Tyrone 3-15 Tyrone 0-9: After wins over Kerry and Westmeath had given them a wonderful start to their league campaign, Longford were brought back down to earth when losing by a 15-point margin to Tyrone in front of 10,000 spectators at Pearse Park yesterday.

In perfect conditions, Longford trailed by only 0-6 to 0-3 at the break and were unfortunate not to draw level in stoppage time when Liam Keenan put substitute Michael Hussey clean through on goal but his shot was well saved by goalkeeper Pascal McConnell.

While Brian McGuigan should also have found the back of the net for the visitors in the 29th minute, only to be denied by Longford number one Damien Sheridan, the home side were guilty of kicking nine wides in the first half.

The deadly accurate Stephen O'Neill fired over three excellent points in the first half while Colm McCullagh, McGuigan and Mark Harte were also on target for Tyrone.

Padraig Davis opened the scoring for Longford with two minutes played but they managed just two more points from there until the break - a 15th-minute free converted by Davis and a strike from David Blessington three minutes into injury time.

Then came the crucial miss by Hussey, which proved costly as Tyrone substitute Enda McGinley planted the ball in the Longford net with just 20 seconds of the second half gone.

Two more points followed from the excellent Stephen O'Neill and then frees were fired over by Owen Mulligan and Harte to leave Tyrone in a commanding 1-10 to 0-3 lead.

Longford hit back with a brace of points from Paul Barden and in between Tyrone were reduced to 14 players when O'Neill was sent off for a second yellow-card offence.

The extra man was of no great help to Longford, who were restricted to just four more points, scored by Keenan, Paul Barden, David Blessington and Davis, during the remainder of the game.

Tyrone continued to pile on the agony in adding a further 2-5 to their emphatic tally with both goals coming in rapid succession. The first was a Kevin Hughes shot that was dropped over the line by Longford goalkeeper Damien Sheridan in the 60th minute and the second came 30 seconds later when Seán Cavanagh blasted a low drive into the net.

TYRONE: P McConnell; R McMenamin, C McAnallen, C Gourley; C Gormley, G Devlin, P Jordan; K Hughes (1-0), S Cavanagh (1-0); B Dooher, B McGuigan (0-2), S O'Neill (0-5); C McCullagh (0-1), O Mulligan (0-3, two frees), M Harte (0-4, three frees). Subs: E McGinley (1-0) for McCullagh (25 mins), G Cavlan for Harte (60 mins), B Donnelly for Devlin (63 mins), S Sweeney for McAnallan (63 mins), B Collins for Dooher (67 mins).

LONGFORD: D Sheridan; S Carroll, A O'Connor, B Burke; E Ledwith, D Hannify, S Lynch; L Keenan (0-1), F Coyle; T Smullen, P Barden (0-3, two frees), D Blessington (0-2); D Barden, N Sheridan, P Davis (0-3, one free). Subs: M Hussey for N Sheridan (28 mins); M Mulleady for Lynch (30 mins); M Kelly for O'Connor (40 mins); M Lennon for P Barden (63 mins); J Kenny for Burke (67 mins).

Referee: M Walsh (Limerick).