Tyrone 0-13 Kerry 0-6
Tyrone will meet Armagh or Donegal in the first all Ulster All-Ireland final next month after the Red Hand County decisively outfought a tired Kerry side in Croke Park this afternoon.
All eyes in the county will now focus on the fitness of captain Peter Canavan, who limped off after suffering an ankle injury less than 15 minutes into the game. There is no news yet on the full-forward's injury, but on the basis of today's voracious performance, Tyrone have shown that they can play without their influential talisman.
In perfect footballing conditions at Croke Park, the Northerners triumphed in a game that degenerated from loose in the first half to downright scrappy in the second, with referee Gerry Kinneavy awarding no less than 72 frees over the course of the game.
Defending and contesting midfield balls in packs of three and four, the formerly smooth Kerry passing machine was simply blocked, halted and smothered by the tackling and chasing tactics of Mickey Harte's men. Despite a slight improvement in Kerry's focus in the second half, the critical midfield area was ruled Tyrone's Sean Cavanagh, who ensured a torrid afternoon for Dara O'Se and Eoin Brosnan.
Tyrone's steam-roller tactics saw them rush into a seven point lead by halftime, following a dominant display. However, Mickey Harte may be somewhat perturbed by his side's less than focused second half performance, which saw them return only two points in 33 minutes of play.
In the opposing dugout, major doubts must now be cast on the future of Paudi O'Se and his selectors, with most observers concluding that winning this year's championship was crucial for a management team that saw the Sam Maguire slip through their hands in 2001 and 2002.
The eagle-eyed could have seen the omens of Tyrone's first half dominance in the first two balls that came into the Kerry square. Tenacious running on the parts of Enda McGinley and Ger Cavlan saw the Kerry defence split wide open twice within the first three minutes.
Canavan opened the scoring for the Red Hands with a kicked free in the second minute, and centre half-forward Brian McGuigan had the opportunity to fist a goal a minute later, but instead punched over. A further score from Enda McGinley followed minutes later.At this point, Kerry were looking decidedly uncomfortable, and Declan O'Keefe's kick-outs were breaking down to an increasingly confident Tyrone midfield, with Sean Cavanagh asserted complete dominance over a depleted Dara O'Se.
Then, what many thought would be the turning point of the half occurred, as Canavan and Moynihan chased down an incoming ball. The Tyrone captain, sporting a headband from a blood injury sustained minutes earlier, fell awkwardly on his ankle, and, to the dismay of Tyrone's fans, was taken off.
If anything, the loss of Canavan galvanised the rampant Tyrone side, who had now begun to hunt in packs. Cavanagh and Mulligan clocked up to more points by the 20th minute, and it was now clear that Kerry would have to dig deep to respond, or even to start playing the game.
But still no answer.
As the half became scrappier, with Roscommon referee Kinneavy blowing up small offences and letting some heavy tackling go, Kerry struggled more and more, and only a small measure of relief came when Colm Cooper eventually notched their first point. To that point, the Kingdom had gone 24 minutes of an All-Ireland semi-final without a score.
But this served to be no real respite. Brian McGuigan pointed back immediately, and Stephen O'Neill, on to replace Canavan in the full forward role, added a free in the 30th minute. A lengthy delay following an injury to Mike Frank Russell gave Kerry a timeout to regroup, and accounted for the eight minutes of added time at the end of the half.
The extra time only served to prolong the agony for the Munstermen, with Eoin Mulligan, who once again shone at left-corner forward, scoring twice in as many minutes. Substitute Marc O'Se clawed one back for the Kingdom before the whistle to ensure a half time score of 0-9 to 0-2 in favour of the Northerners.
Kerry made some tactical switches at half-time, in an effort to stem the Red tide. Seamus Moynihan was switched to centre half back and Mike Frank Russell, who never found his feet against McMenamin, was taken off.
Those hoping for a better standard of football in the second 35 minutes were greatly disappointed. Despite a tightening of the Kerry attack, with Dara O'Se eventually attempting to field some ball in the middle, Tyrone never digressed from their policy of chase and smother.
Dara O'Cinneide scored a free a minute in (his first from three attempts), to which Tyrone left corner-forward Ryan McMenamin replied minutes later. Right half-forward Sean O'Sullivan notched another score for Kerry on 50 minutes, but, in truth, any scoring opportunity was hard fought, and Kerry's wayward shooting on the afternoon (10 wides - four from Colm Cooper alone) did little to help.
As Gerry Kinneavy continued to liberally use his whistle and hamper any chance of an open contest, Tyrone slowly but surely consolidated their lead. Two pointed Kerry frees from Declan Quill, on 57 and 62 minutes, did draw the Kingdom to within four points of Tyrone, but it was a divide Kerry, in truth, never looked capable of bridging.
As the game wound to a close, and the assembled masses in red and white realised that their place in the final was secure, Tyrone got the scores needed to consolidate victory. Two points from Stephen O'Neill, and a deserved score from half-forward stalwart Brian Dooher were enough to copper-fasten Tyrone's victory and pave the way for a potential meeting with their neighbours and arch-rivals Armagh in five weeks time.