All-Ireland champions Tyrone wrested the Anglo-Celt Cup from Armagh with a 2-10 to 1-10 Ulster quarter-final victory at sweltering Clones. The result means that the holders are out of this year's provincial race up north, while Tyrone progress to a semi-final meeting with Derry. Stephen O'Neill and Conor Gormley supplied the goals for Mickey Harte's men, while Ronan Clarke replied with a fantastic major for the Orchard County. The match was played in a great spirit throughout as both teams went at it with all their might without a nasty blow or a cynical swipe in sight. After an encouraging enough Armagh start, Tyrone dominated the first half and rattled off 1-4 without reply from the 20th minute onwards to lead by 1-5 to 0-3 at the short whistle. The impressive All-Ireland champions also hit eight wides in the first period, but there was no such messing from Stephen O'Neill when he blasted a super goal to the net in the 32nd minute. Brian Mallon started and finished a piercing Armagh move to send the Orchard County ahead with a point after just 17 seconds. Kevin O'Rourke - a late addition to the starting team - played a big part in that opening score with a nice pass in the build-up. Steven McDonnell fired a shot wide and positions counted for very little during the opening exchanges as all 30 players roamed the pitch in search of precious space. It was frantic stuff early on and both sets of players made mistakes in the roasting conditions. In the seventh minute, midfielder James Lavery roared through the Tyrone defence to pop over a second Armagh point. Peter McDonnell's men had clearly settled best but Stephen O'Neill opened Tyrone's account from an eighth-minute free, after a foul by Aaron Kernan. The immovable Paul Hearty made a good clearance under pressure in the Armagh goal a minute later, getting a strong fist to Tommy McGuigan's centre, and Kevin Hughes registered the O'Neill County's first wide in the tenth minute (with Finian Moriarty retrospectively yellow carded for a late tackle during that Tyrone move). Owen Mulligan hit successive wides as both teams were guilty of many misplaced passes, perhaps due to the demanding conditions in north Monaghan. Tyrone almost got through for the opening goal of the game on 14 minutes when Enda McGinley sprinted forward from centrefield and tried to pick out O'Neill, but Hearty got to the ball in time to divert it out for a 45, which O'Neill pulled wide. Unbelievably, O'Neill, who otherwise had a super match, then boomed another free - from the hands - high and wide and not so handsome as the scoring drought continued. Mallon was unlucky when his left-footed shot flew inches wide at the end of the first quarter, but McDonnell popped over a third Armagh point in the 19th minute. This was the first score for either side in twelve minutes and, again, it came at the end of a fluent move: 0-3 to 0-1. Cometh the hour, cometh the man: on twenty minutes Footballer of the Year Sean Cavanagh curled over a trademark point off his trusty right foot from wide on the left wing. Two minutes later, a mistake by Hearty presented McGuigan with a point from a free and all Armagh's decent early work was undone as the sides were now level. Davy Harte drove the O'Neill County's sixth wide in the 23rd minute and Kevin O'Rourke missed the target at the other end a minute later. The All-Ireland champions seemed to be operating a shoot-on-sight policy and McGuigan was next to send a shot badly wide from distance. Andy Mallon and Ciaran McKeever combined to thwart O'Neill at the expense of a 45, which Joe McMahon clipped beautifully between the posts on 28 minutes to put Tyrone ahead for the first time: 0-4 to 0-3. Worryingly for Armagh, who had started well, that was wind-assisted Tyrone's third consecutive score. It could have been worse for the Orchard men as their opponents had missed an uncharacteristically-high number of chances. Not for the first time, Hearty saved Armagh when he managed to deal with the threat of Penrose under a delivery from raiding full back Justin McMahon. Armagh were cursing their luck when O'Rourke's point effort was controversially waved wide by the umpire on the near post. The underdogs