GAELIC GAMES: Why bother, you'd wonder, with the first 65 minutes of an Armagh-Tyrone match? We all knew it was going to go down to the well-used wire so most of yesterday's Bank of Ireland All-Ireland semi-final seemed superfluous.

Let's get to the closing minutes, the adrenaline burst of the endgame, and see what happens.

It was Armagh who popularised in this country the "football is a game of inches" speech from the film Any Given Sunday. Yesterday it was a game of millimetres, but for the Ulster champions on the wrong side of that slim divide, the distance might as well have been a mile.

After a second half that had swayed backwards and forwards the match reached injury time level and with a fourth meeting between these implacable rivals an increasingly probable outcome.

Tyrone had shaken what momentum was left in the match out on the table and launched what would be the last attack of the match. Stephen O'Neill - dangerous all day but prone to some disastrous shot selection - cut inside and was fouled by Ciarán McKeever, a casual almost inconsequential tug of the shirt sleeve. Except there would be lasting consequences.

The drama surrounding the free, more than kickable but not exactly unmissable, was a presentation in itself. On the left of the Hill goal Owen Mulligan initially took the ball, as he had kicked from that side all afternoon. But when his former teacher Peter Canavan popped up, there was only one likely outcome.

Mulligan smiled and shook his head, handing the ball over and deferring to the legend. If there's one man any manager would want to kick a free in the last seconds of an All-Ireland semi-final with the result on the line, surely Canavan would be the choice.

He stroked the ball over with all the assurance of a lottery winner in a pawnshop and there was hardly time for the kick-out before referee Paddy Russell whistled it up and signalled fiesta time for the Tyrone supporters in a crowd of 65,858.

For a side that has electrified the season with their epic acts of survival it was an agonising end to Armagh's championship. They will think back to the wides, other wasted possession, some of the selection and substitution calls and will feel that they could easily have found the extra inches. But Tyrone would have felt the same had they lost.

Among the more contentious decisions was the replacement of captain Kieran McGeeney for the last 10 minutes. Joe Kernan wanted a bit more mobility but it must have been a hard call given the burning desire and focus hardwired into McGeeney's game and the urgency that helped claw back the drawn Ulster final.

You couldn't make huge claims for the quality of this match but there were good if not outstanding performances all over the field on either side. It was bound to be tense after the two Ulster final matches that preceded it in July and, most importantly, given that it was for keeps this time.

Armagh did everything right by their standards. They hustled when losing out on possession, eventually struck as the chances came and entered the last 10 minutes having taken the initiative on the scoreboard for the first time. This was their territory.

Tyrone were playing for the third time in four weekends. At times in the first half they had looked tired and listless when throwing the ball around aimlessly or turning it over on the attack. But this time they weren't for buckling and raged against the dying light of a two-point deficit with three unanswered points in the closing eight minutes.

The match started much as Armagh would have wanted with Tyrone seeing plenty of ball but running it exhaustively despite wind advantage and never really opening up much of a gap on the scoreboard.

Armagh were winning good primary possession at centrefield, where Brian Meenan and Enda McGinley - quickly switched in with Seán Cavanagh going to the wing - struggled in the air.

Otherwise the trends were with Tyrone. Owen Mulligan gave Francie Bellew an awful time. The Armagh defender might have been unlucky to concede the first converted free but thereafter the ice was cracking. Mulligan chalked up a point that might have been a goal, a similar wide, a shot off the post and a free for a late tackle.

And that was just the first half.

In the circumstances it was surprising that Enda McNulty didn't make an earlier appearance from the bench.

Ryan McMenamin won plenty of ball against Steven McDonnell - which was just as well because on the two occasions that McDonnell got free, points smartly followed. Just as against Dublin in last weekend's replay, a penalty set up Tyrone's challenge. O'Neill was fouled by Paddy McKeever and, as he had done eight days previously, he arrowed the kick into the right-hand corner.

Armagh had the last word with McGeeney kicking into the wind an impressive point after a quick line ball, which his colleagues celebrated with the air of men pleased to be just two down at the break, 0-5 to 1-4.

Canavan was brought in for the second half and Tyrone began well with Mulligan's diving, fisted effort drawing a save from Paul Hearty after Ryan Mellon had opened up the defence.

The first lurch of the second half saw Armagh string together three points in as many minutes. Oisín McConville kicked a free for a foul on John McEntee, who was making life more awkward for Conor Gormley than Brian Mallon had managed.

Tyrone's kick-outs came under fierce pressure.

Firstly, after McConville's point, the ball was fumbled and recycled for McDonnell to score immediately. Pascal McConnell put the next one out over the sideline, from which Clarke was fouled for another converted free by McConville to level the match.

It took a wide from Aidan O'Rourke to break the spell and crucially in the minutes that followed, McMenamin broke upfield and restored the lead.

With that the momentum switched and Tyrone registered their own three-point volley. Cavanagh charged through to set up O'Neill and a minute later Philip Jordan slipped Paddy McKeever to set up Canavan for a point.

There were still two points in it, 1-9 to 0-10, when Armagh struck what looked a decisive blow to take the lead for the first time. Paddy McKeever hoisted a free into the square and McDonnell, now with Conor Gormley marking him, took the ball superbly and squeezed it in from the tightest of angles. Armagh looked in the ascendancy but we hadn't seen nothin' yet.

TYRONE: 1. P McConnell; 4. M McGee, 3. J McMahon, 2 R McMenamin (0-1); 5. D Harte, 6. C Gormley, 7. P Jordan; 8. B Meenan, 9. S Cavanagh (0-2); 10. B Dooher, 11. B McGuigan, 12. E McGinley; 13. R Mellon, 14. S O'Neill (1-4, goal a penalty and three frees), 15. O Mulligan (0-3, one free). Subs: 18. P Canavan (0-2, one free) for McGinley (half-time), 24. C Holmes for Meenan (44 mins), 25. C Lawn for Jordan (65 mins), 30. S Sweeney (0-1) for Harte (67 mins).

ARMAGH: 1. P Hearty; 3. F Bellew, 4. K McKeever, 2. A Mallon; 6. K McGeeney (0-1), 5. A Kernan (0-2, both frees), 7. A O'Rourke; 8. P Loughran, 9. P McGrane; 10. M O'Rourke, 15. B Mallon (0-1), 11. P McKeever; 13. S McDonnell (1-3), 14. R Clarke (0-1), 12. O McConville (0-3, all frees). Subs: 24. T McEntee for Loughran (34 mins), 23. J McEntee (0-1) for B Mallon (half-time), 25. E McNulty for McGeeney (63 mins), 20. A McCann for A O'Rourke (71).

Yellow Cards: Tyrone: Mulligan (35 mins) Armagh: Bellew (31 mins)

Referee: P Russell (Tipperary)

Attendance: 65,858.