Three late, late points rescued a 0-11 to 1-8 draw for Tyrone against neighbours Derry in atrocious conditions at Omagh tonight.

The Oak Leaf County seemed to have earned their first victory of the campaign when substitute Terence O'Brien's 62nd-minute shot into the bottom corner of the net made it 1-7 to 0-6 moments after Sean Leo McGoldrick had kicked the visitors ahead for the first time.

But the hosts rallied to outscore their opponents by five points to one in the remaining eight minutes - plus three of stoppage time.

A brace of Darren McCurry frees halved the deficit, with Derry full back Niall Holly dismissed due to a second yellow card in between. Derry played the last five minutes with 14 men but were looking good when Michael McIver increased their lead to three again with four minutes remaining, 1-8 to 0-8.

But scores from Mattie Donnelly and PJ Lavery set up a tense finale, which was punctuated by McCurry's late finish from a soft free.

At the end of a turgid, low-scoring first half, the Red Hands led by the odd point from seven, 0-4 to 0-3. The hosts had played with the assistance of a strong wind and would ideally have liked to have led by more, but in the end they needed a late converted free from Sean Cavanagh to edge them ahead at the short whistle.

Playing conditions were dreadful, with driving wind and rain, and the match only went ahead after a late pitch inspection from referee David Coldrick, who deemed Healy Park playable after some surface water had been swept away.

With the wind wreaking havoc, the sides managed just a point apiece inside the opening 20 minutes. Colm Cavanagh tore through a gap and opened the scoring with an inspirational point but Eoin Bradley levelled with a tenth-minute free from the hands.

After Oak Leaf custodian Eoin McNicholl had denied Tyrone corner back Aidan McCrory, points from Sean Cavanagh and McCurry edged the home side two ahead. The visitors replied with a Carlos McWilliams point which bounced over the bar and a great Bradley point on the turn from an acute angle.

Brian McIver would have been a happy man when the interval whistle sounded with just one point between the sides…

Substitute James Kielt (free) tied the scores up in the 37th minute following a foul on Bradley but McCurry's free off the outside of the boot restored Tyrone's lead, with Brian Og McAlary black-carded for the visitors.

To the credit of both teams, the quality of football in the second half was a marked improvement on the first. McCurry's free off the outside of the boot made it 0-6 to 0-4 to the hosts ten minutes in and Derry were level on the hour thanks to points from Kielt (free) and Benny Heron.

Goalkeeper Niall Morgan struck the post from a Tyrone free and substitute Cathal McShane also squandered a goal chance for the O'Neill County, who will feel they were full value for the draw.

Tyrone - N Morgan; A McCrory, R McNamee, C McCarron; R McNabb, J McMahon, B Tierney; C Cavanagh (0-1), P McNulty; T McCann, M Donnelly (0-1), P Harte; D McCurry (0-4, 3f), S Cavanagh (0-3, 2f), C McAliskey (0-1). Subs: C McCann for P McNulty, PJ Lavery (0-1) for C Cavanagh, C McShane for C McAliskey.

Derry - E McNicholl; O Duffy, N Holly, D McBride; B Og McAlary, K Johnston, SL McGoldrick (0-1); M Craig, B Og McGilligan; C McWilliams (0-1), B Heron (0-1), E Lynn; D McKinless, E Bradley (0-2, 1f), B McGoldrick. Subs: J Kielt (0-2f) for B McGoldrick, M McIver (0-1) for B Og McAlary (BC), F Doherty for M Craig, T O'Brien (1-0) for D McKinless, E McGuckin for J Kielt, L McGoldrick for C McWilliams.

Referee - D Coldrick.

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