Tyrone 0-14 Derry 0-11:WITH MUCH more at stake than derby bragging rights, Tyrone and Derry served up an intense tie at Healy Park. And at the end of it all, Derry had relinquished their league title and Tyrone had moved clear of the relegation zone.

A late flourish saw Tommy McGuigan convert his fifth free to secure a first home win of the season for the All-Ireland champions.

They even had the luxury of a missed penalty before winning by three. However, that was only after Derry substitute Eoghan Brown had missed a simple free that could have won it for the league champions two minutes from the end.

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte was a relieved man, happy to prepare for the trip to Mayo in the knowledge that relegation is no longer an issue. “It was a very intense game, it meant a lot to the players to keep their Division One status,” Harte added.

His side led by three at the halfway stage, but were pegged back by Derry. “We had a very good first half,” he added, “but Derry came at us very well in the second half with five unanswered points and it looked like they were probably going to take the game.”

Derry manager Damien Cassidy thought he had secured the victory needed to keep the pressure on Kerry and Galway when a free was awarded late in the contest.

“We had that free at the last to put us one up, and before that we had two reasonably good chances. The game was in the bag for us, to be frank about it,” said Cassidy.

But the Derry manager saw many positives, even in defeat. “For me, the success of the evening was that in the first half we were disjointed and run ragged in places. But it was how we responded in the second half, we came out and we controlled a large part of the second half and got back playing the way we want to play our own game.”

Paddy Bradley’s four first-half points had Derry supporters in fine voice, but McGuigan was equally accurate from frees, and they eased ahead 0-8 to 0-5 at the break.

A Derry flourish early in the second half saw them regain the lead with scores from Enda Muldoon, Barry McGoldrick and the Bradley brothers. But Tyrone had the men for the occasion, and even though Owen Mulligan had a penalty saved by Shane McGuckin, they held their nerve.

Eoghan Brown had that chance to win it but missed an easy free with two minutes on the clock.

Then came the familiar Tyrone finish – a barrage of late scores from McGuigan, Seán Cavanagh and Kevin Hughes.

TYRONE: J Curran; PJ Quinn, C Gormley, C McCarron; D Harte (0-2), S O’Neill (0-1), P Jordan; K Hughes (0-1), R Mellon; C Cavanagh, A Cassidy, T McGuigan (0-5, frees); C McCullagh (0-1, free), S Cavanagh (0-2), O Mulligan (0-2). Subs: M Penrose for McCullagh (45 mins), B McGuigan for C Cavanagh (48 mins), D Carlin for Quinn (yellow, 53 mins).

DERRY: S McGuckin: G O’Kane, K McCloy, SM Lockhart: P Cartin, B McGoldrick (0-1, free), SL McGoldrick: Patsy Bradley, E Muldoon (0-1): J Kielt (0-1), P Murphy (0-1), P Young; Paddy Bradley (0-6, three frees), E Bradley (0-1), Paul Bradley. Subs: B Mullan for Paul Bradley (25 mins), K McGuckin for B McGoldrick (57 mins), E Brown for Young (58 mins), J Diver for Muldoon (60 mins).

Referee: D Coldrick (Meath).