Dean Rock's last-gasp goal earned Dublin a 1-9 to 0-12 draw with Tyrone at Croke Park tonight.

The visitors looked to have muscled their way to a hard-fought victory when leading by three approaching the end of normal time, but Man of the Match Rock popped up with the levelling score in the 69th minute, fisting to the net after the ball had come back off the post and was recycled by half-time substitute Eoghan O'Gara.

The border county had just moved three points clear thanks to scores from substitute Mark Bradley, Darren McCurry (free) and Sean Cavanagh (free).

At the end of a very scrappy, disjointed and free-strewn first half, the sides went in all-square, 0-6 apiece.

Rock struck five of Dublin's first-half points, including four from placed balls, but the hosts never led during those opening 35 minutes - or, indeed, at any time in the entire match. Thrice before the short whistle, the Red Hands led by two.

Cavanagh opened the scoring from a free and Justin McMahon raided forward to restore the lead after Rock's first converted free. Another Cavanagh free made it 0-3 to 0-1 after nine minutes.

The holders were level at the end of the opening quarter thanks to points from Rock, who blazed over, and Bernard Brogan, after a lovely dummy, but Mickey Harte's men responded with points from midfielder Padraig McNulty and a McCurry free.

Rock had a free cancelled out by one from visiting goalkeeper Niall Morgan and then closed the first-half scoring with another brace of frees as the Leinster champions struggled to penetrate the O'Neill County's 15-man defence.

A total crowd of 27,469 paid through the gates at Croker for tonight's double header and those who remained at HQ witnessed only two scores in the first ten minutes of the second half - a Cavanagh free cancelled out by Emmet O'Conghaile.

Barry Tierney and Mattie Donnelly propelled the visitors back into a two-point lead but Rock and substitute Paul Flynn levelled it again. Tyrone must have thought they'd done enough when they surged three clear but their swarming defence was finally undone at the death by man of the moment, Rock, who finished as top scorer with an impressive 1-6 haul.

Dublin - S Cluxton; E Culligan, R O'Carroll, J Cooper; N Devereux, P McMahon, J McCaffrey; D Bastick, E O Conghaile (0-1); T Brady, D Rock (1-6, 0-4f), C Kilkenny; K McManamon, P Andrews, B Brogan (0-1). Subs: C O'Sullivan for D Bastick, E O'Gara for P Andrews, P Flynn (0-1) for C Kilkenny, J McCarthy for P McMahon, S Carthy for E O Conghaile, C Costello for T Brady.

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

Referee - D Gough.

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