Armagh 0-21 Galway 1-12

Armagh sealed their place in Division Two for next year producing a stirring finish to ward off Galway's late challenge at the Athletic Grounds yesterday.

It was sweet redemption for the Orchard County who had flirted with relegation for the greater part of the competition and it was hardly surprising that relief was manager Paul Grimley’s overriding emotion at the finish.

“I thought the team had a performance like this in them and they certainly came good on this occasion. We played some great football and now that we are staying in Division Two we have the incentive to go and show our true worth in the Ulster Championship. That will be the real test for us but we are in a better frame of mind for it now,” he said.

Armagh dominated the first-half taking their inspiration from Stephen Harold, Kevin Dyas and Aaron Kernan and with 25 minutes gone were in cruise control at 0-8 to 0-2, the Galway defence erring on the side of generosity to an alarming extent.

But the Tribesmen suddenly exploded into action in the 28th minute when Jason Doherty fired home a superb goal and when Michael Meehan and Sean Armstrong cut loose up front parity of esteem was restored at 1-7 to 0-10.

However, Armagh, with Harold a major influence at midfield and Dyas a creative force as well as a clinical finisher, seized the initiative again.

It was the influential Dyas who triggered their surge down the home straight with a brace of points before Kernan and substitutes Seán Clarke and Brian Mallon joined him in a late scoring burst