Tyrone hounds quick out of traps

It was marginally more entertaining than Congress and it also ended early. Yesterday's Allianz National Football League semi-final in Enniskillen saw Mayo surrender their title tamely as a fast and furious Tyrone side cut them apart. In the end the holders scored some late points to take a humiliating edge off the result but Tyrone were worth every point of their winning margin.

Afterwards joint manager Eugene McKenna agreed that the team had at times resembled his colleague Art McRory's greyhounds adding severely: "At times they took decisions like Art's greyhounds".

He was, however, satisfied with the performance but unhappy with the 53rd-minute second yellow card shown to corner back Brian Robinson, which as a second such offence in the campaign will result in a fortnight's suspension.

He also criticised the bizarre fact that some of his players had to return home last night to play for their clubs.

Mayo counterpart Pat Holmes couldn't say very much about such a dire display except to reiterate that perpetual consolation to managers in such positions: "We didn't become a bad team overnight".

McKenna said that Tyrone have been training only once a week - which partly explained their freshness and exuberance in contrast to Mayo's leaden-footed appearance - and that could be seen in both their sharpness and, in one or two cases, that slightly well-fed look.

Mayo led in the second minute for all of about 60 seconds and it went downhill from there. These are the areas where the winners established an advantage: the backs were quicker to the ball and, apart from Conor Mortimer, none of the Mayo forwards posed any obvious threat; centrefield was swamped with little clean possession and Tyrone rampant on the breaks; their forwards combined effortlessly and at such speed that the Mayo defence frequently resembled a curtain torn off the rails.

Kevin Hughes at full forward had a super game. He won in the air, came deep for ball and was always alert to the player in support - and he finished well enough for a first-half 1-1 before being withdrawn to centre forward.

Stephen O'Neill moved in and he also caused havoc scoring a great individual goal in the second half as the Mayo defence looked on in admiration.

With the match drifting ever further away from them, Mayo threw caution to the wind, a particularly incautious tactic against Tyrone who happily picked off scores on the break for much of the second half.

Amidst the younger players hacking up - Brian McGuigan's tireless thrusts down the right caused additional alarm - the older hands played their part.

Brian Dooher and Ger Cavlan ran exhaustively while Peter Canavan was quite happy to thrive in the chaos and helped himself to six points, four from play.

Hughes' seventh-minute goal opened up Tyrone's lead for the first time. It was a cracking left-foot finish after Dooher created the opening with a surging run.

Mayo couldn't manage any response to put pressure on the deficit. The closest they came to the goal that might have revived the match was a good inter-change between Marty McNicholas and Conor Mortimer whose shot for goal was athletically blocked by Ciaran Gourley swooping in front of the attacker.

McKenna mentioned this moment after the match as being a significant turning point. It probably wasn't in the sense that Tyrone would still have steamrolled the match but it did represent just about the only juncture when the semi-final might have threatened competitiveness. The prospect passed.

Goalkeeper Peter Burke was the one Mayo player who could have been happy with his input. He saved smartly from Canavan in the 20th minute and had to respond smartly to a snapshot from Hughes 11 minutes later; otherwise the interval margin would have been even less nail-biting than the seven points' lead, 1-8 to 0-4, that Tyrone took to the dressing-room.

Mayo's last chance evaporated when Tyrone joined them on the field for the second half after an abnormally long break. Within 10 minutes O'Neill had struck for his goal, careering in from the right through a few inept attempts at tackling and shooting the goal.

There was an intimidating solidity to Tyrone's forwards who seemed able to ride tackles blithely as defenders bounced off them. In the 50th minute Canavan did this to position himself for a killer ball into Colin Holmes who drove in the third goal for a 3-9 to 0-4 lead.

Therafter it was substitutes and practice-match conditions. Mayo's final line-up looked better than their original 15 but how much had that to do with Tyrone's reduced urgency? David Tiernan, so impressive for Charlestown in the club championship, got a run for Mayo at centrefield rather than in the attack where he had previously been tried and kicked two points.

Whatever the reason Mayo outscored the winners by six points to one in the final 15 minutes. But no one cared.

TYRONE: P Ward; C Gormley, C Lawn, B Robinson; C Gourley, R McMenamin, P Jordan; C McAnallen, C Holmes (1-0); B Dooher, S O'Neill (1-3, one point a free), G Cavlan (0-1); B McGuigan (0-1), K Hughes (1-1), P Canavan (0-6, two frees). Subs: S Teague for Gourley (57 mins), S Cavanagh for Hughes (57 mins), C Meenagh for Dooher (63 mins), S McCallan for Cavlan (66 mins), D McCrossan for McGuigan (70 mins).

MAYO: P Burke; P Coyne, D Heaney, G Ruane; A Higgins, J Nallen, N Connelly; D Brady, S Fitzmaurice; J Gill (0-1), T Mortimer, S Carolan (0-1); C Mortimer (0-6, three frees), J Horan, M McNicholas (0-1). Subs: A Roche for Connelly (44 mins), D Tiernan (0-2) for Brady (48 mins), M Moyles for Gill (48 mins), D Nestor for T Mortimer (52 mins), C McManamon for Horan (65 mins).

Referee: M Monahan (Kildare).