Ulster SFC Semi-final/Donegal 1-11 Tyrone 0-9: Clones. This town does weird better than anywhere else in the country. Not for the first time, the evocative old stadium at the top of the hill proved a graveyard for champions.

Tyrone bowed to a rising Donegal team yesterday, just as all defending All-Ireland winners from the province have buckled under its draining force in recent decades.

Brian McEniff, whose father grew up not far from the town, managed his most masterful coup since the 1992 All-Ireland final. The children of that era have grown up under the great shadow of that famous day but, slowly, the present-day hip-hip generation are carving their own names into the Hills.

Perhaps the great Bundoran football man saw more clearly than the rest the fundamental signs of a champion team running on empty.

Gallant and brave as Mickey Harte's Tyrone team have been in the wake of an overwhelming tragedy and many lesser upsets, it was their turn to learn that form has a way of just evaporating. It leaves so smoothly that you don't even feel it until the dark hour when you are beaten right down the field. So it was here.

Tyrone are not the team of last year. Neither are Donegal. Last year, McEniff's boys danced lightly and ran to exhaustion and were ultimately ejected from the competition during a bruising semi-final.

Yesterday they simply gave no ground. They announced they have grown up in every sense. They hit with a ferocity that no Donegal team has shown since the early 1990s and stayed calm and remorseless. It did not matter that Niall McCready was harshly sent off after half an hour: in the second half, Donegal put on a performance that drew comparisons with the 14-man charge on Derry in the Ulster final of 1992.

Before yesterday, the notion of Donegal winning with its twin attack force of Brendan Devenney and Adrian Sweeney held to a single free would have been inconceivable.

Stepping in to fill that void in dramatic style were the tall and languid St Michael's pair of Christy Toye and Colm McFadden. Toye burned ground in that casual manner of his, setting up his club-mate for the 52nd-minute goal that broke Tyrone. Even before McFadden's low, scuttling shot through a crowd, even before that score, worked along the right flank after Michael Hegarty delivered a clever ball forward, McFadden had been going ballistic. He finished with 1-7; his accuracy keeping Tyrone pinned down.

In truth, though, Tyrone were also battling internal forces. This was a weird game. Gavin Devlin took part in the parade and took the field to start but in the very last second raced to the dugout and was replaced by Shane Sweeney. That set the mood for an unsettled and black first half.

It was 0-3 to 0-2 after half an hour in favour of the champions. Both defences were in the ascendancy, with the Donegal half-back trio of Eamon McGee, Barry Monaghan and Shane Carr flawless.

The champions' thoroughbreds rifled over five wides that might have given them a cushion and were harassed and needled in a manner they must surely have recognised. But overall, the game was a misfit and the crowd scanned the field trying to guess the location of a likely breakthrough.

It may have had its origins in the McCready dismissal. It was a bad call by referee Ger Kinneavy, who whistled an uneasy game. Owen Mulligan sent the tight-marking Donegal man backwards and raced to gain possession. McCready came in and exacted revenge, flooring Mulligan with a tough body check. Yellow card.

Mulligan was treated, swatted McCready's extended hand away and pushed him twice in the chest. Upon the third contact, McCready wrestled Mulligan to the ground and walked for his trouble. It was foolish by the defender but also bad karma for Mulligan, who has too much natural talent to call on baiting tactics. With the crowd baying for him, he got lost in the maelstrom of the second half.

Donegal came out and left Tyrone in their vapour trail during 20 compelling minutes. Brendan Boyle and substitute Stephen McDermott took control of centrefield. Brian Roper and Hegarty distributed cleverly and with Devenney and Sweeney happy to play support roles, the forwards ran riot. In 18 minutes, they outscored Tyrone by 1-6 to 0-1. In boxing, it would have been ended early.

But Tyrone, shredded and labouring badly, were never deserted by their courage. O'Neill and Mulligan scores brought it back to 1-10 to 0-8 with five minutes remaining. On other days, this glimmer might have inspired a comeback but here, hearts and minds were leaden. As Mickey Harte poignantly noted, Tyrone were just chasing shadows but whether he was referring to those of Donegal men or the more ephemeral wraiths of last year was not clear.

Nothing turns out as you expect it to in Clones. Instead of the anticipated return of Peter Canavan, the legend never left the bench. Word was he incurred a fresh injury in a recent reserve game. He stayed in the dugout. There he was joined by the names that lit up last summer: Kevin Hughes and Ciarán Gourley. Big Joe Kernan slipped off into the sunset before the celebrations began. The Ulster final will be a reprise of last August's thriller between Armagh and Donegal.

McEniff made his exit from Croke Park for the last time that day, promising to go home and play grandfather. Ten months later and he is back on Broadway, destined to pack the joint out. Pondering his return, he claimed he would rather play the Ulster showpiece in Clones. He is contrary to the last and against all odds has moulded a team in his own nature. There is no telling how the latest chapter of his romance with Donegal will end.

DONEGAL: P Durcan: N McCready, R Sweeney, D Diver; E McGee, B Monaghan (0-1), S Carr; B Boyle, B McLaughlin; C Toye, M Hegarty (0-1), B Roper (0-1); C McFadden (1-7, 5 frees, 50), A Sweeney (0-1, free), B Devenney. Subs: S McDermott for B McLaughlin (30 mins), S Cassidy for B Devenney (61 mins), J Gildea for C Toye (72 mins).

TYRONE: J Devine: R McMenamin, C Gormley, C Gourley; J McMahon (0-1), S Sweeney, P Jordan; G Cavlan, S Cavanagh (0-1); B Dooher, B McGuigan (0-1), S O'Neill (0-1, free); M Harte (0-1), K Hughes, E Mulligan (0-4). Subs: E McGinley for M Harte (52 mins), McMcGee for C Gourley (54 mins), C Holmes for J Hughes (61 mins).

Referee: G Kinneavy (Roscommon).