Tyrone's season is over after a 0-13 to 0-10 defeat to media-shy neighbours Armagh in Omagh.

The losers had to play the entire second half with 14 men after Mattie Donnelly was dismissed before the break for accumulating a yellow card and then a black, and - despite sneaking ahead briefly in the 40th minute - they couldn't stay with a determined Orchard outfit who were written off in most quarters before throw-in but were deserving winners today.

The Red Hands played into the town end goals in the first half, with the wind at their backs, but the Orchard County stunned them with a strong showing to lead by 0-7 to 0-5 at the break.

The gap was actually four points inside first-half injury time after Jamie Clarke had lofted over the visitors' seventh score but two superb long-range frees from former Footballer of the Year Sean Cavanagh in the second and fifth minutes of stoppage time gave Mickey Harte's men a foothold in the game at the short whistle.

Armagh scored first through Tony Kernan (free) in the third minute but Kyle Coney and goalkeeper Niall Morgan (free) had the home team ahead by the sixth minute. Morgan then pulled off a magniificent save to deny Clarke a goal but Tony Kernan nailed the resultant '45' to level the scores at 0-2 each after ten minutes.

Stephen Harold and Kernan (free) made it double scores and Tyrone replied through Cavanagh before Kernan claimed his fourth point of the match from a long-range free in the 27th minute.

The hosts received a massive blow in the 31st minute when centre back Donnelly was sent off after receiving a black card to add to his earlier yellow. He could not be replaced and Tyrone would have to play the remainder of the match with 14 men!

Clarke's brace had Paul Grimley's men looking strong approaching the interval but Cavanagh's late, late strikes ensured that Tyrone would go into the second period full of confidence, despite having numerical inferiority…

The Red Hands were first out for the second half and they were level within two minutes of the restart courtesy of finishes from Niall McKenna and Cavanagh (free). Another Cavanagh free edged the 14 men in front on 40 minutes and the visitors introduced Aaron Kernan for the remaining half-hour.

The Orchard County stepped on the gas with three consecutive points from Andy Mallon, Stefan Campbell and Aaron Kernan, and Morgan then made his second top-drawer save, this time denying Mark Shields.

A brace of Darren McCurry frees tied the scores up once more but back came Armagh with points from Clarke, Shields and Rory Grugan to carry a three-point lead into the last 13 minutes, 0-13 to 0-10.

Three wides in the space of five minutes did little to help the Tyrone cause and Armagh also missed a couple of presentable chances at the other end as the tension grew.

Captain Ciaran McKeever, who was Armagh's designated spare man, picked up a late black card (replaced by Finian Moriarty) but the visitors held on to book their place in the next round of the Qualifiers.

Armagh - P McEvoy; M Murray, J Morgan, A Mallon (0-1); M Shields (0-1), C Vernon, C McKeever; S Harold (0-1), A Findon; A Forker, K Dyas, S Campbell (0-1); T Kernan (0-4, 3f, 1'45), S Forker, J Clarke (0-3, 2f). Subs: A Kernan (0-1f) for J Morgan, K Carragher for S Forker, R Grugan (0-1) for A Forker, B Donaghy for T Kernan, F Moriarty for C McKeever (BC).

Tyrone - N Morgan (0-1f); A McCrory, R McNamee, PJ Quinn; R McNabb, Mattie Donnelly, Joe McMahon; C Cavanagh, S Cavanagh (0-5f); E McKenna, K Coney (0-1), C McGinley; D McCurry (0-2f), N McKenna (0-1), C McAliskey. Subs: C Gormley for R McNamee, B Tierney for C McGinley, S O'Neill for C McAliskey, M Penrose for PJ Quinn, P McNeice for E McKenna, Mark Donnelly for K Coney.

Referee - C Reilly. Tweet

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