Tyrone 1-12 Louth 1-7: Tyrone overcame the challenge of Louth to advance to the second round of the qualifiers this afternoon but Mickey Harte was left with further injury problems as Conor Gormley and Collie Holmes joined the ranks of walking wounded in the squad.
After last week's thriller in Navan, in which Owen Mulligan rescued the All-Ireland champions with a free deep in extra-time, Tyrone were in no mood to allow Louth a foothold and raced into a commanding lead.
Colm McCullagh, drafted into the side in place of the injured Stephen O'Neill, proved a potent weapon in attack, four first-half points helping the Ulster side to a 1-10 to 0-2 lead at the interval.
Louth, starved of possession, were forced to live on scraps and although Ray Finnegan saw his shot on goal beaten away on the stroke of half-time, they were unable to build any real momentum in a torrid 35 minutes.
However, Louth are nothing if not dogged and came out fighting after the break, notching five points to Tyrone's one before scoring a goal to leave the scores 1-11 to 1-7 and revive hopes of another comeback.
But time was against the underdogs, and a further McCullagh point settled Tyrone's fraying nerves as they ran down the clock to reach the next round.
In this evening's game Kildare booked their place in the second round of qualifying with a 1-17 to 1-13 win over Cavan at Newbridge.
Cavan had taken the early lead when Larry Reilly found the net but the advantage didn't last long as Ronan Sweeney quickly replied with a goal for Kildare.
The home side took a 1-10 to 1-05 lead into the interval. And despite some spirited play in the second period, Cavan were unable to reduce the deficit as Kildare held on for the win.