Derry defeated at the death as Tyrone U20s score dramatic Celtic Park win

Derry 1-09, Tyrone 0-13

Gavin Potter's 64th minute point inflicted a first Ulster U20 Championship Group A defeat on Derry in Celtic Park on Wednesday, seconds after the Oak Leafers looked to have rescued a point through Johnny McGuckian's superb injury time goal.

The defeat leaves Hugh McGrath's men with two points from two games - Tyrone moving to five points from three - with Derry still to travel to Monaghan before finishing the group with a home fixture against Antrim. Tyrone meanwhile finish with a home tie against Monaghan which, should the Red Hands win, will see them top the group.

That's all to come and this is unlikely to be the last these two counties see of each other in this championship. Indeed there was nothing between them until Tyrone forged ahead with three scores in the final 10 minutes of normal time, the sides level six times over the course of the 60 plus minutes.

That late lead forced Derry to throw caution to the wind however and it looked like they had pulled themselves out of the fire when McGuckian cut in from the left and fired a brilliant high finish to tie the game when 63 minutes gone.

No one could have argued with a draw, but Tyrone promptly went straight down the field, Potter getting on the end of the move to fist over a point that leaves the Red Hands in the box seat to take the direct route to the semi-final.

Derry had been forced to wait 10 days to return to action following their opening round victory over Down in Newry while Tyrone, boosted by the return of their Omagh CBS Hogan Cup contingent, arrived in Celtic Park having score a facile victory over Antrim and then drawn with Down, a game in which they shot 17 wides.

And there were indications that wayward shooting may dog them again early on when the Red Hands passed up a number of decent early openings, a charge that could be levelled at both teams as the half progressed

For the most part Derry were content to concede the Tyrone kick-out and meet the visitors inside their defensive half with Tommy Rogers the base of operations for McGrath's side. Out of possession he was a sweeper on the edge of the defensive 'D' and was always available to recycle ball when Derry probed an excellent Tyrone defence.

With the game's first shot not arriving until the fifth minute, it took until the eighth minute for either team to trouble the scoreboard as Cahir Spiers split the posts for the home side after good work by Ryan McNicholl. Oisin O'Doherty doubled the lead with 10 minutes on the clock but Tyrone responded with a lovely Gavin Potter score to get Paul Devlin's side off and running in the 13th minute.

From there, it was tit-for-tat, neither team able to take a stranglehold as the impressive Eoin Higgins extended Derry's lead only to see Conor Owens reply almost immediately for Tyrone.

O'Doherty's second of the game had Derry 0-4 to 0-2 up on 20 minutes but it took Tyrone only three minutes to wipe that advantage out through scores from Oisin Gormley and Omagh CBS Hogan winning captain, Callum Daly.

A wonderful solo score from McNicholl looked to have edged Derry into half-time ahead but the last say of the half went to Tyrone full-back Joey Clarke who capped an excellent display with a lovely point to leave it 0-5 apiece at the break.

It took a great double block from Tyrone keeper Conor McAneny and Eoin McElholm to deny McNicholl a goal upon the restart but the Red Hands took full advantage of the escape as a brace of scores from Ronan Cassidy, one a free, took the visitors into the lead for the first time just two minutes into the second half.

At that stage two points felt like a big lead but two Oisin Doherty frees, Derry's first of the day, had the Oak Leafers level once by the 44th minute.

A Rogers '45' was cancelled out immediately by Ronan Fox and when Shea O'Hare did likewise with Conleth McGrogan's wonderful point, the teams had been tied five times.

There remained nothing between them until Tyrone substitute Ruairi McCullagh fired over with six minutes remaining and Derry looked increasingly ragged as they had to chase the game. Their task became even bigger when Conor Owens won a turnover and extended Tyrone's lead to 0-11 to 0-9, another Red Hand substitute Noah Grimes then taking the lead out to three with a well worked mark.

Derry looked in trouble and just when they seemed to have clawed back a draw, Potter struck. But expect more from these two as the championship progresses.

Derry scorers: Johnny McGuckian (1-0), Oisin O'Doherty (0-4, 2f), Eoin Higgins (0-1), Ryan McNicholl (0-1), Tommy Rogers (0-1, 1 '45'), Conleth McGrogan (0-1), Cahir Spiers (0-1),

Tyrone scorers: Ronan Cassidy (0-2, 1f), Gavin Potter (0-2), Conor Owens (0-2), Oisin Gormley (0-1), Callum Daly (0-1), Joey Clarke (0-1), Ronan Fox (0-1), Shea O'Hare (0-1), Ruairi McCullagh (0-1), Noah Grimes (0-1, 1m)

Derry: Callum Armstrong, Fionn McEldowney, Conal Heron, Rory Small, Conleth McGrogan, James Murray, Danny McDermott, Ruairi Forbes, Tommy Rogers, Cahir Spiers, Rory McGill, Johnny McGuckin, Eoin Higgins, Ryan McNicholl, Oisin Doherty. (Subs) Niall O'Donnell for R McNicholl, 53mins; Sean Young for C McGrogan, 55mins; Noah Grimes for C Owens, 57mins;

Tyrone: Conor McAneny, Joey Clarke, Ben Hughes, Conor Devlin, Shea O'Hare, Michael Rafferty, Callum Daly, Ronan Fox, Conor O'Neill, Cormac Devlin, Eoin McElholm, Gavin Potter, Ronan Cassidy, Conor Owens, Oisin Gormley. (Subs) Odhran Brolly for C Devlin, 48mins; Ruairi McCullagh for O Gormley, 48mins; Paddy McCann for C Daly, 61mins;

Referee: Enda McFeely (Donegal)