McCurry had an excellent game, not always clinical – as with the goal chance and an attacking possession near the posts that he fumbled and lost – but he was unperturbed, kicked his frees and ran great support to avail of an unselfish assist from McKenna for the second goal. They went for long- and medium-range points with good accuracy when opportunity presented – captain, Pádraig Hampsey, who again showed great leadership, was put in a bit of space on the right by Ronan McNamee and bent a great point into the Canal goal. This ability to mix it up stood Tyrone in good stead. There was one sequence around the half-hour that exemplified this: Coming onto the ball, booming a long ball beyond the cover for Conor McKenna to flick into McCurry for a goal chance that he snatched at and Hennelly saved at the expense of a 45 – which Morgan sent over with the help of a post. He nailed all his dead-ball attempts and the ambition of his long-range restarts was striking even if they didn’t all come off.

Morgan swooped onto anything threatening in the air, including at one stage around the centre-back position, held the ball like a quarterback and distributed it expertly. Opposite number Rob Hennelly had a mixed bag, missing a couple of frees and getting caught in no-man's land for the first Tyrone goal.

He quickly parked that and went on to play a significant role in settling the team: commanding in the air, giving the team the flexibility of a seventh defender and kicking with assurance. McCurry secured the TV man of the match award but there was an argument for goalkeeper Niall Morgan, who survived a ropey opening when he failed to get a kick-out beyond the 20-metre line.

Kennedy's early heroics gave way to a spectacular catch from Kilpatrick in the 59th minute to send Conor McKenna away and set up the second goal. Tyrone's unsung pairing of Brian Kennedy and Kilpatrick won a nice bit of conventional possession in the air and had industrious afternoons, each outshining the other in either half.

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