scores from Caolan Duffy and three successive frees from the clinical Teague.
Tyrone were then dealt a big blow when captain Aidan Kelly was shown a straight red by referee Conor Daly following a high challenge on Erne number 15 Caolan Duffy.
Teague then added another free to push the Fermanagh lead out to four points.
Michael Little stopped the rot for Tyrone with a well struck free, with 15 minutes left to play.
Duffy and Sean Corrigan added further scores for Fermanagh, while Mullin (2) and Little responded for the Red Hands.
Little added another for Tyrone, but Fermanagh finished the half the stronger with scores from Teague and Corrigan pushing them out into a three point half time lead, 0-10 to 0-07.
After the restart, McGarel pointed for Tyrone to leave two between the sides, before the Red Hands struck for their first goal.
Mullin, from a free, looked to have dropped his effort short with play ongoing, but following a discussion with his umpires, the referee adjusted the ball had crossed the line and was a goal.
Fermanagh weren’t perturbed though and they struck for their own goal when Cahir McManus flicked the ball over the head of Tyrone goalkeeper Conor McElhatton to put two between the sides again, 1-10 to 1-08.
After a frantic start to the second half, Mullin and Corrigan traded scores for their teams.
Aidan Woods cut the Fermanagh advantage to one, but Corrigan came to the fore, hitting two back to back points for the Erne hurlers.
Tyrone heaped the pressure on Fermanagh and with 50 minutes on the clock, there was just one between the sides after two some scores by the clinical Red Hands forward Little.
The game was then turned on its head when Turlough Mullin smashed home for the Tyrone side after a fortuitous ball was launched forward.
With confidence brimming, Tyrone then extended their advantage to five following scores from Ciaran Magill (2) and Turlough Mullin.
Mullin then pushed the Tyrone lead to six, before Ben Corrigan hit a much needed score for Fermanagh with 60 minutes played.
Mullin and Fermanagh sub Shea McElroy then converted for their sides, before Erne forward Corrigan blazed over to cut the deficit to four.
Fermanagh really needed a goal to get themselves back into the game but they weren’t able to muster up the opportunity, as Tyrone ran out four point winners in the end.
