No stopping revitalised Tyrone

So maybe they will poach a medal for the great Canavan yet. Tyrone are sweeping through Ulster the old-fashioned way, disregarding reputations and razing all before them. Yesterday in Clones, it was Derry who were ushered through to the Hades of the back-door system in a bruising northern derby that was defined by three stinging goals by Art McRory's emerging side.

"What about it? It was a little like the curate's egg - a mixed bag. Ah, it was a stop start match and that didn't really suit us. At half-time, there was a feeling in the dressing room as if we were actually behind. But the goals were the critical scores," said Eugene McKenna, Tyrone's joint manager.

Having dispatched the reigning champions Armagh and now perennial provincial candidates Derry, the mid-Ulster side will steam towards the Ulster final on a wave of optimism and hype redolent of their last famous run in 1995. Though this is still quite a brittle young team, it has more dimensions to it. No more is Peter Canavan the lone saviour, the thwarted conjurer. The evidence of Tyrone's underage legacy has bloomed fully in the senior set-up, with players such as Cormac McAnallen, Declan McCrossan and Kevin Hughes adding both depth and skill. Canavan and other veterans such as Brian Dooher and Gerard Cavlan have been reawakened by such youth.

"They are a sensible bunch, I don't think they will get too carried away, " predicted McKenna. "We will keep our feet on the ground - all we have to do is look at the video of this."

As a unit, Tyrone still look like a fairly small team but some of the physical batterings they took in the last decade would appear to have shaped a new philosophy. This was a teak-tough side that mixed lacerating attacking moves with a keenly negative defensive policy. In Gaelic football, meanness pays, particularly in this province and Tyrone's days of suffering betrayal through their own relative frailty are past.

There is some integral element of Derry that has vanished. Tohill's peerless athleticism did not feature often enough and he suffered for want of a midfield partner, with Dermot Heaney fading. Enda Muldoon showed brightly in the beginning but he was starved of supply and was gradually shepherded into anonymity by the Tyrone defence. Gavin Diamond's sweet scoring talent was not catered for often enough.

Eamonn Coleman was forced to radically alter his lines prior to the throw-in after full back Kevin McCloy was declared unfit. As it was, his replacement, Niall McCusker, lasted a mere 14 minutes before crying off himself. The Derry defence hung tough in the face of the disruptions, with Gareth Doherty, Sean Marty Lockhart and Paul McFlynn particularly busy but after half an hour, they were beginning to crack.

Tyrone's first goal illustrated just how thinly spread the Derry cover was. Kevin Hughes looked up, threaded a ball through for Cavlan and with Owen Mulligan running free on his left, the Dungannon man sent a screamer past Eoin McCloskey. That 29th minute goal gave his side a 1-2 to 0-4 lead and Tyrone never fell behind again. Derry were exposed in similar fashion during a brief, devastating period of Tyrone panache with 20 minutes to go.

On 48 minutes, the guileful Stephen Mulligan ripped through the centre of Derry's defence and fisted a measured pass to Brian Dooher who had looped behind the Derry wall. His finish was explosive and Tyrone capitalised on the hot streak. With Derry reeling, McAnallen chipped a point and a minute later Gerard Cavlan hammered a fine ball behind the lost cover again. This time O'Neill was the recipient and he fired low and beneath the helpless McCloskey. Up 3-7 to 0-8, Tyrone had turned a game of tight economics on its head.

That scoring patch followed a period of bleak inactivity, which saw Paddy Russell reach repeatedly for his yellow card. Coleman made an impassioned if ultimately fruitless journey to plead with Russell after Fergal Crossan was felled. It was the latest in a series of cynical incidents. Colourfully trading words with Dooher as he departed, Coleman was cheerful about his cameo afterwards.

"Ah, I said it was hot and he said he couldn't wait for it to be over. But who was booked? A player goes off with a blackened eye and a cut face and all you get is a yellow. The rules say if you strike, you walk."

No one walked. Derry fought back to the threshold of contention, thanks to lionhearted work from McFlynn, Gary Coleman, Adrian Heaney and Tohill. Paddy Bradley, Derry's most consistent attacker, drilled a series of magnificent frees to leave the scores at 0-12 to 3-7. Derry's lone goal chance arrived on the stroke of fulltime, with Finbarr McConnell forcing a fine save off Bradley's early strike.

"The lap o' the gods" laughed the big man later. "I've a habit of doing that against Derry and long may it continue."

Only an implosion will deny Tyrone an Ulster title now. These are no longer Canavan's glory days but that is not necessarily a bad thing. The leader struck just one point - a late vital free and balanced an outrageous looking tackle on Paul McFlynn with a few passes that reminded us of his unequalled vision.

But all around him are new flag bearers. Tyrone are raw but game and the extent of their ambition will be more forcefully tested down the road. Derry are battered but alive. They are well acquainted with both sides of these sapping summer days and will muse over the days ahead with considerable trepidation.

"Sure we'll see what happens," promised Coleman as the sun fell across the famous, squinting grin.

Tyrone: S O'Neill 1-2; G Cavlan 1-1; B Dooher 1-0; O Mulligan, C McAnallen, R McMenamin, Peter Canavan (free) 0-1 each.

Derry: P Bradley 0-5, 4 frees; G Diamond 0-3; A Tohill 0-3, frees; E Muldoon 0-2, one free; P Murphy 0-1.

Referee: P Russell (Tipperary)

Attendance: 22,072.