Struggling Tyrone picked up two valuable points with victory over Kerry at O'Neills Healy Park.
They dug deep to see off the Kingdom with dogged defending and some inspired finishing in a game they just had to win to drag themelves off the bottom of the Division 1 table.
And despite conceding goals early in both halves, the Red Hands had the resolve to carve out a morale-boosting win, just their second of the campaign.
Mattie Donnelly rolled back the years with a vintage performance, his three-point contribution from full forward telling just a fraction of a story of massive contribution all over the field.
Sean O’Shea blasted Kerry to the perfect start as he blocked an attempted clearance to smash the ball to the roof of the net, and there was goalmouth drama aplenty at the other end as well, as keeper Shane Ryan came to his side’s rescue with two brilliant saves, but it was his blunder that gifted Tyrone a way back into a game that appeared to be drifting away from them.
O’Shea, David Clifford and Tom O’Sullivan were all on target to push the wind-assisted Kingdom into a 1-03 to 0-01 lead by the 14th minute, but Brian Kennedy forced Ryan into a rushed pass to a defender, and the ball ended in the net.
It was a blemish on an otherwise top class performance from the Kerry custodian, who saved at close range from Conn Kilpatrick and Darragh Canavan when goals appeared certain.
Mattie Donnelly and Darren McCurry hit the target for the home side, but Clifford and Tony Brosnan maintained a three-point gap, before three Tyrone scores in stoppage time brought the Red Hands level.
McCurry, Cormac Quinn and Donnelly all fired over points to send the sides in at 1-07 each at the interval.
Substitute Donal O’Sullivan brought creativity to the Kingdom attack, setting up Paul Murphy for his side’s second goal 10 minutes into the second half
But the home side had another defiant response, four points on the spin getting them back in the race, with the impressive Joe Oguz hitting a wonderful score, and Peter Harte and McCurry also on target, while Darragh Canavan displayed trickery and ingenuity with a cheeky stepover to cut in for a fisted point.
At the end of the third quarter they led by two, and it was a case of frenzied determination and pure grit unseen in the last 18 months that saw them through.
Kerry were restricted to a single point in the last 20 minutes, the normally sublime Clifford and O’Shea forced into rushed shots, while a series of turnovers relieved the intense pressure.
O’Sullivan narrowed the gap to a single point, but Ruairi Canavan came off the bench to shoot two late frees and seal a Tyrone win.
Tyrone: N Morgan; M McKernan, P Hampsey, C Quinn (0-01); C Meyler, C Munroe, P Harte (0-01); B Kennedy, C Kilpatrick (0-01); F Burns, D Mulgrew (0-01), J Oguz (0-01); D McCurry (0-03, 3f), M Donnelly (0-03), D Canavan (0-02).
Subs: N Sludden for Mulgrew (40), N Devlin for Munroe (52), R Canavan (0-02, 2f) for McCurry (68), R Donnelly for Kennedy (73)
Kerry: S Ryan (1-00, o.g.); G O’Sullivan, J Foley, T O’Sullivan (0-01); T Brosnan (0-02, 1m), T Morley, P Murphy (1-00); J Barry, S Okunbar; D Moynihan, S O’Shea (1-02, 0-1f), P Warren; P Clifford, D Clifford (0-03, 2f), D Roche.
Subs: D O’Sullivan (0-01) for Roche (h-t), R Murphy for Brosnan (45), M Burns for P Clifford (54), G Horan for Okunbar (58)
Referee: Martin McNally (Monaghan).
