Mickey Harte paid tribute to Monaghan after they ended Tyrone's quest for a three-in-a-row of Anglo-Celt Cups.

"They have a lot of good players, seasoned players and new kids on the block. They're a fine side and I think we will hear a lot more of them before the year is over," he said.

The Tyrone manager was left to rue injuries to key players Colm Cavanagh, Tiernan McCann and Lee Brennan in the lead-up to the game.

"Colm had to come out at half-time, Tiernan McCann was not as sharp as we know he can be and you could see that he had not played enough games at this level as he needed to, while Lee Brennan was recovering from a hamstring injury, so those were substitutions we would not normally be making," he continued.

"That left us with less of a free hand to do things that we might have done in terms of the bench, but I think we did well to bring it back level at 0-16 apiece. It was just a shame that we gave away a needless foul that gave them the upper-hand again and they just rolled on from that.

"They dominated those last minutes of normal and injury-time and in the end we were flattered to get back to two points because the goal came when the game was over anyway."

Harte admits the defeat will make it harder for the Red Hands to reach the Super 8s.

"We wanted to be in the last eight for sure, but we wanted to be there with a cup as well. Our challenge now is to get into the last eight and that is a harder and more unpredictable journey because you don't know who you are going to meet and where you are going to meet them."

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