Tyrone 0-13 Mayo 1-09: Tyrone may no longer posses the same class as their previous All-Ireland winning seasons but they showed enough savvy to narrowly overcome Mayo in the second All-Ireland SFC qualifier at Croke Park this afternoon and book their place in the quarter-final .
Sean Kavanagh was an injury concern for Tyrone manager Mickey Harte in the build-up to the game but he came good with four points in a strong performance.
In the first period Tyrone looked good as Davy Harte, man-of-the-match Enda McGinley and Cavanagh all found their range. They should have been further ahead but missed opportunities let John O'Mahony's side back into game.
In the 27th minute Conor Mortimer scored the only goal as Tyrone were left to rue a missed opportunity at the other end of the field and trailed 1-03 to 0-05.
Mayo kept their one point lead as they went into the break 1-05 to 0-07 ahead.
Mortimer fired two further points after the restart to open up a three-point gap1-07 to 0-07, but he should surely have taken a shot at goal with his second effort 10 minutes into the half.
This was arguably the pivotal moment of the match as that let-off was enough to kickstart Tyrone's comeback.
Tyrone responded with six unanswered points to turn the game on its head. Tommy McGuigan, Colm McCullagh (2), Martin Penrose and two Cavanagh points gave a Tyrone a crucial 1-07 to 0-13 lead.
Although late frees from Alan Dillon and Mortimer brought Mayo to within a point Tyrone held on to book their place in the last eight.
"That was nerve-wracking stuff and it's sad for any team to lose. Extra time would probably have been fair but we wouldn't give it them (Mayo)," said a delighted Harte afterwards.
"Today it was all about effort, energy and sheer hard work."
Of the changes the manager made at the break, Harte was happy they paid off. "That's the gamble you take, sometimes it works, other times it doesn't, thankfully today it did."
Man of the match McGinley was simply glad to be back on the big stage and be afforded the chance to fight another day.
"It was great to get back to Croke Park and that was one tough game. This will stand us in good stead, I'm just glad we managed to come out on top of this one," said McGinley.
"We had good spells in the match and the game could have gone either way. We knew we had to up our game in the second half.
"It wasn't the prettiest or most flowing football but that's when it comes down to sheer effort and thankfully we came through."
Harte was acutely aware Tyrone will need to play better if they are to go any further but will gladly accept another chance as he seeks to emulate Tyrone's All-Ireland wins of 2005 and 2005.
"Our problem this year is we haven't converted enough of our chances. We need to nail those chances and inject more fluency in our play.
"We are capable of playing in the All-Ireland quarter-final and the last eight is a good place to be. Right now I'm delighted the name of Tyrone is in the hat for tomorrow night's draw," he added.
Scorers
Tyrone (0-7) 0-13
Points: Harte, McGinley, Cavanagh 4, T McGuigan 2, McMenamin, Dooher, McCulluagh 2, Penrose
Mayo (1-5) 1-9
Goal: Mortimer
Points: Dillon 3, Padden 2, Mortimer 4