Tyrone reach last eight as they ease past Donegal

Tyrone led 1-10 to 0-8 at half-time in Ballybofey

Tyrone became the fourth Ulster county to reach Monday's All-Ireland Football quarter-finals draw as they earned a dominant 1-18 to 0-13 win over Donegal in Ballybofey.

That helped them lead 1-3 to 0-1 and they were 1-10 to 0-8 up at half-time.

Tyrone's lead was extended to eight after the start while it was cut to five, a Donegal comeback was never on.

The Red Hands could have had four goals in the first half as Ruairi Canavan missed a chance in the opening 20 seconds with the outstanding Conor Meyler also butchering a glorious opportunity and Darragh Canavan blasting over the bar just before half-time when a pass to either his brother or his brother-in-law Peter Harte would surely yielded another green flag.

In the first half in particular, Tyrone's impressive running game enabled them to cut deep into Donegal territory seemingly at will with the home side finding it much more difficult to create scoring opportunities.

After three straight points following the resumption extended their lead to eight, Tyrone seemed to take their foot off their pedal but they hit four of the last five scores to leave an eight-point margin which in no way flattered them.

Prior to the Ballybofey contest, the 2021 Sam Maguire winners' championship campaign had been laboured and they were the kick of a ball away from existing in shock fashion last weekend as they hung on to draw 0-18 to 0-18 against Westmeath.

However, this display will give the Red Hands belief that they can be a factor in the remaining stages of the championships which will will continue with next weekend's quarter-finals ties.

More to follow.

Donegal: S Patton; M Curran, B McCole, C McColgan; C Ward, E Ban Gallagher, S McMenamin; C McGonagle, H McFadden; D O Baoill, J Brennan, C Thompson; O Doherty, O Gallen, C O'Donnell.

Subs: G Mulreaney, P McBrearty, J McGee, R O'Donnell, D Dorrian, B O'Donnell, J McKelvey, JR Molloy, L McGlynn, J McGroddy, P Brennan.

Tyrone: N Morgan; M McKernan, R McNamee, P Hampsey; C Quinn, M O'Neill, P Harte; B Kennedy, C Kilpatrick; C Meyler, K McGeary, R Canavan; D McCurry, M Donnelly, D Canavan.

Subs: L Quinn, F Burns, A Clarke, N Devlin, R Donnelly, N McCarron, J Oguz, M McGleenan, C McShane, S O'Neill, N Sludden