Kieran McGeeney’s side were in the relegation zone as things stood at half-time, on solid ground deep enough into the second half, but ultimately dropped into Division 2 after an afternoon where the lead swapped sides in both venues.

The game panned out pretty much as expected in terms of Tyrone doing most of the attacking, and having most of the territory, with Armagh sitting deep and looking to counter on the break but it was perfectly presentable stuff.

If the absence of Rian O’Neill had dominated the pre-game conversations then Conor Turbitt did his best to console the Orange faithful with four first-half points, one from a free, another via a mark and a pair from play.

The main problem for the visitors was wastefulness in front of the posts. They had half a dozen wides on their ledger by the break but they were doing plenty to knock Tyrone out of a rhythm at the other end with their defenders hunting in packs.

Tyrone, for their part, were busy and creative at times in trying to unlock the puzzle presented to them and Peter Harte was the most productive in breaking down those blockages with two points claimed by running into the heart of the beast.

The hosts led at the break by eight points to seven despite playing into an intermittent wind. They could, and maybe should, have had that bit more of a buffer with Conn Kilpatrick firing half a goal chance over and Darragh Canavan denied by goalkeeper Ethan Rafferty.

That second chance was a one-on-one engineered by a turnover, of which there many on both sides throughout a competitive 35 minutes, and by which time Monaghan were leading Mayo by a single score in Castlebar.

Tyrone opened up a three-point lead on the restart but Armagh reeled that back in and the sides would draw level with each other four more times, and eleven in total, until the home team finally grabbed the game by the throat.

Tyrone outscored a flagging Armagh by five points to two in the last 15 minutes, including stoppage time, committing their old foes to the second division and much to the delight of their fans at a buzzing Healy Park.

Scorers for Tyrone: D McCurry (0-7, 4f); P Harte (0-3); C Kilpatrick and R McNamee (both 0-2): P Hampsey, M Donnelly, D Canavan, M McGleenan (all 0-1).

Scorers for Armagh: C Turbitt (0-5, 2f and 1 mark); S Campbell (0-3): A Forker and R Grugan (both 0-2): C Cumiskey, J Hall, J Kiernan (all 0-1); N Grimley (0-1f).

TYRONE: B Gallen; M McKernan, P Hampsey, C Quinn; C Meyler, R McNamee, P Harte; B Kennedy, C Kilpatrick; F Burns, K McGeary, J Oguz; D McCurry, M Donnelly, D Canavan.

Subs: D Mulgrew for McGeary (47); M McGleenan for Canavan (48): N Sludden for Harte (74).

ARMAGH: E Rafferty; B McCambridge, A McKay, A Forker; C Mackin, G McCabe, J Og Burns; S Campbell, N Grimley; C Cumiskey, R Grugan, J Hall; C Turbitt, A Murninm J Duffy.

Subs: A Nugent for Murnin (24); T Kelly for Duffy (48); J Kiernan for Hall (63); C McConville for Cumiskey (71); S McPartland for Turbitt (72).

Referee: B Cassidy (Derry)