By Paul Keane

In the circumstances, Tyrone manager Mickey Harte was quite happy for David Mulgrew to make a very public statement of his disappointment at being left out of the team.

Mulgrew was named to start Tyrone's 18-point All-Ireland quarter-final win over Armagh but was replaced by Declan McClure.

The young Ardboe man eventually got an opportunity to impress as a second-half substitute and took it with both hands, firing a brilliant 2-1.

His 55th and 63rd minute strikes knocked Armagh's shaky house down and the second goal was particularly impudent as Mulgrew feigned to hand pass before kicking to the net.

"He's a good young footballer," said three-time All-Ireland winning manager Harte. "That's why he had played a lot in the Ulster championship and it was probably a bit difficult on him not to start this one. Again, you have to look at the contribution Declan McClure gave in the Ulster final and you'd say it would have been a big thing not to let him start today either.

"It's horses for courses, on different days, different people do the right things. That is some response that David Mulgrew gave to not starting the game. He looked so energised and he looked so cool. He finished like an out and out finisher yet he's actually a much more all around the field type of player. His first goal was the one that really settled the game for us."

There's little love lost between Tyrone and Armagh given the epic battles between the counties in the 2000s while, more recently, Armagh beat Tyrone in the 2014 qualifiers.

Harte admitted that the three-point loss, along with last year's All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Mayo, motivated the team coming into this game.

"We were very disappointed to lose in Omagh in that particular game in 2014," said Harte. "So yes, you have to store those things and bring them with you, to use them if you can.

"But you can't depend on it either, you have to have quality players who are prepared to put their bodies on the line and get those results. No amount of mental wanting to do that will make it happen, the players have got to physically go out and make it happen.

"We walked out of here at the same stage last year and we were not happy people because we had put a lot into the year up to that and we'd played enough football that day to at least get a second chance and we didn't get it.

"That's soul destroying when you think of the work and time and energy that these boys put in. This has been brewing in us for a year and we're very happy to have been able to get back and to give ourselves a chance to be playing later in August."