Ulster SFC Semi-final/ Armagh 0-16 Fermanagh 1-8: There is a sense of inevitability about Gaelic football replays. The original favourites are virtually guaranteed a victory.
Tyrone on Saturday followed by Joe Kernan's Armagh before an attendance of 24,215 at Clones yesterday are the prime examples. Afterwards Kernan was happy to hear that the final against Donegal will be played in Croke Park on July 9th.
Ulster officials huddled together immediately after the match and made the wise move to fix the final for Croke Park. It will be an opportunity for Armagh to win their third successive Ulster title at the Dublin venue.
"We were played off the pitch for the second half," said Fermanagh manager Charlie Mulgrew. Mulgrew put little significance on the fact that his team had Armagh at full stretch in the first half: "The first half in any of these matches is little more than a phoney war. We didn't shape up to what was needed at this level in the second half. We didn't gain any kind of midfield possession in the vital central position and if you cannot gain some sort of control in that sector you are not going to be in the game with a reasonable chance."
In fairness to Fermanagh, they were dealt a cruel blow in the opening few minutes when their talented midfielder Liam McBarron, a man capable of gaining that sort of control, went over on a knee Michael Owen-style, and had to be stretchered off.
McBarron's withdrawal cleared the way for Kieran McGeaney and Paul McGrane to find life much easier. Towards the end Fermanagh's wing half back Shane McDermott was given his marching orders by Tipperary referee Paul Russell.
Charlie Mulgrew reacted strongly to the referee's decision and had much to say against what he thought were some poor decisions by the Tipperary official: "The referee gave us no breaks in the second half."
Mulgrew insisted that when McDermott was sent off his opposite number should have gone as well. "They were both at it at the time" he said.
Armagh went in at the break with a precarious one-point advantage, 0-7 to 0-6. The champions traipsed off to their interval dressing-rooms looking a bit like a tightrope walker without a safety net.
Fermanagh unquestionably put it up to Kernan's men in that opening half. They cheekily brushed aside a 0-1 to 0-4 deficit to take a two-point lead by the 27th minute. Tom Brewster's free-taking and exceptional points by Mark Little and Eamonn Maguire put Fermanagh on what looked like a match-winning roll.
These excellent Fermanagh players were very much to the fore at this stage. But just like the manner in which Armagh responded to a shock second-half goal by Ciarán O'Reilly, the champions delighted their supporters with an instant recovery.
"It's the great character of this team to respond to difficult situations that pleases me most about them," said Kernan. "How do you imagine the way I felt when that goal went in."
O'Reilly's goal, not surprisingly set up by Little, brought the sides level 14 minutes into the second half, 0-9 to 1-6.
The character manager Kernan spoke so proudly of came centre-stage immediately. Points flowed from the boots of Oisín McConville, Stephen McDonnell, Aaron Kernan, Ronan Clarke and substitute Martin O'Rourke.
Add to this a top-drawer save by Armagh goalkeeper Paul Hearty and the answer as to how Armagh won this match is easily defined.
Kernan picked out Ronan Clarke as one of his best players in the post-match analysis. When quizzed to explain the way his team was all but overrun during Fermanagh's first half dominance, Kernan said: "This is what happens in most games. You simply cannot dominate for 70-plus minutes. There are bound to be dips in your performance."
ARMAGH: P Hearty, A Mallon, F Bellew, A McNulty, A Kernan, K McKeever (0-1), P Duffy, P McGrane, K McGeaney, P McKeever (0-3, 2 frees), S Kernan, M Macken (0-1), S McDonnell (0-1), R Clarke (0-3), O McConville (0-5, 3 frees). Subs: M O'Rourke (0-1) for S Kernan; T McEntee (0-1) for P McKeever; A O'Rourke for F Bellew.
FERMANAGH: C Breen, R McCluskey, B Owens, S Goan, P Sherry, H Brady, S McDermott, L McBarron, M Murphy, M Little (0-3), T Brewster (0-2, frees), E Maguire (0-1), C Bradley, S Doherty, C O'Reilly (1-1). Subs: J Sherry (0-1) for McBarron; J McGurn for O'Reilly; R Keenan for Bradley; R Johnston for P Sherry.
Referee: P Russell (Tipperary).
