GAELIC FOOTBALL: CANAVAN IS A CLASS APART; FOOTBALL LEAGUE SEMI-FINAL: TYRONE 4-11 FERMANAGH 1-11: Peter Hands Erne men lesson in the art of finishing to book a final place.

Byline: Orla BANNON

THE master and his pupil steered Tyrone through to another Allianz league final yesterday with a second-half goal feast against Fermanagh in Croke Park.

The league champions had trailed by a point at half-time but showed their class with the wind at their backs and stunned the Erne men with two goals apiece from the master craftsman Peter Canavan and his young protege Eoin Mulligan.

Canavan used to teach Mulligan at Holy Trinity College in Cookstown but is still teaching him new tricks on the field and their telepathic partnership was the irresistible x-factor which helped set up a league final clash against Laois.

After a lively first-half when Fermanagh led by 0-6 to 0-5, a goal apiece from the deadly duo inside three minutes early in the second-half killed the game off.

It was an impressive second-half display but afterwards Mickey Harte insisted it's now time for Tyrone to really deliver on their potential.

"It's nice to come here and play to win but it's not about pretty football anymore - it's about results and Tyrone have to learn to live with that,'' said the manager.

"Tyrone have been touted as a great team for over a decade now and had some wonderful performances on given days but generally at Headquarters didn't deliver the best of themselves.

"Today you can't say all of that has been mended, but it was a good result with some very good football in the middle of that and we've plenty still to learn.

"That's a good place to be as you go into the league final.''

Fermanagh had been yearning for a big day out in Croke Park and they brought a huge following to Dublin venue while most of Tyrone's fair-weather fans stayed at home with only 27,000 turning up for the doubleheader.

The Erne county came full of hope and by half-time that had turned to confidence but they were blown away by Tyrone's classy forwards after the break.

But as Dom Corrigan and his team fly out to the Canaries this morning they will reflect on an excellent league campaign and as soon as the final whistle sounded the manager's thoughts were already turning to the Ulster championship.

"With the strong wind we would have needed to be four or five points up at half-time but we were still reasonably happy with the one point lead,'' he said.

"But the second-half was a nightmare, the two quick goals in the first few minutes knocked the stuffing out of us although I was pleased with how we battled to the finish when it would have been easy to walk away with 15 minutes to go.

"Overall I'm pleased with the league campaign but we probably hadn't come up against forwards as sharp as that, especially two guys like Canavan and Mulligan.

"We were found wanting but I'd like to think we won't be conceding those type of scores on the first of June against Donegal and will have learned from our mistakes.''

Tyrone raced into a three point lead inside the opening five minutes through Dooher, O'Neill and Canavan but Fermanagh responded with a hat-trick of their own from the Brewster brothers and Kieran Donnelly.

The first-half was nip and tuck with Fermanagh looking sharper and hungrier for the ball and picking up most of the breaks.

They dominated around the middle of the field while Tyrone overplayed the ball and were slow to deliver any quality ball into their inside forwards.

The Erne men hit the front for the first time with a lovely curling effort from Tom Brewster on 29 minutes but a one point half-time lead was never going to be enough facing into a stiff wind.

Tyrone came racing out of the blocks in the second-half and the long balls into the full- forward line starting paying off.

Gerard Cavlan threaded the play together with some lovely balls inside and Tyrone's lethal forwards made hay scoring 2-2 in just five minutes.

Canavan grabbed the first goal two minutes after the restart collecting the ball from Enda McGinley and drilling a cracking shot high into the roof of the net.

Sean Cavanagh picked off another fine score seconds later before Canavan collected a lovely pass from Mulligan to chip over another point.

Mulligan then hit the net at the end of a great Tyrone move.

Dooher brilliantly kept the ball in play underneath the Hogan Stand flicking it out to Cavanagh who fed McGinley and he unselfishly crossed to Mulligan who dived to punch the ball home.

That was game, set and match but Fermanagh were determined to fight back and Ryan Keenan pounced with a 45th minute goal - the first goal Tyrone have conceded in the league campaign.

Kieran Donnelly fed Keenan who shrugged off Ryan McMenamin and drilled a well-struck shot across Pascal McConnell into the far corner of the net.

Tom Brewster then missed a crucial free which would have taken the Erne men to within three points and after that their chance was gone.

Tyrone stepped it up a gear and Canavan then scored a majestic goal that only he is capable of.

The skipper latched onto a deft flick from his sidekick Mulligan and as Ronan Gallagher came out to meet him he chipped the ball over his head and it nestled in the corner of the net.

Fermanagh rallied with points from Stephen Maguire and substitute Colm Bradley but Mulligan grabbed a fourth goal five minutes from time to ensure the win which leaves Tyrone just 70 minutes away from retaining their league crown.What do

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CAPTION(S):

REACHING FOR IT: Fermanagh''s Ciaran Donnelly with Conor Gormley of Tyrone; NET RESULT: Fermamagh''s Ryan Keenan celebrates his 2nd half goal; HIGH DRAMA: Ciaran Donnelly and Phillip Jordan tussle; SAFE HANDS: Peter Canavan holds off Shane McDermott