Tyrone 0-11

Mayo 0-9 

Declan Bogue reports from Healy Park

NOT PRETTY IN the end, and plenty of observers would have noticed a desperation creeping in, but Tyrone extracted themselves somewhat out of the relegation mire with this win over Mayo in Healy Park.

Any deep concerns that Tyrone had grown fattened on their own success was answered by a series of moments when they managed to get two, often three, defenders around the Mayo ball carrier and strip them of possession.

An 0-8 to 0-3 lead at half time was sort of similar to the kind of treatment they themselves were on the receiving end of against Dublin the week before. If they needed an answer as to where they were at, the first half was a decent illustration.

Their final point of the first half featured Darragh Canavan slaloming down a flank, inviting Kieran McGeary to get on the end of the move. McGeary could not gather but Canavan managed to toe the ball to brother-in-law Peter Harte who executed a tidy chip pick-up and drilled over for his third flashy point of the half.

Limiting Mayo was easy when they seemingly weren’t in the mood for some HoranBall and taking all the hits with a rash of support runners.

That all changed in the second half, with five unanswered points, led by Ryan O’Donoghue, which illustrates just how influential the breeze blowing down towards the Gortin Road end is here.

Try as they might, they couldn’t just sustain that form and a few wild wides, as well as overcooked balls inside from substitute Kevin McLoughlin, left their attacks in the final quarter amounting to nothing.

Plenty of faults to pick through for both.

Scorers for Tyrone: P Harte (0-3), C Meyler (0-2, D Canavan (0-2, 1 mark), F Burns, R Brennan, D McCurry, M Donnelly (0-1 each)

Scorers for Mayo: R O’Donoghue (0-5, 4f), J Flynn (0-2), M Ruane (0-1), J Carney (0-1)

TYRONE: N Morgan; M McKernan, R McNamee, F Burns; C Meyler, R Brennan, P Harte; C Kilpatrick, P Hampsey; B Kennedy, N Sludden, K McGeary; D McCurry, C McShane, D Canavan

Subs: R Donnelly for Kennedy (HT), M Donnelly for McShane (HT), N Donnelly for Sludden (56m), L Rafferty for Brennan (62m), B McDonnell for Canavan (72m)

MAYO: R Byrne; L Keegan, D McBrien, D McHugh; O Mullin, A O’Shea, S Coen; J Flynn, M Ruane; F McDonagh, P Towey, F Boland; A Orme, J Doherty, R O’Donoghue

Subs: J Carney for McDonagh (35m), K McLoughlin for Towey (HT), E Hession for McHugh (HT), D Coen for Doherty (57m), C Loftus for Boland (68m)

Referee: Maurice Deegan (Laois)

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