Monaghan produced a power surge at snowy Healy Park to inflict a stinging 1-13 to 0-9 defeat on neighbours Tyrone.

The match was held up for 30 minutes due to floodlight failure shortly after the restart, but that failed to unsettle the determined visitors who built the platform for victory with a run of nine unanswered points either side of the short whistle.

Mickey Harte's men - who would go 35 minutes without a score - looked to be cruising towards their sixth win of the month when Darren McCurry's 21st-minute free sent them into a 0-7 to 0-2 lead, with the visitors struggling to get into the match.

But an inspirational fisted point from Darren Hughes got Malachy O'Rourke's men up and running before scores from Kieran Hughes and Stephen Gollogly left just two between them at the interval.

When the action resumed, Dermot Malone and Daniel McKenna had the winners level within 60 seconds and Ryan McAnespie clipped over their sixth successive point before a floodlight failure led to the action being suspended for half an hour.

Tyrone's Niall Morgan and Colm Cavanagh leave the pitch after the lights went out. ©INPHO/Presseye/Russell Pritchard.

McKenna and substitute Paul Finlay converted frees when the game finally resumed and Dessie Mone fired over a ninth Monaghan point without reply: 0-11 to 0-7.

It wasn't until the 56th minute that the Red Hands finally got their first score of the second period and it came from the boot of goalkeeper Niall Morgan, who fired over a thumping free. The retort to that was emphatic as Gollogly latched onto a Kieran Hughes flick to test the strength of the net with a magnificent finish.

The hosts had Colm Cavanagh sent off for a second yellow card before the end and Monaghan captain Conor McManus came off the bench to pop over the last point of the match.

The winners had struggled without their All Star attacker - a late withdrawal from the starting XV - in the opening stages as scores from Sean Cavanagh, Peter Hughes (2), McCurry (3) and Aidan McCrory edged the O'Neil County into a five-point lead, with Kieran Duffy and Kieran Hughes contributing Monaghan's only scores of the opening 26 minutes.

Man of the Match Hughes finished a lung-bursting run with a morale-lifting solo point in the 27th minute and the visitors went on to outscore the recently-crowned  McKenna Cup winners by 1-11 to 0-2 in the remaining 43 minutes of play.

Monaghan - R Beggan; F Kelly, D Wylie, R Wylie; D Mone (0-2), N McAdam, K Duffy; D Hughes (0-1), D Clerkin; K Hughes (0-2f), S Gollogly (1-1), C Boyle; D Malone (0-1), D McKenna (0-2, 1f), R McAnespie (0-1). Subs: P Finlay (0-2f) for D Clerkin, C McManus (0-1) for D McKenna, V Corey for F Kelly.

Tyrone - N Morgan (0-1f); A McCrory (0-1), R McNamee, C McCarron; R McNabb, M Donnelly, B Tierney; C Cavanagh, P McNulty; PJ Lavery, R O'Neill, P Hughes (0-2); D McCurry (0-4f), S Cavanagh (0-1f), N McKenna. Subs: S McGuigan for PJ Lavery, C McCann for P Hughes, T McCann for M Donnelly (BC).

Referee - P Hughes.

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