By Barry O'Donnell
Leinster champions Dublin will provide the next obstacle to Tyrone's pursuit of a third Sam Maguire triumph, with the counties set for a crunch collision on Saturday week in the All-Ireland Quarter-Finals.
It's a draw which will rekindle memories of their two epic clashes three seasons ago at a similar stage of the competition, when Owen Mulligan lit up Croke Park with 'that goal' as the Red Hands went on to beat the Dubs in the replay on their way to that All-Ireland triumph.
Ironically if Micky Harte's men are to advance all the way to the final again, its likely that they will have to follow a similar path to 2005, with Armagh and then Kerry in all probability waiting down the line.
Not that Tyrone can afford the luxury of considering such scenarios just yet. They limped past Mayo in Round Three of the Qualifiers last Saturday by a single point 0-13 to 1-6 to secure their last eight berth.
It may not have been the most convincing performance from Tyrone but any time that you get a win in the championship, particularly at Croke Park, it has to be welcomed.
After a good start that yielded fine scores from Sean Cavanagh and Enda McGinley Tyrone were punished for not making their dominance count on the scoreboard as Conor Mortimer pounced for a goal to enable Mayo to lead at half time.
Manager Mickey Harte turned things around at the break with Sean Cavanagh going to midfield and Joe McMahon moving to full forward and the Omagh St Enda's clubman didn't mind his new surroundings as he was just happy to return to winning ways at headquarters.
"I didn't mind going into full forward for the second half as I would play anywhere to do a job for Tyrone. We haven't played much at Croke Park since our run in 2005 and it's always great to play there and more importantly to get a win there.
"It was our first time back in Croke Park since the disappointment of losing in the quarter final to Meath twelve months ago and it was good to put that defeat behind us as we didn't do ourselves justice on the day against them," stated McMahon.
The Omagh St Enda's clubman was a late replacement in the side for Martin Penrose as he lined out in the half forward line in the first half and one of the features of the opening period were his long passes into the full forward line that perhaps didn't reap the dividends that they deserved.
Joe admits that it didn't look good for them in the third quarter but he was full of praise for the effort of the players from there until the final whistle that was just enough to take them over the finishing line.
"When Conor Mortimer went through and put the ball over the bar it put them three clear but it could have been worse for us as he was in a good position to perhaps get a goal.
"Our backs were to the wall at that stage but leaders like Sean Cavanagh and Enda McGinley stepped forward while Martin Penrose came off the bench and done well and we got a few good scores to get back into contention and it once again highlighted the determination and never say die spirit that is in this squad of players. It was a tough game, just what we expected from Mayo.
"They had one over us from 2004 and I suppose the pressure was on us to prove ourselves. We had made steady enough progress from the Louth game to the Westmeath one and Mayo were another step up for us but thankfully we just managed to scrape through."
Now its Dublin next up and Joe acknowledges that Tyrone will have to improve if they wish to make it through to the semi-finals.
"We will need a big improvement from our display at the weekend as there were times in the game were we went missing while we also missed good chances and you can't afford to do that from here on in.
"Dublin will start that game as favourites given the fact that they have won four Leinster titles in a row and they will be eager to finally make the breakthrough. They looked very impressive when beating Wexford in the Leinster final and Wexford are no bad side as they showed against Down."
