Roscommon stunned Tyrone with a shock win at O'Neills Healy Park as they booked their place in the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals.
A major upset saw the Red Hands crash to a first ever championship defeat to the Connacht men, who fully deserved their two points success.
Roscommon’s energy, drive and fearless commitment had Tyrone on the back foot and putting out fires all over the field throughout the first half.
The Rossies defended with discipline and desperately at times as they held out, resisting a late flourish by the home side, which narrowed the gap to a single point, but could never find that vital late score.
Four points each from Donie Smith and Diarmuid Murtagh sealed the deal for a Roscommon side that celebrated joyously at the final whistle following one of the shocks of this year’s championship.
With the wind in their backs, they attacked from deep and pressed in numbers, forcing turnovers to use their pace and positivity in waves of attack.
After Senie O’Donnell had shot the home side ahead, the Rossies hit the next six scores to establish a comfortable lead, with Donie Smith shooting on sight as he landed a couple of mighty points.
Diarmuid Murtagh and Daire Cregg ran clever lines with men in support, and points from Cox and Murtagh, followed by Smith’s third, had them 0-6 to 0-1 ahead by the 16th minute.
Unforced errors and poor shot selection hampered a Tyrone side that could find no fluency or momentum, and a rash of wides compounded their problems.
They went 13 minutes without a score before Darren McCurry landed a fine score, but the Connacht men were soon back in control, Cox and Cregg both on target.
And they almost had a goal from a turnover as Murtagh drove through the middle to fire on a shot which was brilliantly saved by Niall Morgan.
Tyrine created a goal chance of their own moments later as Ruairi Canavan sent Ciaran Daly through, but he pulled his shot wide.
At the break, Roscommon led by 0-09 to 0-03, and the Tyrone managers ran the bench at the break in an effort to find a spark.
Conn Kilpatrick, having won an appeal to the Central Appeals Committee against the straight red card he received in the round robin win over Cork a week earlier, was one of three subs introduced, with Peter Harte also in, along with debutant Eoin McElholm, a star of the All-Ireland U20 triumph a few weeks ago.
McElholm scored with his first touch, Darragh Canavan slotted a couple of points, and while the Rossies dropped 14 men deep, the dancing feet of Canavan prised vital openings, as he landed a magnificent point to close the gap to three.
But Roscommon continued to expose Tyrone’s shaky rearguard, making the most of isolated attacks as Cregg and Donie Smith both fired over points.
At the end of the third quarter, Davy Burke’s side was still clinging on to a three points lead, after Darren McCurry had converted a free.
As the home side chipped away at the lead through McCurry’s place kicking, the danger of the counter-attack was always there, and the quality of Roscommon’s finishing was outstanding, Murtagh hitting another gem.
Energy levels were clearly dipping for the men from Connacht as the game moved into its closing stages, as Michael McKernan narrowed the gap to a single point.
But Roscommon stood firm, and worked the move that ended with goalkeeper Conor Carroll picking out Cregg for a stoppage time clincher.
Tyrone: N Morgan; M McKernan (0-01); P Hampsey; N Devlin; B Cullen; M Donnelly; M O’Neill (0-01, m); B Kennedy; C McShane; C Daly; R Canavan; N McCarron; D McCurry (0-05, 4f); D Canavan (0-03, 1f); S O’Donnell (0-01).
Subs: C Kilpatrick for O’Neil (h-t); P Harte for Cullen (h-t); E McElholm (0-01) for R Canavan (h-t); K McGeary for Daly (58'); S O’Hare for McShane (63').
Roscommon: C Carroll; N Higgins; B Stack; R Dolan; D Murray; R Fallon; E McCormack; E Smith; U Harney; D Ruane; D Murtagh (0-04); S Cunnane; D Cregg (0-03); C Cox (0-03, 1f); D Smith (0-04).
Subs: R Daly for Ruane (43'); C Lennon for McCormack (47'); N Daly for Harney (58'); K Doyle for Murtagh (69).
Referee: D Coldrick (Meath).
Watch the Tailteann Cup semi-finals, Antrim v Laois (2pm) and Down v Sligo (4pm), on Sunday from 1.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
