Peter Canavan's injury-time point sent Tyrone through to the 2005 All-Ireland SFC final at the end of an intense semi-final before a mesmerised audience at Croke Park. The clash of the Ulster giants went down to the wire and it was nerve-wrecking stuff as both teams went for the jugular from start to finish. Tyrone had to dig deep and they scored the last three points of a thrilling contest, culminating in Canavan's ice-cool finish, which claimed an unbelievable 1-13 to 1-12 victory. Armagh probably didn't deserve to lose this match as they gave as good as they got for 72 thrilling minutes. The Ulster champions contributed enormously to the latest instalment in the fascinating Tyrone-Armagh saga and looked on course for the final when Stephen McDonnell somehow found the net on the hour. Tyrone fought back, however, and a draw seemed inevitable until one last brave upfield surge presented 34-year-old talisman Canavan with the opportunity to write another chapter into his incredible career. The winners just about got the better of an intense first half and Stephen O'Neill's 35th-minute penalty gave Mickey Harte's men a two-point interval lead. The first half was intense, suffocating stuff and all 30 players gave everything in a tough, bruising encounter. Space was at a premium and there was nowhere to hide as this fascinating clash of the titans unravelled at the breathless Jones Road venue. Tyrone had an early goal chance but Paul Hearty blocked Ryan Mellon's tame fourth-minute effort. Francie Bellew was detailed a marking job on Owen Mulligan but when he fouled his man the Tyrone No.15 made no mistake from the resultant free in the fifth minute. Bellew's slip two minutes later gave Mulligan another glimpse of goal but the bleach-headed attacker was frustrated to see his attempted point drift wide. Sean Cavanagh sold Kieran McGeeney a superb dummy and kicked a brilliant ninth-minute point from distance to make it 0-2 to 0-0 but Stephen McDonnell brilliantly opened Armagh's account on ten minutes. McDonnell got under the high ball, muscled two Tyrone men out of it, and swivelled to register a lovely score into the Hill off his left peg. Mulligan eluded Bellew and blazed over his second point and Oisin McConville's 15th-minute free was well wide as Armagh struggled to get into their stride. When Tyrone captain Brian Dooher fouled Brian Mallon in front of the posts, McConville curled over the resultant free and there was just a point in it at the end of the opening quarter. Dooher kicked a wide at the end of some high-intensity lung-bursting action and Stephen O'Neill, who was being closely marked by Ciaran McKeever, then missed the target from an acute angle At the other end, McDonnell brought Armagh level on 22 minutes after a magnificent run forward from corner back Andy Mallon. Ronan Clarke and McConville brought Armagh's wides tally to five and Mulligan was very unlucky when his imaginative effort off the outside of the boot clipped the outside of the post and went wide. Bellew's ruthless late tackle on Mulligan - whose shot tailed wide - resulted in a free for Tyrone straight in front of the posts and O'Neill nonchalantly tagged over the seventh score of the match on 32 minutes, 0-4 to 0-3 to the Red Hands. Brian Mallon outstripped the entire Tyrone defence to kick a sensational point at the end of a soaring run and Joe Kernan replaced midfielder Philip Loughran with Tony McEntee. The last minute of the first half was incredible. Cavanagh flattened Bellew with a bone-jarring challenge and the Armagh full back was still prostate on the ground when Mulligan sent O'Neill bearing down on goal. Paddy McKeever fouled the Tyrone No.14 with a reckless tackle from behind and Paddy Russell had no hesitancy awarding a penalty. There was a nerve-shredding delay as players squared up to one another and Mulligan picked up a yellow card for an off-the-ball incident. O'Neill kept his cool through all the commotion and arrowed a stinging kick to Hearty's left, into the bottom corner of the net. Armagh captain McGeeney kicked an inspirational point deep into first-half injury time and the short whistle was barely audible in the Croker cauldron before the teams departed the arena with two points between them - 1-4 to 0-5 in Tyrone's