Derry 1-07 Armagh 1-10:Armagh will face Monaghan on June 6th after opening their Ulster championship campaign with a three-point win over Derry at Celtic Park. The Division Two winners edged the tie after Derry had Eoin Bradley sent off and Jamie Clarke netted after stepping off the bench.
Armagh manager Paddy O’Rourke was not bothered by the suggestion it was a poor advertisement for the game and praised his side for a hard fought win at the Derry fortress.
“Derry haven’t been beat here since ‘94, it’s not an easy place to win a game,” he told RTE television. “We could have played a bit more football, it didn’t happen but I’m immensely proud of the boys.
“We made a few mistakes for a senior inter-county team but we got away with it.
The teams were level at the break after a dour first half sprung to life in the 30th minute with a Paddy Bradley goal.
Mark Lynch weaved his way through the Armagh defence and found Fergal Doherty on the edge of the square with a perfectly timed hand pass.
Doherty was quick to offload to Bradley in the centre and the veteran forward punched it into the net for a three point lead.
Prior to that there was nothing between the teams, locked on four points apiece after just two scores from play.
The goal, though, changed the mood and Armagh captain Steven McDonnell responded with four points for a halftime scoreline of 1-05 to 0-08.
The scoring was slow in the opening exchanges of the second half, with Armagh edging into a narrow lead thanks to Charlie Vernon and Ryan Henderson.
Eoin Bradley closed the gap with the point of the game in the 50th minute but momentum shifted back in Armagh’s favour moments later when the forward was shown his second yellow card for pulling back an opponent.
A minute afterwards, Clarke fielded a high-ball from McDonnell and fired a low left-footed shot past the advancing Barry Gillis and into the bottom corner for a championship debut goal and a four-point lead.
The Derry attack was competently smothered from there on in, though Paul Hearty needed to make an excellent save from Gerard O’Kane’s penalty after the latter was adjudged to have been taken out in the box.
In fact, Clarke’s goal was the last score of the game, barring a late consolation pint from Lynch in injury time.