Tyrone 1-15 Down 0-10: There was no flicker of warning in Tyrone's first-half performance of the lightning that was to follow in Newry on Saturday. The All-Ireland champions went from base to apex in the second period as Down's challenge was gobbled up with the rapidity of a shredder gone into overdrive.
When pressed on the question of his team's transformation, Tyrone manager Mickey Harte could not see what the mystery was all about.
"Down are a Division One side like ourselves," he said, "they have quality players and we were playing them in their own backyard and against the wind at that in the opening half. So where's the mystery?"
The champions were ahead by a point at half-time, 1-5 to 0-7, the goal following a defensive error, ironically by right-wing back John Clarke, who was one of Down's outstanding attacking defenders. A sloppy pass out of defence was picked up by Seán O'Neill, who found Seán Cavanagh with the goal-scoring pass.
Harte's son Mark played a stormer, notching up seven points in the game, as Tyrone dug in deep in the second half to separate themselves from the opposition.
"We were 35 minutes away from either going out of the championship or putting up a fight," admitted Harte.
The half-time introduction of Colm McCullagh marked the beginning of Tyrone's improvement. Operating on the left flank of attack, McCullagh made an instant impact by pointing a 45.
Down's overall display seesawed between mediocre and poor and Brendan Coulter was inclined to be isolated on the left while wing back Seán Farrell was shown a red card by referee Michael Monahan near the end.
"We won plenty of ball but didn't get scores," said Down manager Paddy O'Rourke, who seemed as disappointed as his charges, who could manage only three second-half points.
Down's scoring collapse could in large part be attributed to the fact that they were the latest victims of Tyrone's closing-down tactics.
"They always got plenty of bodies around the ball in the middle and farther back," said O'Rourke. "But we failed to vary our tactics and the amount of ball we gave away was alarming."
TYRONE: P McConnell; R McMenamin, C Gormley, C Gourley; J McMahon, S Sweeney, P Jordan; K Hughes, S Cavanagh (1-1); B Dooher, B McGuigan (0-2), G Cavlan; M Harte (0-7, three frees), O Mulligan (0-3), S O'Neill. Subs: C McCullagh (0-2, one 45) for O'Neill (half-time).
DOWN: M McVeigh; M Higgins, A Molloy, A Scullion; J Clarke (0-2), M Cole (0-1), S Farrell; D Gordon, G McCartan (0-1); L Doyle (0-3, one free), Shane Ward, R Murtagh; B Coulter (0-1), A O'Prey (0-1), D Hughes. Subs: B Grant for Scullion (46 mins), SeáWard for G McCartan (56 mins), C McCrickard (0-1) for Shane Ward (62 mins), A Fagan for R Murtagh (64 mins).
Referee: M Monahan (Kildare).
