SFC quarter-final: Tyrone lay down a marker with 18 point hammering of Armagh

August 05, 2017

Armagh's Mark Shields with Peter Harte of Tyrone

It was all one-way traffic as Tyrone disposed of Armagh with the minimum of fuss in today's All-Ireland SFC quarter-final at Croke Park.

Goals from David Mulgrew (2) and Peter Harte (penalty) boosted Mickey Harte's side to a comprehensive 3-17 to 0-8 victory and, in the process, the Red Hands provided plenty of food for thought to anyone who may have doubted their All-Ireland winning credentials in advance.

It was a reality check for Armagh whose three game unbeaten run came to a shuddering halt and Kieran McGeeney's men never looked like scaling the lofty heights that saw them pull the rug from under Kildare's feet seven days ago.

In stark contrast, the Red Hands didn't waste any time in putting their finely-tuned gameplan into practice.

The gulf in class between the two teams was very much in evidence right from the start as the Orchard County struggled to find any chink in Tyrone's defensive armour.

On top of that, they couldn't cope with the pace of Tyrone's counter attacks and the writing was on the wall for them as early as the 13th minute when they found themselves 0-0 to 0-5 in arrears.

Colm Cavanagh opened the Anglo Celt Cup holder's account in the first minute and Mark Bradley (2), Sean Cavanagh (free) and Tiarnan McCann also made the scoresheet early on.

Things went from bad to worse for Armagh two minutes later when Harte dispatched a penalty beyond the reaches of Blaine Hughes after James Morgan fouled Bradley inside the large rectangle.

The Simply Fruit sponsored outfit finally got off the mark in the 17th minute when Niall Grimley converted a free and matters did improve slightly for them for a spell but they subsequently lost the services of Mark Shields to a black card and went in at half-time trailing by 0-4 to 1-8.

The Division 3 side had their fair share of possession during the early second-half exchanges but their shooting let them down.

Tyrone, on the other hand, were much more economical and extended their advantage when goalkeeper Niall Morgan landed a free.

Mickey Harte made one change to his starting 15 with Declan McClure replacing Mulgrew in the half-forward line.

19-year-old Mulgrew entered the fray as a 44th minute replacement for Conall McCann and subsequently raided the Orchard to the tune of 2-1 and, all in all, it was very much a case of mission accomplished from a Tyrone perspective.

Armagh woes were compounded when Stephen Sheridan and Rory Grugan both picked up black cards in the second-half while Tyrone could afford the luxury of having Cathal McCarron dismissed for a second yellow card offence late on.

He will be eligible to line out in Tyrone's semi-final encounter against the winners of Dublin versus Monaghan which is pencilled in for Sunday, August 27th.

Tyrone - N Morgan (0-2f); A McCrory, R McNamee, C McCarron; T McCann (0-1), P Hampsey, P Harte (1-2, 1-0pen); C Cavanagh (0-1), C McCann; D McClure (0-1), N Sludden, K McGeary; M Bradley (0-3), S Cavanagh (0-4, 3f), M Donnelly (0-1). Subs: D Mulgrew (2-1) for C McCann, D McCurry for K McGeary, L Brennan (0-1) for A McCrory, R O'Neill for M Bradley, R Donnelly for D McClure, J McMahon for C Cavanagh.

Armagh - B Hughes; J Morgan, C Vernon, P Hughes; B Donaghy, M Shields (0-1), J McElroy; S Sheridan, N Grimley (0-1f); R Grugan (0-3, 2f), C O'Hanlon, A Forker; J Clarke (0-2), G McParland (0-1), S Campbell. Subs: O O'Neill for C O'Hanlon, A Duffy for M Shields (BC), E Rafferty for S Campbell, B Crealey for G McParland, C McKeever for N Grimley, D McKenna for S Sheridan (BC).

Referee - D Gough.


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