Monaghan won their Division One basement battle against Tyrone to leave Mickey Harte’s side in deep trouble with no points after three games.
Seamus McEnaney’s warriors dug deep to carve out what could be a crucial result in their bid to retain Division One status.
They clung on to win by a single point, despite playing out the frantic final few moments with just 13 men.
Tommy Freeman crashed in the only goal of the game just after the half-hour mark, a score that proved so precious to their side in front of 3,654 spectators at the compact Inniskeen venue, hosting its first ever NFL tie.
A couple of early points from Tommy Freeman and Paul Finlay got Monaghan’s challenge going, but Tyrone were level by the 11th minute when Tommy McGuigan shot them in front, having opened their account from a free.
The Red Hands kept their noses in front through Raymond Mulgrew and Kevin Hughes, and in a dominant period midway through the first half they eased into a four points lead through scores from Owen Mulligan and Penrose.
Hughes, along with Aidan Cassidy and Colm Cavanagh, had been dominating the midfield area, but the switch of full back Darren Hughes to the central sector helped Monaghan turn things around.
Converted frees from Finlay and Conor McManus narrowed the gap, and they went level in the 32nd minute with a Tommy Freeman goal.
He dispossessed Conor Gormley 35 metres out and raced in unopposed to plant a low shot past Johny Curran.
Finlay’s fourth free in the fourth minute of stoppage time sent the Farney men in with a 1-7 to 0-9 lead.
Eighteen of the game’s 30 points came from frees, but many of these were of the highest quality, particularly the conversions by Penrose and Monaghan’s Conor McManus during a third quarter that ended with the sides deadlocked on 1-9 to 0-12.
Aidan Cassidy’s Trojan efforts at midfield were just bettered by those of Darren Hughes and Vinny Corey when they entered the engine room battle.
With five minutes to play, the sides were still level, but Finlay got Monaghan back in front, booting over when he could have gone for goal.
Stephen Gollogly and Tommy Freeman both picked up second yellow cards – there were nine other bookings – in the closing stages, but the home side held on to kick-start their battle for survival.
Monaghan: S Duffy, D McArdle, D Hughes, D Mone, C Walshe, N McAdam, K Hughes, F Caulfield, P Finlay (0-7, 6 f), D Clerkin (0-1), S Gollogly, M McElroy, C McManus (0-4, 4f), V Corey, T Freeman (1-1).
Subs: C Greenan for Caulfield, D Morgan for Greenan, R Woods (0-1) for K Hughes, D Malone for McElroy.
Tyrone: J Curran, D Carlin (0-1), J McMahon, S O’Neill, D Harte, C Gormley, R McMenamin, A Cassidy, K Hughes (0-1), C Cavanagh, B McGuigan, R Mulgrew (0-2), T McGuigan (0-4, 3f), M Penrose (0-5, 5f), O Mulligan (0-2).
Subs: E McGinley for Hughes, C McCullagh for B McGuigan, E McCusker (0-1) for Mulgrew.
Referee: M Higgins (Fermanagh).
