Armagh 1-12 Down 0-11: Armagh booked their place in the Ulster SFC final with a hard fought 1-12 to 0-11 win over Down at Clones this afternoon and will now meet Fermanagh in next month's final.
This is a road well trodden by the Orchard County, striving for their seventh provincial title in nine years, but this afternoon they were made to dig deep for their win in a game strewn with errors from both sides.
Stephen Kernan scored the opening goal of the match after 26 minutes to ensure Armagh went into the break with a 1-05 to 0-05 lead.
On reflection Armagh should heave been further ahead but they failed to capitalise on opportunities created in front of the 31,000 crowd.
In the second period Armagh were reduced to 14 men when Martin O'Rourke was sent off. Down seized the initiative and some accurate frees from Aidan Carr brought Down to within a point.
However, Down never looked liked forging ahead and Armagh held strong in defence to set up the final encounter with Fermanagh on July 20th.
"I don't think it was a game for the purists," was Armagh manager Peter McDonald's honest assessment after the game. "Both sides gave a lot of possession away, but the main thing is we won the match and are into the final."
"We still have a lot to work on but I'm happy with the result."
And what of his team's chances against Fermangh in next month's Ulster final? "We have it all to do. The only good thing is Down play a similar style of football to Fermanagh so today's game should be good preparation for us."
Down: McVeigh; Howard, McCartan, Rafferty; Carr, Doyle, Murphy; Gordon, Colgan; Murtagh, Rogers, Hughes; Clarke, Coulter, Sexton.
Armagh: Hearty; Mallon, Bellew, Moriarty; Donaghy, A O'Rourke, C McKeever; McGrane, Toner; Vernon, P McKeever, M O'Rourke; McDonnell, Clarke, S Kernan.