Kerry came out on top against Tyrone (2-25 to 0-27) after a thrilling battle at Croke Park this evening to return to the All-Ireland senior football championship semi-finals.

Armin Heinrich’s goal 10 seconds before the hooter sounded at headquarters sealed the hard-fought win for the All-Ireland champions as they now join Mayo in tomorrow evening’s draw for the semi pairings in the Sam Maguire Cup race.

After a two-pointer by Paudie Clifford had the Kingdom out in front by the fourth minute, the Red Hands moved into the lead with one from distance by the excellent Conn Kilpatrick being backed up by an Ethan Jordan point.

From there, Malachy O’Rourke’s men would move three in front as Eoin McElholm, Ronan Cassidy and Matthew Donnelly points sailed over consecutively.

David Clifford, who finished with 1-8, and skipper Paul Geaney got points back for Kerry before Clifford netted his goal in the 20th minute with a superb side-footed finish that steered the ball past 'keeper Niall Morgan.

Jordan and Kieran McGeary got two-pointers back for Tyrone to square matters, but Clifford, ‘Man of the Match’ Dylan Geaney (0-8) and Paul Geaney sent over more scores to outweigh one at the other end from Michael McKernan, leaving it at 1-11 to 0-12 come the interval.

Dylan Geaney and David Clifford raised orange flags in the opening 10 minutes of the second-half to create a five-point margin between the teams, with the Red Hands introducing Darren McCurry to the fray in the meantime for what was a remarkable cameo off the bench.

The first score of the Edendork sharpshooter’s personal 0-10 tally came via a two-point free in the 47th minute, with another point from the substitute coming either side of a McElholm brace which made it 1-17 to 0-19 heading into the final quarter.

Dylan Geaney and McCurry (free) swapped two-pointers after that, with McCurry making it a one-point game again ahead of David Clifford and Dylan Geaney swinging over points back-to-back for the Kingdom.

McCurry sent over two more (one free) in response to a Paudie Clifford ‘45’ and erased another from the same player down the home stretch.

After that, a burst forward from David Clifford helped Heinrich get in and steer the ball past Morgan for the game sealing score which ensured Kerry came out on top after a colossal battle against their Ulster opponents.

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