'Thank God for Canavan' - Harte

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte praised the man above after Peter Canavan held his nerve to hit the deciding point in today's 1-13 to 1-12 All-Ireland SFC semi-final win over Armagh.

The Errigal Ciaran star, on as a substitute, struck an injury-time free to send the Red Hands into a September 25 decider against Kerry, and the white-clad supporters amongst the 65,858 Croke Park crowd into ecstasy.

Harte said of the 34-year-old forward: "If anybody needs to take a pressure kick like that then Peter Canavan is the man. Thank god for men like Peter Canavan.

I've seen him at club level do it for me as well, in intense games where he scores the equaliser. It's just so fitting that he should get such a significant score for Tyrone."

Twelve minutes earlier, a Steven McDonnell goal had squeezed Armagh a point in front and Harte admitted he would have been content to earn a replay as the hour ticked by.

"It looked as though we were going out at that stage."

While Harte now has three full weeks to prepare for Tyrone's second All-Ireland final in three seasons, his opposite number Joe Kernan of Armagh is "looking forward to a break."

The Orchard boss, who guided his side to National League and Ulster titles this season and through seven championship ties before today's defeat, thought his side had the result in their hands.

"Two of these best teams in the country gave it everything for 72 minutes, non-stop to the end," said Kernan.

"We thought that we had it but we gave the ball away a few times and Tyrone came up the field and punished us."