Kerry get final say after curious week in Tyrone football 

For Tyrone, they needed points to lift them out of the relegation mess, but a trip to Killarney this weekend will determine their fate. In a place described as a ‘graveyard’ for Tyrone teams by Sean Cavanagh afterwards, there would be considerable glee among some of the Kerry support if the job of relegating the All-Ireland champions fell to them.

Especially since, well, you know… 

Points and placings aside, it’s been a curious week in Tyrone football after they were schooled by Dublin at the same venue last week. Above all else, they needed some key men to play themselves into some form. They got that with Peter Harte who in this form is among the very best, and in Conor Meyler.

Others? We’re not so sure. Cathal McShane’s struggles continue, and he was replaced by Matthew Donnelly at the break. Buried under the pleasure that Tyrone fans feel at having Donnelly back after missing the last few games, the aftertaste must smack of McShane and how he is misfiring after a summer where he made a series of impacts coming off the bench.

For a team so passive the previous week, they routinely managed to get two, often three tacklers around the Mayo ball carrier in the first half before stripping possession and counter-attacking.

More often than not, the out ball was to Darragh Canavan who showed here in a natty retro kit once worn by his father to mark the 30th anniversary of the Allianz Leagues, that he has the same evasion skills and ability to change direction a multitude of times in a run.

For their part, Mayo’s play was a throwback to that time of profligate finishing and aimless effort as they took 24 minutes to get on the scoreboard through a Ryan O’Donoghue free, opening their account from play five minutes later through Jordan Flynn.

Their final point of the first half featured Darragh Canavan slaloming down a flank, inviting Kieran McGeary to get on the end of the move. McGeary could not gather but Canavan managed to toe the ball to brother in law Peter Harte who executed a tidy chip pick-up and drilled over for his third flashy point of the half.

Limiting Mayo was easy when they seemingly weren’t in the mood for HoranBall and taking all the hits with a rash of support runners.

That all changed in the second half, with five unanswered points, led by Ryan O’Donoghue, which illustrates just how influential the breeze blowing down towards the Gortin Road end is here.

Donnelly, on for McShane, stretched the Tyrone lead out another bit with the first point of the half, but thereafter for ten solid minutes it was an overwhelming feeling of Mayo smothering the opposition.

In the stands, the chants of ‘Mayo, Mayo’ grew louder and it felt like one of those days that could add another few seconds onto a montage for them somewhere down the line.

O’Donoghue naturally was to the fore with his single point from play following Matthew Ruane’s dig that blew in on the breeze.

He troubled an attempted Niall Morgan short kickout to Michael McKernan and forced the foul out of McKernan to convert the free.

That left them one point adrift, with just 47 minutes on the clock.

Try as they might, they couldn’t sustain that form and a few wild wides, as well as overcooked balls inside from substitute Kevin McLoughlin, left their attacks in the final quarter amounting to nothing.

The final score for Tyrone and the game belonged to Canavan, who took advantage of some clever screening of the ball and a brilliantly weighted pass from Richie Donnelly to hold off his marker and arrow over the bar, into the stiff breeze.

After the game, both camps reiterated that they would not be breaking the GPA’s partial media ban.

Next week will tell a whole other story by the final whistle in Carrick on Shannon, where Mayo play Kildare, and Killarney, where Tyrone round off things.

Scorers for Tyrone: P Harte (0-3), C Meyler (0-2, D Canavan (0-2, 1 mark), F Burns, R Brennan, D McCurry, M Donnelly (0-1 each) 

Scorers for Mayo: R O’Donoghue (0-5, 4f), J Flynn (0-2), M Ruane (0-1), J Carney (0-1) 

TYRONE: N Morgan; M McKernan, R McNamee, F Burns; C Meyler, R Brennan, P Harte; C Kilpatrick, P Hampsey; B Kennedy, N Sludden, K McGeary; D McCurry, C McShane, D Canavan 

Subs: R Donnelly for Kennedy (HT), M Donnelly for McShane (HT), N Donnelly for Sludden (56m), L Rafferty for Brennan (62m), B McDonnell for Canavan (72m) 

MAYO: R Byrne; L Keegan, D McBrien, D McHugh; O Mullin, A O’Shea, S Coen; J Flynn, M Ruane; F McDonagh, P Towey, F Boland; A Orme, J Doherty, R O’Donoghue 

Subs: J Carney for McDonagh (35m), K McLoughlin for Towey (HT), E Hession for McHugh (HT), D Coen for Doherty (57m), C Loftus for Boland (68m) 

Referee: Maurice Deegan (Laois)