Central Council voted on Saturday not to continue with the experiment for the Allianz Leagues with the Ulster and Connacht Councils subsequently deciding not to persist with the trial during their respective McKenna Cup and FBD League finals over the weekend.

“It’s well known that I would be happy to see it (hand-pass rule) going,” said Tyrone manager Mickey Harte, after winning the pre-season trophy for the seventh time in eight years.

“It didn’t bring anything to the game other than frustration and difficulty for referees, the public, managers and players so if you have a rule that causes mayhem like that, you’re better off without it.”

Harte can forsee problems further down the line regarding the inside mark, one of the four rules that will be trialled in the leagues.

“No one pays much attention to the other rules, they’re sort of take it or leave it rules and they don’t adversely affect the game in an obvious way. But in due course there could be a problem with the inside mark because the referee blows the whistle and the defenders stop, and there could a goal coming off that. It isn’t a problem at the minute but let’s see what happens.”

Kieran McGeeney was similarly unimpressed with the restricted handpass rule, and isn’t a fan of playing rules committees period, having been involved in one formed by former GAA President Christy Cooney in 2011 when he was managing Kildare.

“I was in the committee before and they don’t like people with opinions,” McGeeney said.

“I said after three of them (meetings) that I was going because the nonsense that was going on. We talked about tackling. If you had read the minutes afterwards it wouldn’t have mentioned the tackle. I was there, I was told to go away.”

It was the noughties revisited in the Athletic Grounds as Tyrone and Armagh served up a red-hot reminder of their epic battles of old amidst a flurry of cards - three reds and 11 yellows saw Armagh finish with 13 players and Tyrone 14.

Armagh’s James Morgan went first after 62 minutes for a second yellow card, before an off-the-ball clash led to straight reds for Aaron McKay (both Armagh) and Ronan McNamee (Tyrone). The sides were level at 0-12 apiece after 57 minutes but Darren McCurry’s 0-9, including eight from frees, helped them over the line.

Armagh won a penalty when Kieran McGeary was judged to have touched Stefan Campbell’s goal-bound shot on the ground and Armagh trailing by two. But Rory Grugan’s kick clipped the the crossbar and went over for a point, Tyrone digging deep in the closing stages to see it out.

Scorers for Tyrone:

D McCurry (0-9, 8f), N Sludden 0-2, C McShane 0-2 (1f), R McNamee, D McClure 0-1 each, N Morgan 0-1 (f).

Scorers for Armagh:

R Grugan 0-5 (4f), N Grimley 0-5 (4f, one ‘45’), S Campbell 0-2, R O’Neill 0-1, J Clarke 0-1

TYRONE:

N Morgan; C McLaughlin, R McNamee, L Rafferty; T McCann, A McCrory, M Cassidy; C Grugan, D McClure; N Sludden, R O’Neill, C McCann; D McCurry, P Harte, C McShane.

Subs:

C Meyler for C McCann (43), M Donnelly for Cassidy (43), K McGeary for Rafferty (50), D Canavan for O’Neill (51), K Coney for Grugan (61)

ARMAGH:

B Hughes; C Mackin, A McKay, J Morgan; R McCaughley, B Donaghy, G McCabe; S Sheridan, N Grimley; J Hall, R Grugan, R McShane; S Campbell, R O’Neill, J Clarke.

Subs:

J Og Burns for McShane (HT), J McElroy for Donaghy (HT), C Vernon for McCabe (50), J Duffy for Clarke (60), R McQuillan for Hall (63)

Referee:

Joe McQuillan (Cavan)