Not for the first time this year, Derry's footballers sought out Anthony Tohill to keep them afloat. With the clock ticking down in yesterday's Ulster final in Clones, they needed a point to prevent Armagh from retaining their provincial title, yet even this man has his limits.

Tohill's 50-metre free was long enough but not straight enough, and so ended what many felt would be a long championship road. Manager Eamonn Coleman had ridden the rough with the smooth, but he offered his immediate resignation and made it clear there would be no going back.

"The best team won on the day but I'm finished," said the man who between two terms in charge led Derry to an All-Ireland title and two National Leagues. "That's my last fling and nothing will change my mind. I gave it my best shot. I'm not bitter at being beaten."

Then Coleman vented his emotion on those who forced him to watch yesterday's affair from the stand. Banned for comments made before Derry's semi-final, he wasn't able to exert his usual sideline influence. He made it clear what that meant to him.

"I'm bitter at how you get treated in GAA circles by people who never played football but sit up and lay down the law. Never played the game and know nothing about it as far as I'm concerned."

But how much did his absence count towards Derry's defeat? "I don't know. Them smart men in Croke Park that never played football makes the rules. You can write that. They can't suspend me anymore."

For Armagh, the honour of becoming the only football side to retain a provincial title this season adds more flavour to what was a perfect afternoon. Brian Canavan, speaking on behalf of himself and co-manager Brian McAlinden, wasn't bothered by the margin - 1-12 to 1-11 - only the nature of their victory.

"A lot of people thought this team couldn't win back-to-back Ulster titles but there was a refreshing spirit about Armagh today. They put the Diarmuid Marsden injury behind them and it was an all-round superb team performance.

"We didn't panic once they got the goal and that's what I liked about it. I think last year stood us in great stead. We slowed the game down for a couple of minutes and we knew the chances would come. We preached to the boys that the chances will come if you're within a point at the end."

Canavan also had particular words of praise for Ger Reid, Armagh's full back who went into this match with a trail of question marks behind him. Yet he was the man who helped cage Derry's most threatening full forward, Enda Muldoon. "I thought he was brilliant. For the amount of criticism the man has taken, particularly in the southern press, it was an unbelievable performance. Enda Muldoon's a quality player and it took a quality player to mark him."

And what now for Diarmuid Marsden, would he be fit for the All-Ireland semifinal? "Would he get his place?" laughs Canavan.

So Ger Reid, the maligned full back, is allowed to wallow in the humour of it all: "It was the same story last year so it doesn't really bother me. Critics, you'll get them everywhere. I think every team in Ireland has a bad full back line because that's where the scores come from, the full forwards."

The result was decided by Oisin McConville's 67th-minute free. Five minutes before that, Derry had clawed themselves back to level terms with a thundering goal from Johnny McBride, and even though they had failed to fire in a number of key sectors, they were then poised to force the outcome onto the finishing line.

Yet with three opportunities to equalise - the most significant being Tohill's - there is no denying Armagh's right to celebrate. From the start, Derry had struggled to contain Armagh's policy of revolving forwards in a pattern that was most effectively demonstrated with Steven McDonnell's 14th-minute goal. That overturned Derry's early lead so that they trailed 0-4 to 1-2.

Down in Limerick, most of the Clare supporters were hushing their way out of the Gaelic Grounds with some 10 minutes remaining in the Munster football final. A few of them may have glanced back over their shoulders to see Kerry's John Crowley score their third goal and extend the lead to 16 points.

It finished 3-15 to 0-8 and Kerry now meet Armagh in the first All-Ireland semi-final on August 20th. The problem for manager Paidi O Se, however, is that Clare failed to provide a significant test of character which may have thrown a little more light on exactly what his team are capable of.

The pairing for the Leinster final has also been finalised after Kildare swept past Offaly in Croke Park, 0-17 to 2-8, to earn a crack at Dublin. It might have been more interesting had Offaly managed to build on the goals of Colm Quinn and Ciaran McManus. Instead they fell into a remarkable, 32-minute scoring drought. But it still casts an ominous shadow over Kildare.

"It took an almighty effort from our players," said their never-ending manager Mick O'Dwyer, "but I mean Kildare have been threatening to play like this for many a long day and they did it today so we'd just be hoping that they continue to play like that in the months ahead."