Tyrone end Armagh unbeaten run

Tyrone 1-09, Armagh 0-10

Tyrone will not surrender their Allianz National Football League title without a real fight, and that famous Red Hand battling spirit thrilled a 12,000-strong Healy Park crowd as Armagh's 11-month unbeaten run was brought to an end.

The All-Ireland champion's last defeat in league or championship was way back in April of last year, but they can have no complaints about the reversal at Omagh.

It was a fiercely contested encounter, with nine players yellow carded and a handful fortunate not to see red.

But it was Tyrone's disciplined defending which proved the decisive element. After Owen Mulligan drilled home the only goal of the game 19 minutes into the first half, they protected a slender lead with unbridled passion, with Gavin Devlin and Ryan McMenamin simply awesome at the back.

McMenamin held Steven McDonnell scoreless, and the Allstar attacker was called ashore 10 minutes from the end to cap a frustrating afternoon.

It wasn't much better for his attacking colleagues, who found themselves smothered time after time by the relentless tackling of the Tyrone rearguard.

Peter Canavan missed three first frees that on a calmer day would have sailed between the posts, but all was forgiven by the Tyrone faithful when his pinpoint pass sent Owen Mulligan through for a superbly finished goal on 19 minutes.

Mulligan's low drive past Paul Hearty opened up a 1-2 to 0-3 lead for the Red Hands, and both sides had been guilty of poor shooting and sloppy passing.

Sean Cavanagh and Ryan Mellon were more than holding their own with Paul McGrane and Philip Loughran at midfield, while both centre backs, Gavin Devlin and Aidan O'Rourke, were on top of their games.

Canavan frequently threatened, but suffered from a lack of support, while Armagh soon abandoned the ploy of playing Tony McEntee as a third midfielder, but nonetheless failed to make full use of wind advantage.

Barry O'Hagan, Paddy McKeever and Oisin McConville traded points with Frank McGuigan, Mulligan and Canavan, and the sides were three times level in a closely contested but largely scrappy first half.

And it was Mulligan who edged the home side into a narrow lead in injury time, sending them in at the break with a 1-4 to 0-6 advantage.

And they enjoyed a productive spell at the end of the third quarter, when two scores from impressive substitute Enda McGinley and a Canavan effort opened up a four points cushion.

Armagh could manage only two points, both McConville frees, in the final half hour, as their opponents held firm in the face of a furious late onslaught.