Tyrone 0-21
Sligo 0-14
Mickey Harte extended his impressive run in the football qualifiers as Tyrone ran out seven point winners over Sligo.
Niall Carew's men, still scarred from their 26-point defeat to Mayo in the Connacht final, never looked comfortable against an organised Tyrone defence and trailed from early on.
This was a trend that they never seemed to arrest and their kick-outs were always a source of trouble.
Tyrone got off the mark quick and opened up a five-point lead in the opening 2 minutes with scores from Mattie Donnelly, Darren McCurry and Mark Bradley all on the scoresheet.
Sligo looked off the pace and resorted time and again to pulling and dragging of Tyrone men, Neil Ewing earning their first yellow card after only three minutes.
By half-time they were ahead by double scores at 0-12 to 0-6.
The second half featured much of the same, the Ulster side in search of the elusive goal and had three good opportunities, Conall McCann with the best of the bunch but couldn't find the net.
Sligo were stubborn, however, and even in the dying seconds were still in searchof a point or goal that might change the game.
All in all, Tyrone will know they will need a bigger performance when they face either Monaghan or Mayo in the quarter-finals, but they were good when they had to be and did enough to run out comfortable winners in the end.
Scorers for Sligo: M Breheny (0-7, 0-3 frees); P Hughes (0-3); A Marren (0-2 frees); D Kelly and N Murphy (both 0-1).
Scorers for Tyrone: D McCurry (0-8, 0-3 frees and 1 ‘45’); S Cavanagh and M Donnelly (both 0-3); M Bradley (0-2); C McAliskey, C Cavanagh, P Harte and R Brennan (all 0-1); N Morgan (0-1 free).
Sligo: A Devaney; D Maye, K Cawley, R Donovan; E Flanagan, B Curran, B Egan; S Gilmartin, C Breheny; N Ewing, M Breheny, N Murphy; A Marren, P Hughes, D Kelly; Subs: K McDonnell for C Breheny (34); J Hynes for Gilmartin (56); C Davey for Ewing (58); L Bree for Maye (63); K Sweeney for Hughes (69)
Tyrone: R McNabb, R McNamee, A McCrory; T McCann, Joe McMahon, R Brennan; C Cavanagh, M Donnelly; s Cavanagh, P Harte, C Meyler; M Bradley, C McAliskey, D McCurry. Subs: C McCann for Meyler (49); P McNulty for Bradley (58); Justin McMahon for Joe McMahon (60); D McBride for C Cavanagh and R O’Neill for McAliskey (both 63); C Clarke for Donnelly (69).
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