In a mature performance, Tyrone defeated Donegal by eight points at MacCumnahil Park tonight to book their place in the last eight of the Sam Maguire Cup.

Despite winning the toss, Donegal opted to play into the stern Ballybofey breeze during the opening half of this preliminary quarterfinal.  

Within minutes, the home crowd had their head in their hands though, pacy Tyrone forward Ruairi Canavan flashing a shot wide before less than a minute later, snaking in on the left side again and puncing on a poor spill by Donegal goalkeeper, Sean Patton.

Captain Patrick McBrearty got Donegal on the scoresheet four minutes in, but Tyrone continued to enjoy the breeze at their backs, slotting three points via Darren McCurry, Michael McKernon and Darragh Canavan, their two in-form scorers up and running.

It took Donegal five minutes to reply, Oisin Gallen firing a free over before Odhran Doherty pointed from open play to halve the deficit.

McCurry and McBrearty then swapped their second points each before a glorious run forward by McKernon ended with the defender joining them on a brace.

Gallen profited on errant Tyrone as he joined the braces’ party, bringing the gap back to three.

McBrearty kept the home momentum going with his third point but a smartly taken, quickfire double from Canavan put Tyrone four points up once more. 

Home defender Caolan McGonagle roused home hopes with his score on thirty-two minutes but Matthew Donnelly and Canavan’s fourth, despite having brother-in-law Ruairi free inside, fired the visitors to a five-point advantage.

Brian Kennedy extended that to six, becoming Tyrone’s sixth scorer before Gallen wriggled free to cancel it out in first half stoppage time.

That sent Tyrone, who would be rueing sending seven shots wide, in ahead by 0-8 to 1-10 at the interval.

There were more yellow cards than scores in the half’s opening eight minutes, McCurry and Canavan extending their individual tallies as Tyrone widened their lead out to seven.

Tyrone’s lead doubled thanks to McCurry’s fourth point and it took Donegal fourteen minutes into the second half to strike back, despite a raft of replacements, Ciaron Thompson scoring well from the left flank in the fiftieth minute.

Gallen guided another one over, but Donegal needed a goal and replacement Jason McGee could have had one but shot tamely when well placed.

Patton profited from a long-range free before Canavan fired badly wide with a free of his own as Donegal’s third score in a row breathed cautious buoyancy into the Ballybofey audience.

Donnelly and Thompson both hit their own braces before thundering runs were matched by composed finishes from McCurry and Conn Kilpatrick, four-point buffer restored. 

Replacement Luke McGlynn fired over as Donegal reached 0-13 before goal scorer Canavan cleverly swivelled to point, followed by the exceptional Donnelly’s third, 1-18 to 0-13. 

Salt was rubbed deeper in Donegal wounds when Patton’s patchy evening was compounded with a black card in injury time. 

It is Tyrone who triumphed by eight to deservedly reach the quarterfinals and another Sam Maguire intense knockout tie, in Croke Park.