were further left licking their wounds in the 32nd minute when the inimitable O'Neill struck for the game's opening goal. The Tyrone No.13 somehow managed to take an aimless Harte kick under control and shook off the attentions of Mallon to drive a powerful low shot past Hearty to the back of the net from a tight angle. McDonnell and McGuigan swapped wides before Cavanagh powered forward to clip over the winners' fifth point on the stroke of half time: 1-5 to 0-3. Tyrone had bossed the second quarter and Armagh must have been relieved to hear Pat McEneaney's half-time whistle. The sides had a wide each at the start of the second half, before McDonnell pointed a free for Armagh. Mulligan replied for Tyrone and then - in the 40th minute - provided the pass which saw centre back Conor Gormley sell Hearty a dummy and blast the O'Neill County's second goal to the net via the underside of the crossbar. That score was a real body blow for Armagh, who now trailed by eight, 2-6 to 0-4, but they would battle back brilliantly. McDonnell and McGuigan exchanged frees and Armagh full back Brendan Donaghy saw yellow for a foul on Cavanagh. McGuigan wasted the free but the game was over as a contest with less than ten minutes played in the second half. In the 48th minute, Aaron Kernan added to his impressive Ulster championship scoring tally when he tapped over a free after Gormley pulled Clarke back: 2-7 to 0-6. In the 50th minute, Clarke brought Armagh back into the match with a brilliant goal. The Pearse Og clubman collected Martin O'Rourke's pass superbly and shook off a Gormley foul to thump an unstoppable drive past Devine to the net. It was good refereeing by McEneaney, who let the play flow and then produced the yellow card while the Armagh supporters were celebrating the strike that had seen the gap narrowed to four points, 2-7 to 1-6. Tommy McGuigan had gifted Armagh possession in the run-up to that goal and was substituted straight away, with captain Brian Dooher coming into the game. At the start of the fourth quarter, Kernan calmly slotted over another free from an acute angle off his left foot after Gormley had pushed the menacing Clarke. All of a sudden, there was just a goal in it: 2-7 to 1-7 and the Sam Maguire holders had gone twelve minutes without a score. Fourteen minutes from the end, Brian Mallon combined with Martin O'Rourke to point via an upright and - amazingly - Armagh had struck 1-3 without reply and were now within two points. It was already hotter than Hell in Clones and now the temperature rose an extra couple of degrees. O'Neill pointed a free on the hour to steady Mickey Harte's rattled charges, who had survived a real scramble in their defence as Clarke and McDonnell threatened. As Tyrone took a late stranglehold on proceedings, Dooher delivered a wonderful point from distance to give the pre-match favourites some breathing space, 2-9 to 1-8 with eight minutes left. O'Neill angled a fantastic point over the bar - off the outside of his left foot from a tight angle on the left - after linking up with Joe McMahon in the 67th minute. Substitute Stefan Forker pointed for the gallant losers and Gormley was sent off with a second yellow for another foul on Clarke in the final minute of normal time. Kernan floated over the resultant free to leave just a goal in it: 2-10 to 1-10. Two minutes were added and Tyrone held on to dethrone their neighbours and fierce rivals. Tyrone - J Devine, PJ Quinn, Justin McMahon, R McMenamin, D Harte, C Gormley (1-0), P Jordan, K Hughes, E McGinley, M Penrose, T McGuigan (0-2, 2f), Joe McMahon (0-1, '45), S O'Neill (1-3, 2f), S Cavanagh (0-2), O Mulligan (0-1). Subs - B Dooher (0-1) for McGuigan, C Cavanagh for Penrose, Sean O'Neill for Justin McMahon, N Gormley for Joe McMahon, C Holmes for Hughes Armagh - P Hearty, A Mallon, B Donaghy, B Shannon, F Moriarity, C McKeever, A Kernan (0-3, 3f), K Toner, J Lavery (0-1), P Duffy, M O'Rourke, B Mallon (0-2), S McDonnell (0-3, 2f), R Clarke (1-0), K O'Rourke. Subs - S Kernan for Duffy, T Kernan for K O'Rourke, S Forker (0-1) for M O'Rourke, A O'Rourke for Moriarity Ref - P McEnaney (Monaghan). Tweet

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