But the victory was only good enough to secure them second place in the group as Donegal’s facile win over Clare gave their Ulster rivals the top spot in the group and direct passage to the quarter-finals.
Tyrone will have home advantage in Omagh in next weekend’s All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final, but they face the prospect of being without influential midfielder Conn Kilpatrick, who received a straight red card.
Unless they can overturn the card, Kilpatrick could miss two games as he was red-carded during the league.
Cork’s inability to convert their scoring chances in the first half and a black card for Chris Óg Jones contributed to their loss.
Tyrone outscored them 1-2 to 0-2 when Jones was in the sin-bin as Darragh Canavan and goalkeeper Niall Morgan emerged as pivotal figures.
It was a bitterly disappointing result for Cork though they were still in the All-Ireland series. This was their only loss in the group stages, but they still ended up in third place in the table, which means they face an away trip in next weekend’s preliminary quarter-final
As expected, Cork captain Brian Hurley was ruled out with a hamstring injury. He was replaced by St Finbarr’s Steven Sherlock for only the fifth championship clash between the counties. Cork won the first two in 1973 and 2009, with Tyrone emerging victorious in 2018 and 2019.
There was an enforced late change for Tyrone after Kieran McGeary was injured in the warm-up – he was replaced by Ben Cullen.
A feature of the early exchanges during which the sides each hit two points was the inability of either side to win their own kick-outs. But contrary to expectations, the game was surprisingly open.
Cork’s profligacy was particularly noticeable – in the opening 15 minutes, they created eight chances but only scored four whereas Tyrone took their four scoring opportunities.
On a windless afternoon, Cork continued to set the pace, their counter-attacking game exposed huge gaps in the Tyrone rearguard and though they continued to squander chances they were two points clear (6-4) by the 20th minute.
Prompted by the scoring exploits of the Canavan brothers, Darragh and Ruairi who between them scored four points from play in the first half Tyrone drew level eight minutes before the break. Sean O’Driscoll gave them the lead for the first time in the 29th minute before Brian O’Driscoll levelled soon afterwards for Cork.
A peach of an assist from Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan set up Conn Kilpatrick for an excellent Tyrone point but Mark Cronin replied almost immediately with an equally high-quality point to level the tie for the sixth time in the 32nd minute.
On the cusp of the break, Steven Sherlock converted a free after a foul on Tommy Walsh to give Cork a one-point (0-10; 0-9) lead at the break.
All but one of Cork’s scores came from their full-forward line with Chris Óg Jones hitting 0-3 from play. But their conversion rate of 10 from 17 shots compared to Tyrone’s nine from 12 would be a source of concern for team manager John Cleary.
Another interesting feature of the first half was that all but one of Tyrone’s nine points came from play, whereas four of Cork’s total were from placed balls
Tyrone introduced Peter Harte at the break, but it was Cork who created the first chance. After Darragh Canavan was harshly penalised for overcarrying for the second time in the contest Cork counter-attacked at pace and Tommy Walsh put Paul Walsh through. But the wing forward seemed in two minds as to whether to shoot or offload. In the end, he drove the ball badly wide from 15 metres.
With the sides level (0-11 each) Chris Og Jones was black-carded for a trip on Niall Morgan after the Tyrone goalkeeper did brilliantly to cut out a through ball.
With Morgan off the field after he was treated Tyrone did well to keep possession and Darragh Canavan’s improvised brilliant to fly kick the ball over the bar to give Tyrone the lead in the 45th minute.
Brian O’Driscoll equalised but Cork’s joy was short-lived as in the next attack a delightful one-two between Ciaran Daly and Ben Cullen on the right flank split the Cork defence and the latter passed the ball over the goal line.
Niall Morgan added another Tyrone point and suddenly the Ulster side were four clear with 20 minutes left. It was now a question of game management for Tyrone. But having been policed by Daniel O’Mahony in the first half, Darragh Canavan was beginning to cut loose, hitting his fourth point from play in the 55th minute to strengthen his side’s lead to four points.
Cork were handed a lifeline with just over six minutes left Conn Kilpatrick was flashed a red card after an off-the-ball altercation with Mark Cronin, which was flagged by the linesman.
But it wasn’t enough to revive Cork, and indeed, it took a point-blank save from Christopher Kelly to deny Sean O’Donnell a second goal. But when Niall Morgan pointed the resultant free everybody in Tullamore knew it was going to be Tyrone’s day.
Scorers – Tyrone: D Canavan 0-5 (1f); B Cullen 1-0; N Morgan 0-3 (1f, 1 45), D McCurry (1f) 0-3 each; R Canavan 0-2; S O’Donnell, M O’Neill, C Kilpatrick, N Devlin, M McKernan 0-1 each. Cork: S Sherlock 0-8 (6f); M Cronin 0-4 (2f); C Óg Jones 0-3; B O’Driscoll 0-2.
Tyrone: N Morgan; N Devlin, P Hampsey, M McKernan; B Cullen, M Donnelly, A Clarke; B Kennedy, C Kilpatrick; C Daly, R Canavan, M O’Neill; D McCurry, D Canavan, S O’Donnell. Subs: P Harte for O’Neill (ht), C McShane for R Canavan (64), S O’Hare for O’Donnell (67), C Quinn for Cullen (70), T Quinn for D Canavan (70 +4).
Cork: C Kelly; K Flahive, D O’Mahony, T Walsh; M Shanley, R Maguire, M Taylor; I Maguire, C O’Callaghan; S Powter, P Walsh, B O’Driscoll, M Cronin, S Sherlock, C Og Jones. Subs: R Deane for Powter (50), C Corbett for P Walsh (54), S Meehan for Flahive (68), C O’Mahony for Cronin (67), K O’Hanlon for O’Driscoll (70).
Referee: Paddy Neilan (Roscommon)
