Read RTÉ Sport's Shane Murray's minute-by-minute text matchtracker from Tyrone's hard fought victory over Wexford at Croke Park.
FULL-TIME: Tyrone 0-23 Wexford 1-14
We're getting spoiled at this stage. Just when people started to lament the passing of another poor Championship, we have two games in quick succession which do much to restore belief and pride in the most beautiful of games. The second of today's two epic semi-finals recovered from a poor first half to present a second 35 in which two capable teams matched each other in every department with a footballing exhibition of the highest order. However, despite pulling back to within two points in the 51st minute in front of 55,995, Tyrone's place in the final against Kerry never looked in serious doubt, and the stage is now set for a mouth-watering decider on 21 September.
Wexford have much to be proud of, and they are 'a team with a big future' according to Colm O'Rourke. Joe Brolly agreed: 'They've made massive strides and put in a great foundation. They played with great passion and have been terrific.'
O'Rourke agreed: 'They had Tyrone rattled at one point but once the game settled down 23 points from Tyrone was phenomenal. But Tyrone showed how professional they were and just went up through the gears.'
'It's their inter-changeability that makes them so difficult to play against. It's total football,' concluded Brolly.
70 mins Doyle is fouled on the 20 metre line to give Lyng the chance to take a shot on goal, but with eight or Tyrone men on the line, he drills his free-kick narrowly left and wide and with it, Wexford's chances of advancing to the final evaporate.
68 mins Substitute Flynn responds at the other end with his first of the day from a tight angle on the right. 0-23 to 1-14
68 mins Dooher, completely unmarked, runs unopposed towards the Wexford goal to slot over. 0-23 to 1-13
66 mins Tommy McGuigan creates space for himself superbly to point. 0-22 to 1-13
64 mins Wexford full-back Wallace scores his second point of the day, an unusual score which bounces between defenders and goalkeeper before bouncing over. 0-21 to 1-13
63 mins Wexford's Rory Stafford comes on for David Murphy.
63 mins Penrose is on the end of a fine, patient Tyrone move, slotting over from close in. 0-21 to 1-12
61 mins Match commentators Marty Morrissey and Kevin McStay are both applauding Wexford's second half resurgence, so I suppose I should take my cue to do likewise. It has to be said that the second 35 is a much more even and entertaining contest, and with a little less than ten minutes remaining, this game stills hangs in the balance.
60 mins Wexford's Adrian Flynn comes on for Colfer.
56 mins Penrose reacts first to a block down and points to put five points between the teams. 0-20 to 1-12
54 mins McMenamin decides to fist a point when perhaps a goal was on offer. Again, another let off for Wexford. Tyrone will be hoping the last two opportunities won't come back to haunt them. 0-19 to 1-12
53 mins Wexford are let off the hook when Harte's well-struck effort comes back off the crossbar. It's relentless end-to-end stuff now.
52 mins Jordan points after another typically surging run and composed finish from deep. 0-18 to 1-12
51 mins Lyng hits another point. Tyrone make another change with Kevin Hughes on for Holmes. 0-17 to 1-12
49 mins Tyrone's woes are compounded as Cavanagh leaves the field in tears through injury with Brian McGuigan replacing him.
49 mins GOAL! Lyng drives forward leaving Colin Holmes and three Tyrone defenders in his wake before rifling the ball right-footed past John Devine from close range. Game on now. 0-17 to 1-11
48 mins McCullough points yet another free to restore Tyrone's lead to six points. 0-17 to 0-11
47 mins Wallace and Penrose booked for an off-the-ball incident.
45 mins Lyng converts another free for his fifth score of the game. 0-16 to 0-11
44 mins Murphy comes on for the injured Adrian Morrissey.
43 mins Harte points off the post and over. 0-16 to 0-10
42 mins Lyng slots over another left-footed free from the right to reduce the deficit to just five points. Maybe it's not game over just yet, even without talisman Forde! 0-15 to 0-10
40 mins Colfer turns and scores brilliantly and this Wexford team are looking much better. 0-15 to 0-09
39 mins McGuigan catches brilliantly with his back to goal but he shoots his pointed effort wide. However, McCullough points left footed within seconds. 0-15 to 0-08
38 mins Lyng follows that with another excellent point. 0-14 to 0-08
37 mins Roche makes an immediate impact, showing excellent feet and a superb turn of pace followed by a calm left foot effort which split the posts from a tight angle. 0-14 to 0-07
36 mins The news that Wexford fans feared most materialised, with the iconic Matty Forde failing to emerge for the second half following that Achilles injury he picked up towards the end of the first half. DCU student Shane Roche, 20, replaces Forde.
HALF-TIME: Tyrone 0-14 Wexford 0-06 A disappointingly one-sided first half ends with Tyrone holding a commanding eight-point lead at the break. Wexford have had no answer to the marauding, probing and variety of the Tyrone attacks, Colm O'Rourke rejoicing their 'movement is mesmerising'. Wexford manager Jason Ryan faces a mammoth task as he tries to redress the deficiencies which has seen the Red Hands eek out several comfortable scores, while at the other end the mercurial Matty Forde has been strangely subdued. On the evidence of the first half there seems little possibility of Mickey Harte's men relinquishing their first half lead, but stick with us here to see if Wexford can do the unthinkable.