favour. Tyrone replaced Enda McGinley with Peter Canavan for the second half, while Armagh introduced John McEntee. The O'Neill County went straight into attack and Mellon placed Mulligan who tried to surprise Hearty with a two-handed flick, but the towering Armagh 'keeper wasn't caught napping and he pushed the effort wide. Hearty rose well to gather Canavan's '45', while Armagh had disappointing wides from McDonnell and Paul McGrane. Mulligan's free dropped short and was mopped up by Bellew and O'Neill clocked up Tyrone's fifth wide from a free close to the sideline. Brian McGuigan picked out Canavan with a deft free and when Peter the Great was dragged to the ground O'Neill obliged from the resultant free seven minutes after the restart. Aaron Kernan danced through the Tyrone defence but fired wide and Mickey Harte decided to replace ineffective midfielder Brian Meenan with Colin Holmes. Paddy Russell gifted McConville a point when he harshly awarded Armagh a free in front of the posts. There appeared to be no transgression whatsoever and the score lifted Armagh, who followed up instantly with McDonnell's third wonderful point from play. When Russell awarded another soft free, McConville was on hand to bring the teams level for the third time on 47 minutes. Bizarrely, Michael McGee than had a foul given against him when he himself had been fouled and Tyrone would have felt very aggrieved had Kernan converted the resultant free. Instead, the wing back opted for a short free and the opportunity was lost. Ryan McMenamin broke forward to kick a massive point for the beaten Ulster finalists and O'Neill added another impressive score after an energetic Cavanagh surge through the middle. Tyrone led by three points when the best footballer of his generation, Peter Canavan, got in front of his marker to gather O'Neill's pass, and swerved to make it 1-8 to 0-8 with a sweet strike at the start of the fourth quarter. John McEntee replied for Armagh with a trademark point as the game opened up and Kernan popped over a free after Joe McMahon was penalised for bringing Clarke to ground. Thirteen minutes from time, McDonnell had a good goal opportunity. However, he opted to go for his point and uncharacteristically missed the target. O'Neill stretched Tyrone's lead from a 59th-minute free after Bellew was wrongly adjudged to have fouled Mulligan but Armagh then stole ahead on the hour when McDonnell sneaked in behind the Tyrone defence to strike a splendid goal. Conor Gormley and Pascal McConville forced the Killeavy man very wide but he somehow wrapped his foot around the ball and found the net from an awkward angle as he fell to the ground. Mulligan levelled matters from a close-in free but Armagh moved two ahead with points from Kernan (free) and Ronan Clarke. When Cavanagh finished his next run with a fine point, the scoreboard read 1-12 to 1-11 in Armagh's favour with six minutes remaining. Agonisingly for Tyrone, Canavan and O'Neill both had wides as the clock ticked away. But there would be two more scores and both would go to Tyrone. A magnificent sweeping move worked the ball to substitute Shane Sweeney via O'Neill and Canavan and the No.30 hit a left-footed leveller two minutes from the end. Another Sweeney effort dropped short 30 seconds from the end. Two minutes of time were added and it was enough for Tyrone to nick a sensational victory. With a replay beckoning, the ball was spirited forward to O'Neill, who ran at the Armagh defence and drew a foul. Canavan decided to take the kick and he grabbed the ball off Mulligan to split the posts with an accurate late, late strike to send the O'Neill County through to the 2005 All-Ireland senior football championship final. Tyrone: P McConnell; R McMenamin (0-1), J McMahon, M. McGee: D Harte, C Gormley, P Jordan; B Meenan, S Cavanagh (0-2); B Dooher, B McGuigan, E McGinley; R Mellon, S O'Neill (1-4), O Mulligan (0-3). Subs: Peter Canavan (0-2), C Holmes, A McCann, S Sweeney (0-1) Armagh: P Hearty; A Mallon, F Bellew, C McKeever; A Kernan (0-2), K McGeeney (0-1), A O'Rourke; P Loughran, P McGrane; M O'Rourke, P McKeever, O McConville (0-3); S McDonnell (1-3), R Clarke (0-1), B Mallon (0-1). Subs: T McEntee, J McEntee (0-1) Tweet

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