Derby win keeps Tyrone hopes alive

Mickey Harte cut a satisfied figure after his Tyrone team overcame Armagh in last night's Ulster derby clash in Omagh.

Goals in each half from Joe McMahon and Tommy McGuigan guided the Red Hands to a 2-13 to 0-13 victory over one of their fiercest rivals.

Tyrone now face their third All-Ireland SFC qualifier match in as many weeks, taking on Roscommon in next weekend's outstanding fourth round fixture.

Harte has plenty of respect for the beaten Connacht finalists, telling BBC Radio Ulster: "We'll need to be playing good football again to get past Roscommon

"I was at the Connacht final, it was played in horrendous conditions and Roscommon were within an ace of winning that game.

"I think they were 0-9 to 0-4 ahead at one stage and missed a chance to go 0-10 to 0-4 up. Mayo went up the field and closed it to a four-point game, that was a crucial score.

"If Roscommon had taken that chance, I think they would have been Connacht champions."

The meeting of the Ulster heavyweights produced a ding dong battle, with a scoring burst of 1-4, which included McMahon's fisted goal, edging Tyrone ahead by the break.

Points from Steven McDonnell, Billy Joe Padden and Aaron Kernan inspired Armagh's fightback early in the second half.

But the result was effectively sealed by a handful of points - Harte (0-4) and Mark Donnelly (0-3) showed well in front of the posts - and McGuigan's 57th-minute goal.

"It was always going to be a big battle between ourselves and Armagh," added the Tyrone boss.

"They played their football in a higher division than us this year, so we didn't expect anything less from them.

"It was a great start from Armagh, they were looking very comfortable. Coming up to half-time, we were 0-6 to 0-3 down.

"We had that great spell of football then that turned it into a four-point lead. That really made a huge difference for us, against the breeze.

"Armagh, true to form, clawed that back early in the second half, but we punched on again and got a few scores ourselves.

"I think we played a lot of good football tonight and probably should have had a couple more goals. I think the fact that we were creating plenty of chances was very encouraging for us."

Since losing to eventual Ulster champions Donegal late last month, Harte's men have put 1-17 on Longford and scored a similar tally against Armagh.

Such was their ability to create scoring chances, they could and perhaps should have put more goals past Armagh net minder Paul Hearty.

Seán O'Neil and Colm Cavanagh were off-target when presented with opportunities. However, there were no signs of panic from the home side.

Harte agreed: "We had a lot of goal chances. There were people driving forward from the back, and a lot of good support play.

"Maybe part of the problem was that the wrong people were in the right place to finish them! Paul Hearty also made some good saves.

"Tommy McGuigan's goal was very important for us. He slotted home with a forward's instinct. That second goal was really the cushion we needed."

Goal-scoring full-back Joe McMahon also came in for praise from his manager. The Omagh St. Enda's clubman is back to his formidable best after being in the wars in recent months.

McMahon broke his jaw in two places and lost a number of teeth during a club match in April, and suffered concussion during the Ulster semi-final defeat to Donegal.

Acknowledging his efforts in last night's qualifier win, Harte commented: "Joe was outstanding. He's a real quality complete footballer.

"Just about everything you could want a footballer to do, he did that tonight and seemed to do it very comfortably.

"He's just a mighty asset to our team. We could play him in about fifteen different places, but we'll stick with full-back at the minute!"