35 + 1 McCullough then dinks a superb ball in for McGuigan and he slots over to again stretch Tyrone's lead to eight points. 0-14 to 0-06
35 mins Just when Wexford seem to be getting some sort of foothold in the game before the break, Cavanagh points from another free. 0-13 to 0-06
32 mins Morris plays the ball in to Banville and he points to take Wexford's tally to six points. However, there are nervous moments for Wexford fans as 2004 All Star receives treatment on what seems to be an Achilles problem. 0-12 to 0-06
31 mins Lyng points a free from the right as Ciaran Deely on for Collie Byrne. 0-12 to 0-05
30 mins A booming shot/ball into the square from cavanagh (I think?) comes back off crossbar and a relieved Wexford clear.
29 mins Philip Wallace, with just two points in his entire inter-county career spanning 116 games, steps up to show his forwards how it should be done with a composed point. 0-12 to 0-04
28 mins Penrose and McCullough combine to send McGinley through for another well taken score. This is all too easy for Tyrone, surely not the challenge they were expecting given Wexford's victories over Down and Armagh. 0-12 to 0-03
26 mins Wexford finally knock one over at the other end when half-back Adrian Morrissey points from play. PJ Banville watches a scoreable attempt drift wide a minute later. 0-11 to 0-03
25 mins Tommy McGuigan registers his first score of the afternoon with a calmly kicked right-foot free from about 35 metres. 0-11 to 0-02
24 mins Kevin McStay suggests Wexford will need to go 'man to man' as there are 'too many loose Tyrone runners and they are not being picked up'.
23 mins Cavanagh shows an excellent piece of skill to send his marker the wrong and create the spece to slot over from the left off his right boot. 0-10 to 0-02
22 mins McCullough notches his second point from a free and it's now almost ten minutes since Wexford's last score. 0-09 to 0-02
16 mins Colm McCullough disguises his first shot to throw his marker a dummy and give himself the time to split the posts superbly from 40 metres. This Tyrone forward line, not to mention the support they're getting from their half-backs, are looking in scintillating form this afternoon and Wexford are finding it extremely difficult to stay with them. There's six points in it now. 0-08 to 0-02
14 mins Penrose points left-footed over the bar to stretch Tyrone's lead to five points. 0-07 to 0-02
12 mins Ryan McMenamin notches an excellent score straight-on, although Joe McMahon was free to his left with a potential goal available. 0-06 to 0-02
11 mins Jordan scores his second of the game after being found 'in oceans of room' as co-commentator Kevin McStay put it. 0-05 to 0-02
9 mins Tyrone captain Brian Dooher responds at the other end, pointing superbly after surveying his options before backing himself to score from the left. 0-04 to 0-02
9 mins Wexford captain Colm Morris capitalises on some indecision around the half-back line to pounce on the breaking ball and slot over right-footed. 0-03 to 0-02
7 mins Enda McGinley produces an excellent block around midfield to win possession and the ball is eventually moved to Cavanagh and the Tyrone man splits the posts with a wonderful score from distance. 0-03 to 0-01
5 mins Sean Cavanagh slots over a free to put Tyrone in front. 0-02 to 0-01
3 mins Philip Jordan drives forward from the half-back line to level the match with an excellent score from about 30 metres in front of the posts. 0-01 to 0-01
2 mins Wexford full-forward Paddy Colfer denies Penrose with a brilliant block back in his own full-back line.
1 min Wexford won the toss and decided to play into the Hill 16 end. And from the throw-in they win possession and work the ball to Ciarán Lyng, who slots over from the left with considerable aplomb. First strike to Wexford. 0-00 to 0-01
3.56pm Colm O'Rourke thinks it will be Tyrone 'by three or four points', while Joe Brolly says this is 'strictly business for Tyrone' and that 'Wexford are on bonus territory' and he believes 'Tyrone will win well but not by the margin they beat Dublin'.
3.55pm There is a late change to the Tyrone starting XV with Martin Penrose coming in for 'flu victim Brian McGuigan. Otherwise, both teams start as expected.
Tyrone: John Devine, Ryan McMenamin, Justin McMahon, Ciaran Gourley, Davy Harte, Conor Gormley, Philip Jordan, Colin Holmes, Enda McGinley, Brian Dooher, Martin Penrose, Joe McMahon, Tommy McGuigan, Sean Cavanagh, Colm McCullagh.
Wexford: Anthony Masterson, David Walsh, Philip Wallace, Brian Malone, Adrian Morrissey, David Murphy, Colm Morris, Eric Bradley, Brendan Doyle, PJ Banville, Redmond Barry, Collie Byrne, Ciarán Lyng, Paddy Colfer, Matty Forde.
Referee: Pat McEneaney (Monaghan).
3.45pm Conditions are perfect at Croke Park, with HQ now basking in that rarest of sights this summer, glorious sunshine. If the game is anything like the appetiser that was Kerry's sensational victory over Cork in the first semi-final, we're in for a treat. Stay tuned here for all the action as it develops.
