Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter-final: Down 3-13 Armagh 2-17
WHERE do you even start with what went down in Newry yesterday? How about Rian O’Neill’s virtuoso performance, announcing his arrival on the Championship stage in utterly spectacular fashion?
No? Okay, what about the stunning long-range strike from young sub James Guinness that completed Down’s Lazarus-like revival after they had looked dead and buried?
Ah that was great alright, but you couldn’t look by the sublime fisted goal from Andy Murnin five minutes from the end of the additional 20 that seemed to hang in the air for an eternity before finding a home in the Down net… could you?
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Any one of those would do as a starting point – and we haven’t even mentioned the end of Kieran McGeeney’s four-year winless Ulster Championship run. Or the fact another Down goal at the death had Pairc Esler hanging by a thread right to the last on the most absorbing, dramatic afternoon the Ulster Championship has seen in a while.
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In the end it was the Orchardmen, and McGeeney, who were celebrating when the final, final whistle eventually went, the All-Ireland winning captain clinching Rory Grugan and Jim McCorry, the pressure valve finally released.
It might even have meant that bit more for McCorry too, given the nature of his surprise exit from the Mourne County in 2015 after just one campaign, following a game that swung back and forth like an open gate in a hurricane.
The drama really kicked in after the break following a low-key first half that failed to completely catch fire until Caolan Mooney was shown a red card deep into added time after catching Aidan Nugent with a high shoulder as he advanced towards the Down square.
However, considering there were other high challenges, on both sides, that had gone unpunished by ref Anthony Nolan prior to that, Mooney might have felt a bit hard done by.
And until that moment, Paddy Tally would have been a happy man. His side had weathered an early storm and now looked in control - though the probing runs of Jarly Og Burns and the sheer power and athleticism of O’Neill continued to cause problems.
The Galbally man moved to address that 25 minutes in when he replaced full-back Ruairi Wells with James Guinness and put the experienced Kevin McKernan onto the Crossmaglen wonderkid.
At the other end, it was on the all-too-infrequent occasions when they went direct into Connaire Harrison and Pat Havern that Down looked really dangerous.
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After a lacklustre League Harrison looked in the mood, bagging a brilliant point and winning everything that came his way. Then, in the 23rd minute, Havern profited from a Gerard Collins ball into the square, rising above Brendan Donaghy to fist into the net and put the Mournemen 1-4 to 0-5 up.
The introduction of Mark Shields in place of Charlie Vernon before half-time looked a smart move as Armagh were crying out for a man with his pace to stretch a well-organised Down defence
Mooney’s dismissal was the big talking point at half-time, and the Mournemen suffered another body blow in the 51st minute when goalkeeper Rory Burns was shown a black card.
This time Nolan had no choice, the Castlewellan man cynically tripping Stefan Campbell after having his pocket picked by the Lurgan man around the 40. Mark Hynes came off the bench, and within minutes it looked as though Down’s hopes of repeating the 2017 Ulster Championship win over their neighbours had been extinguished.
O’Neill converted the resulting free and Shields side-stepped the young Carryduff ’keeper before slotting into an empty net to put Armagh 1-11 to 1-7 ahead against the 14 men in red and black.
By the 65th minute that lead had been extended to five, but Down weren’t done yet. Donal O’Hare fired underneath Blaine Hughes with three minutes left on the clock after good work from sub Cory Quinn, and a Paul Devlin free left one in it two minutes into the four added on.
With the clock ticking down, Down stayed patient, working the ball left and right before it dropped into the palms of James Guinness. Without a second’s thought, he swung the ball between the posts from 40-odd metres, bringing the house down in the most pressurised of situations.
Jamie Clarke and Campbell both passed up chances to finish Down off again, and the final whistle brought about a bit of pushing and shoving that wouldn’t have been out of place at the Balmoral Show - minus the body-warmers.
Restored to 15 men for extra-time - with Ryan Mallon coming on to restore Down to full strength - the Mournemen picked up where they had finished off by landing the first three points courtesy of a Paul Devlin free, a brilliant bit of quick-thinking from James Guinness to fist over, and a Barry O’Hagan score.
Now it was Armagh’s turn to show what they were made of.
Facing the prospect of yet another Ulster Championship disappointment, they gritted their teeth and came roaring back.
O’Neill, minutes after being shown a yellow card for a high challenge on Daniel Guinness, batted the ball down for Ryan Kennedy to close the gap to two before half-time in extra-time, with Campbell reducing it to the minimum after the resumption.
And then came the moment of magic that ultimately won the game. Mallon ran into trouble and coughed up possession, the ball was worked to O’Neill, operating around the middle, and he took one look up before unleashing a raking ball towards the square.
The target was Andy Murnin, who had only been brought off the bench in the half-time of extra-time. Who hadn’t kicked a ball in Armagh orange since their Qualifier defeat to Roscommon last year.
His introduction was the final roll of the dice for McGeeney and it paid off in some style as the big Lurgan man, his back facing the goal, rose and reached out a fist while the crowd held itys breath.
That he managed to take all the pace from a ball travelling at nuclear missile speed and direct it into the corner was a masterful piece of forward play, worthy of winning any game – even one as brilliant as this.
When Paul Devlin’s late Hail Mary into the square found its way into the net, hopes of another home comeback sprung eternal. They tried, but the kind of grandstand finish needed eluded them on a day that is going to take some beating this summer.
Down: R Burns; D O’Hagan, R Wells, G Collins; R McAleenan, K McKernan, D Guinness; C Mooney, C Poland (0-1); C Francis (0-1), J Johnston (0-2, 0-1 free), C Maginn; P Havern (1-1), D O’Hare (1-2, 0-2 frees), C Harrison (0-1). Subs: J Guinness (0-2) for Wells (26), O McCabe for Poland (45 blood, reversed 46), B O’Hagan (0-1) for Maginn (48), P Devlin (1-2, 0-2 frees) for Johnston (61), C Quinn for Havern (61), O McCabe for Poland (68), C Poland for J Guinness (81), P Havern for Mallon (86), J Johnston for O’Hare (89).
Black card: R Burns (51, replaced by M Hynes)
Yellow cards: G Collins (19), J Johnston (55), D O’Hare (64), C Harrison (74)
Red card: C Mooney (35+2)
Armagh: B Hughes; P Burns, A McKay, P Hughes; R Kennedy (0-2), B Donaghy, A Forker; C Vernon, J Og Burns; A Nugent (0-1), E Rafferty, J Hall; R Grugan, R O’Neill (0-8, 0-4 frees), J Clarke (0-2). Subs: J Morgan (0-1) for P Burns (7), M Shields (1-0) for Vernon (30), J McElroy for Hughes (45), S Campbell (0-2) for Rafferty (46), S Sheridan for Kennedy (65), C Vernon for Forker (FT), R Kennedy for Nugent (FT), B Crealey for Sheridan (77), A Murnin (1-1) for McCabe (HT/ET), E Rafferty for Grugan (87)
Black card: J Hall (66, replaced by G McCabe)
Yellow cards: C Vernon (2), R Kennedy (59), R O’Neill (80), G McCabe (80+4)
Referee: A Nolan (Wicklow)
Att: 15,112
