Ulster SFC Quarter-final/Donegal 1-9 Armagh 1-8: In the end, it was as though God Himself had, in sympathy, taken an unseen swipe at the football to deflect it into the Armagh net.
Since 1993, when Donegal were All-Ireland champions and John Duffy kicked a wonder point to earn his team a replay, which was comfortably won, Armagh have taken possession of Donegal. They have beaten Donegal narrowly, they have torn them asunder in Croke Park, they have toyed with them and on other days they have beaten them with almost unconscious ease, as though losing never occurred to them.
It got so they didn't just beat Donegal. Armagh colonised their minds. And yesterday in Ballybofey, after the attractive National League win and rampaging spring form, it looked as though nothing had changed until Brendan Devenney scored a goal from some 40 metres out.
It took that kind of weird, providential moment to free Donegal of this Armagh spell. It took a moment of blinding good luck, in other words.
This was not a miserly game of football in many respects, but as always with these two counties, every single exchange seemed to reverberate with menace and significance.
Donegal have been a useful tool for Armagh to sharpen their championship approach and mindset and Joe Kernan's men showed enough here in Mac Cumhaill Park to prove they are far from a spent force. But neither are they quite the remorseless and beautiful machine of a couple of years ago.
Famed for their mental toughness, Armagh have now lost nail-biting, last-minute championship matches against Tyrone, Fermanagh and Donegal.
They boxed tough and they boxed pretty at times here yesterday, but ultimately they failed to close out an Ulster championship match they dominated.
Spent and delighted as they must have been when they got to the dressingroom, many Donegal campaigners can point to days when they played much better football against Armagh and lost.
This match was the crucial break all young teams on the rise need. Donegal replaced Devenney just before throw-in yesterday and also restored Brian Roper, the key man in their winter campaign, to the starting fifteen. And though they stood up to Armagh physically and though they were mentally up for the match, they looked, after an hour, addled and distracted, and Armagh set about going to work.
Wing back Paddy McGonigley was brilliant all afternoon. Karl Lacey deepened his resume with a fine hour on Steven McDonnell and big Paul Durcan made some crucial plays for Donegal. But as a team, they were dismantled by Armagh.
One moment illuminated that. In the taut, ferocious early exchanges, the Armagh enforcer Martin O'Rourke shoved the Donegal manager, an act of provocation the referee, John Bannon, chose to view leniently. But early in the second half, O'Rourke serenely ignored several burly shoulders and challenges from Donegal defenders as he set about taking a sideline ball.
By then, Armagh had settled after a creating a perfect goal, McDonnell finding Paddy McKeever with a killer pass and then McConville, that ageless fox, perfectly placed to fire home after Durcan made a brilliant parry.
A few moments later, Kieran McGeeney sauntered into a clearing to land a left-footed point.
Armagh were on song, and once they knew they had distracted Donegal, they began to play their football.
It should have been enough, and when Stevie McDonnell took a lovely ball from the novice Brendan Donaghy and flashed a classy point, Armagh were 1-8 to 0-7 up with 57 minutes gone. It was like those terrible moments when Sonny Liston stared down poor Floyd Patterson and went in for the kill.
Except something happened. Armagh did not - or could not - push on. They set about trying to survive on street smarts and reputation.
This was a match that proved fouling still pays in Gaelic football and both teams fouled with impunity. But Armagh hauled down the breaking Donegal wing backs to kill the game and the goal lead began to look like a chasm.
Donegal kept on plugging, however, operating on blind instinct and perhaps desperation. Had they lost here, it is hard to see how they would have recovered. Adrian Sweeney had the composure to land a terrific point. Big Colm McFadden landed a monster free. But as the game entered its last five minutes, it was hard to imagine a rousing finale. Then came the absolute shock of Devenney's falling comet. Suddenly, Armagh had to do the chasing and Donegal merrily hauled them to the ground as time ran out.
Donegal should get stronger now. There were glimpses of beauty in their play - Christy Toye's first-half point, a late fetch by Neil Gallagher, the jinking athleticism of Kieran Bonner.
But in exiting Ulster, Armagh, the enigmatic champions of this local theatre, look set to become one of the chief fascinations of this year's All-Ireland. They are not quite as indestructible as before but, freed from the local history of Ulster, they have the stuff to muster another defiant campaign. It will take a fast, fearless and mentally tough team to put them out of this championship. Armagh will return. Whether they can ever again manage to hold such power over Donegal is a different matter.
DONEGAL: P Durcan; N McGee, P Campbell, K Lacey; P McGonigley (0-1), B Monaghan, B Dunnion; N Gallagher, K Cassidy; C Bonner, M Hegarty, C Toye (0-1); C McFadden (0-6 frees), R Kavanagh, B Roper. Subs: A Sweeney (0-1) for B Roper (51 mins), B Devenney (1-0) for M Hegarty (52 mins), K McMenamin for K Bonner (66 mins).
ARMAGH: P Hearty; E McNulty, B Donaghy, A Mallon; A Kernan (0-1), K McGeeney (0-1), C McKeever; K Toner, P McGrane; P McKeever, S Kernan (0-1), M O'Rourke; S McDonnell (0-1), D Marsden (0-2), O McConville (1-2). Subs: M Mackin for M O'Rourke (59 mins), J Lavery for P McKeever (70 mins).
YELLOW CARDS: Donegal: K Cassidy (6 mins), R Kavanagh (25 mins), B Roper (48 mins), P McGonigley (65 mins), N McGee (67 mins), K McMenamin (70 mins), N Gallagher (73 mins). Armagh: M O'Rourke (6 mins), P McGrane (52 mins), B Donaghy (67 mins).
Referee: J Bannon (Longford).
Attendance: 19,780.
