Tyrone 1-12

Armagh 1-10

Tyrone defeated Armagh in a tempestous McKenna Cup opener at the Athletic Grounds which was watched by a bumper attendance of 8,463.

Four red and 15 yellow cards were handed out as the Red Hands avenged last summer's All-Ireland qualifier loss to their fierce rivals. Due to the large crowd, the throw-in was delayed by nearly half an hour, but it didn't take long for the sparks to fly as Armagh's Ciaran McKeever and Colm Cavanagh of Tyrone both saw red following a melee in the eighth minute.

Sean Cavanagh scored four first half points, but Micheal McKenna, Eugene McVerry and Gavin McParland replied to help Kieran McGeeney's new charges to a slender 0-6 to 0-5 half-time lead.

Aidan McCrory and Eugene McVerry both found the net in a second half which saw Armagh reduced to 12 players following the dismissals of Finian Moriarty and Aaron Findon on second yellow cards. McVerry's goal gave them a three-point cushion, but they were unable to hold on as Tyrone made their numerical advantage count in the closing stages.

Mickey Harte's men registered the last five points, three of which came from the boot of Darren McCurry.

Tyrone - N Morgan; A McCrory (1-0), R McNamee, C McCarron; T McCann, R McKenna, P Harte; C Cavanagh, P McNulty; PJ Lavery, K Coney, P Hughes (0-1); D McCurry (0-5, 3f), S Cavanagh (0-5, 4f), S McGuigan. Subs: C McShane (0-1) for R McKenna, M Donnelly for K Coney, N McKenna for S McGuigan, R Brennan for P Harte.

Armagh - N Geoghegan; M McConville; S Sheridan, M Murray; M Shields, F Moriarty, C McKeever; A Findon, S Campbell; S Forker (0-1), M McKenna (0-3), E McVerry (1-3, 0-3f); G McParland (0-1), E Rafferty (0-1f), N McConville. Subs: J Clarke for E Rafferty, T Kernan (0-1) for G McParland, D McKenna for S Sheridan, M McNeice for N Geoghegan, F O'Neill for N McConville.

Referee - N Mooney.

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