Jim Gavin will pleased with a draw
Dublin responded to their loss to Kerry last week by showing mental toughness to engineer a late goal that secured a 1-9 to 0-12 draw with Tyrone in Croke Park.
A late free from Niall Morgan drifted wide and with it the chance for Tyrone to claim a big win in the capital after they had dominated much of the action against the league champions. They looked on course for a win until Dean Rock palmed a ball from Eoghan O’Gara to the net after 68 minutes to level the game.
The sides were level at half time at 0-6 each but Tyrone arguably should have been ahead after dropping a number of balls into the arms of the returning Stephen Cluxton.
In Division two Kildare got their first win of the campaign as they beat Cavan 2-13 to 0-14. Eoghan O’Flaherty scored Kildare’s opening goal with the home side leading 0-8 to 1-4 at the break after Cavan had a man sent off early in the game.
The second half was a tight affair but Kildare’s extra man proved vital and they led by 1-13 to 0-13 entering the last few minutes, despite David Hyland receiving his marching orders for an off the ball incident.
However Daniel Flynn scored the all important second half goal which could go a long way to staving off back to back relegation for the Lillywhites after losing their opening three games.
Elsewhere Meath went goal crazy against their neighbours as they beat Westmeath by 4-10 to 0-11.
The visitors to Navan led by 0-8 to 1-3 at half time but 2-2 in the first seven minutes of the second half saw Meath take full control, and they ran out 12 point winners with Graham Reilly’s goal the pick of the bunch
In Division Three Armagh’s bid for promotion suffered a slight setback agsint Ulster rivals Fermanagh. The sides ended deadlocked at 1-10 each after a thrilling second half fightback from Fermanagh. They closed a five point gap in the last 15 minutes.
Armagh led by 1-7 to 1-3 at the break and had led by 1-5 to 0-1 at one stage in the first half until a Ruari Corrigan goal brought Fermanagh back into the game.
In the afternoon Tipperary held Clare at arms length in their Division 3 clash in Thurles with a 2-11 to 1-8 win
The Premier county enjoyed a half time lead of 1-5 to 0-4-as Conor Sweeney’s early goal proved the key difference between the sides.
But the visitors were desperately poor in the second half, and Tipperary romped home to a comfortable six point win. That was even with the late penalty from David Tubridy being saved and its rebound tapped over for a point.
In hurling and Cork eased to a monster 0-34 to 1-20 win over Dublin in their Division one clash in Croke Park. The Rebels led by 0-21 to 0-8 at the break. Cork were allowed do what they please and the Dubs performance was in stark contrast to what they had shown in their win over Kilkenny almost two weeks ago.
Paul Ryan’s introduction did spark Dublin to some kind of life but Patrick Horgan punished every mistake and he ended the game with 0-14 points,five from play. Liam Rushe’s late goal put a gloss on what was a terrible night for Ger Cunningham against many of his former charges when he was part of the Rebel backroom team.
In the early hurling action on Saturday Waterford are back top of Division 1B after a 2-18 to 1-14 win over Offaly.
The home side had the better of the early exchanges in O’Connor Park but Waterford fought back and led by 1-7 to 0-9 at the break after Shane Bennett’s first half-strike.
The sides were level several times in the second half until Michael Walsh flicked home a goal after 50 minutes which gave the away side the room they needed to keep Offaly at bay until the final whistle and maintain their unbeaten record.
Shane Dooley was the game’s top performer who scored 1-10 and was still on the losing side.
