Tyrone 0-14 Down 0-10

Ulster champions Tyrone qualified for another Ulster Senior Football final with a four point win over Down at Casement Park.

The Red Hands recovered from a shaky start which saw James McCartan's men open out a four points lead.

They also had to cope with the loss of ace attacker Stephen O'Neill, who limped out of the action with a heel injury after just 11 minutes.

O'Neill is, however expected to be fit for the Ulster final against either Monaghan or Fermanagh, who meet in the other semi-final next weekend.

But his replacement, Brian McGuigan, rolled back the years with an imperious display as playmaker, making a massive contribution to his side's four point success.

Had goalkeeper Pascal McConnell not pulled off two excellent saves, one in the first half from Benny Coulter, and another after the break from Dan Gordon, the outcome might have been different.

Down displayed all the early urgency, sweeping into a 0-06 to 0-02 lead, with Mark Poland, Martin Clarke and Dan Gordon hitting some eye-catching scores.

Following the loss of O'Neill, Sean Cavanagh moved inside and McGuigan adopted a playmaking role.

Brian Dooher swept over two points and Martin Penrose converted a free, but Tyrone trailed by 0-08 to 0-04 on 20 minutes.

Tyrone scored the final six points of the half, with Joe McMahon and Cavanagh both scoring magnificent efforts from distance, and corner back Dermot Carlin also getting in on the act.

Cavanagh posed a massive threat in the inside line, particularly with McGuigan in the mood with his perception and ability to pick out a killer pass.

At the break, Tyrone led by 0-10 to 0-08 after Poland had missed an easy free, with Clarke also having difficulty in finding his range from placed balls.

Early in the second half, Gordon did break free of Joe McMahon, but with no support was forced to shoot from a tight angle and goalkeeper Pascal McConnell saved comfortably.

Coulter, meanwhile, could never get into the game, starved of quality possession and closely watched by Justin McMahon.

As the game became sloppy and untidy, almost 20 minutes elapsed without a score, before Sean Cavanagh and Moy clubmate created the opening for Penrose to hit his first from play.

Clarke did likewise at the other end, and carved the opening for Danny Hughes to get in for a glorious goal chance.

His shot was superbly saved by Pascal McConnell, but Paul McComiskey had perhaps a better opportunity from the rebound, but skewed his shot badly wide.

And Penrose drove home the final nail with his fifth score to seal Tyrone's place in the decider.

Tyrone: P McConnell, M Swift, Justin McMahon, D Carlin (0-01), P Harte, C Gormley, P Jordan, C Cavanagh (0-01), K Hughes, B Dooher (0-02), S Cavanagh (0-03, 2f), Joe McMahon (0-01), M Penrose (0-05, 3f), S O'Neill, O Mulligan (0-01).

Subs: B McGuigan for O'Neill (11), Sean O'Neill for Swift (41), T McGuigan for Harte (63), R Mellon for Dooher (68), C McCullagh for Mulligan (70)

Down: B McVeigh, D Rooney, B McArdle, D Rafferty, K McKernan, J Colgan, C Garvey, A Rodgers (0-02), K King, D Hughes (0-01), M Poland (0-02, 1f), B Coulter, C Maginn, D Gordon (0-01), M Clarke(0-03, 2f).

Subs: P McComiskey (0-01, f) for Poland (h-t), D O'Hagan for Garvey (56), P Fitzpatrick for King (60)

Referee: G O Conamha (Galway)