Armagh shocked Ulster rivals Tyrone with a 0-13 to 0-10 All-Ireland SFC Qualifier win at Healy Park in Omagh.
Four Tony Kernan points and two from Jamie Clarke pushed Armagh into a 0-07 to 0-05 lead, with Tyrone down to 14 men following Mattie Donnelly’s second booking.
Tyrone went in front through Sean Cavanagh, but the Orchard pushed ahead with scores from Andy Mallon, Jamie Clarke, Mark Shields and Rory Grugan to go into the draw for the third round.
A tense encounter, played in front of a crowd of 10,819, was barely a minute old when a melee involving up to ten players from each side erupted, ending with yellow cards for Armagh’s Aidan Forker and Tyrone defender Mattie Donnelly.
Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan was the man of the moment, converting a long-range free before pulling off a fine save from Jamie Clarke, pushing the ball around a post for a ‘45, from which Tony Kernan levelled the scores at 0-2 each.
Mark Shields had a goal chance, but opted to kick for a point, and skewed his effort wide as Tyrone once gain breathed a sigh of relief after their defence was exposed, not for the first time.
Kernan eased the Orchard into a two points lead with his third placed ball conversion in the 27th minute, and the Red Hands suffered a blow on the half-hour mark when centre back Donnelly, who had already been booked, picked up a second yellow card.
They also lost full back Ronan McNamee with concussion, due to an earlier clash of heads with team-mate Colm Cavanagh.
Armagh, however, managed just one further point in the closing 15 minutes of the half, while Sean Cavanagh knocked over a couple of Tyrone frees to go in at the break trailing by 0-07 to 0-05.
Stephen O’Neill came off the bench and won the frees from which Cavanagh edged Tyrone in front by the 41st minute, but Armagh survived a difficult spell to go back on the attack with three points on the spin.
Corner back Andy Mallon surged forward to hit the target, and substitute Aaron Kernan steered over a free to give Armagh a two points cushion.
Two Darren McCurry frees had 14-man Tyrone level for the fifth time, but Morgan had to come to their rescue again, with a splendid stop from substitute Grugan.
It was Grugan who hit the target from distance to make it a three-point game going into the final 15 minutes, and with Ciaran McKeever, Andy Mallon and Charlie Vernon performing with assurance at the back, there was no way through for Tyrone, who failed to score in the final 23 minutes of the game.
Tyrone: N Morgan (0-01f) , A McCrory, R McNamee, PJ Quinn, R McNabb, M Donnelly, J McMahon, C Cavanagh, S Cavanagh (0-05, 5f), E McKenna, K Coney (0-01), C McGinley, D McCurry (0-02, 2f), N McKenna (0-01), C McAliskey.
Subs: C Gormley for McNamee (32), B Tierney for McGinley (32), S O’Neill for McAliskey (ht), M Penrose for Quinn (47), P McNeice for E McKenna, Mark Donnelly for Coney (62)
Armagh: P McEvoy, M Murray, J Morgan, A Mallon (0-01), M Shields (0-01), C Vernon, C McKeever, S Harold (0-01), A Findon, A Forker, K Dyas, S Campbell (0-01), T Kernan (0-04, 3f, 1’45), S Forker, J Clarke (0-03, 2f).
Subs: A Kernan (0-01f) for Morgan (40), K Carragher for S Forker (44), R Grugan (0-01) for A Forker (54), B Donaghy for T Kernan (66), F Moriarty for McKeever (BC, 33)
Referee: C Reilly (Meath).
