Penalty was the turning point according to Cavanagh

Tyrone's Sean Cavanagh was left ruing the scoring blitz by Mayo at the start of the second half which turned today's All-Ireland SFC semi-final in their favour.

The Red Hands led by four points (0-7 to 0-3) approaching half-time and were good value for that lead, however Mayo turned the screw to hit 1-7 without reply either side of the break.

Even goalkeeper Robert Hennelly got in on the scoring act for the Connacht champions with a monster free, although the most important score of the day - and arguably the catalyst for Mayo's success - was the 39th minute penalty tucked away by Alan Freeman.

Tyrone substitute Dermot Carlin came across to make a clumsy challenge on the advancing Colm Boyle, seeming to nudge the Mayo defender in the back just as he went to shoot. Boyle went down and referee Maurice Deegan awarded the penalty.

Pascal McConnell was unable to keep Freeman's shot out and the goal gave Mayo a considerable lift, helping them push 1-10 to 0-7 clear in the ensuing minutes.

The penalty call was a contentious one though as TV replays showed that the contact for the foul had actually occurred outside the large rectangle, leading RTÉ pundit Joe Brolly to allege Deegan was making up for an incident in the first half which denied Mayo a goal.

"After (Deegan) screwed up the goal so badly, Mayo were entitled to get a break. It doesn't look like a penalty in the first place," Brolly said on 'The Sunday Game Live' this afternoon.

"What the referee was trying to do was make up for the balls-up he made in the first half."

The Laois official had drawn the ire of the Mayo support when he blew up for an innocuous-looking challenge by Conor Gormley just before Freeman knocked the ball past McConnell and into the Tyrone net.

Substitute Freeman got a second bite of the cherry with the penalty award and his goal stood this time, a setback that Tyrone never really recovered from as their All-Ireland challenge crumbled despite the best efforts of Cavanagh and company.

"It was never going to be easy and then obviously the penalty knocked the stuffing out of us. They came at us in waves then," said Cavanagh, who teamed up with his brother Colm to take on Mayo's O'Shea siblings in centre-field.

"All of a sudden you could see their players living off that confidence whilst in the first half we could see the fear in their eyes. We were getting in around them and putting pressure on them and they didn't know where to go with the ball.

"That 10 minutes at the start of the second half dragged them over the line, and I suppose from our point of view it was regrettable that we lost the leaders in the team we did and in the way that we did."

First half injuries to Peter Harte (dead leg) and captain Stephen O'Neill (ankle) robbed Tyrone of key personnel, while influential defender Joe McMahon had to come off with just 44 minutes on the clock.

It was an uphill battle from there as Mayo claimed a lead they would not relinquish. For Tyrone it is a frustrating way for their Championship run to end, especially as Cavanagh believes they should have had the measure of a Mayo side that was relatively untested in the 2013 Championship before today.

"No disrespect to them but we knew coming into the game that they hadn't been tested. We knew that they hadn't been put on the back foot and we knew we could shock them," insisted the Moy clubman.

"We just couldn't see it through and from out point of view it's massively disappointing because I think we know – well I know anyway – that we have the quality in the squad.

"It's different. A couple of years ago we played Dublin and we were deflated because you knew you were beaten by a side that were much superior to us, and you have to hold your hands up like that sometimes.

"Today you have big regrets because when it comes to the big calls or breaks it could have went our way. We could have come out of here after winning the game."

Reflecting on his 200th match in charge of Tyrone, manager Mickey Harte was disappointed that his charges allowed Mayo to close the gap before half-time. But he refused to single out the penalty as the reason why they lost.

"I was too far away to make a definitive call on it (the penalty). It may have been outside but the penalty was given, they scored and we are out of the Championship," admitted Harte.

"A penalty is always a big score in any game, and in such a tight game it is crucial. But I think we lost the game before half-time. We were seven points to three up and doing much better than many people had anticipated.

"However, we didn't hold onto that (advantage) and they got back into the game before half-time. Mayo played a very good second half."

Harte can see the improvements in Mayo's game this season in that they were able to hang in when Tyrone were in the ascendancy early on, make adjustments at the interval and then kick on and seize control over the closing 35 minutes.

The three-time All-Ireland winning boss opined: "That's the mark of what Mayo are about now, they ground out that first half when they were on the back foot. Every team gets a purple patch and you need to be ahead when you have yours, and we had ours and didn't stay ahead.

"Therefore, when they came back and had their best period they started from a very good position close to us and then went ahead of us. It was always us chasing the game after that, and I think the way Mayo have been playing this year you don't want to be chasing them."