Tyrone may have been taught a footballing lesson by Mayo in a wet Healy Park this afternoon, but it's a game that Red Hands goalkeeper Niall Morgan may remember in years to come for a piece of individual brilliance ten minutes from time.
Morgan, very much an exponent of the modern sweeper-keeper position, strode across his own 45' metre line to pick up a sprawling kick pass from underneath the Omagh stand. With the Mayo players dropping well back, intent on protecting an eleven point lead, the Edendork man took the opportunity to indulge in a couple of toe-taps that took him just inside the opposition half.
It looked like the goalie was as surprised as anyone at the space he was being afforded and he took full advantage, producing a wonderful strike with the outside of his right foot, with the ball fading from left to right over the Mayo crossbar.
Morgan, who usually lines out around the middle of the field for the St. Malachy's club, is no stranger to the scoresheet, of course, frequently stepping forward to plant dead-balls for Mickey Harte's men.
But this was something a bit special.
Tyrone’s keeper Niall Morgan scores from play pic.twitter.com/P3DA3i6SJa
— The GAA (@officialgaa) February 3, 2019
Unfortunately for Morgan, Harte and co. it proved scant consolation, as the O'Neill County slipped to their second defeat of their Division One campaign, eventually losing out on a scoreline of 2-13 to 0-10.
Elsewhere in Division One, Seanie O'Shea amassed twelve points in Kerry's comeback victory over Cavan at Kingspan Breffni Park. The home side had led the Kingdom by four points at the break, but aided by a strong gale, Peter Keane's side were able to come back to make it two-from-two.
In today's other fixture, Roscommon ran out two points winners over Monaghan at Dr. Hyde Park, after a breathless end to affairs. Enda Smith buried a penalty to put the Rossies two points to the good with only two minutes left of normal time. But seven minutes of injury-time saw Monaghan draw level before Anthony Cunningham's side got over the line on a scoreline of 1-12 to 0-13.
