National Football League Division One B/ Kildare 0-12 Armagh 0-10: It's still not that long since most managers would come on mildly schizophrenic about the league, heaping praise on it out one side of their mouth while sniggering at it out the other. People like Joe Kernan helped change all that. Big Joe just doesn't like to lose, whether it's the first round of the league or the last match of the summer.
Yesterday his slightly weakened Armagh team were slowly worn down by a determined, hard-working Kildare, who impressed even Kernan in the way they closed out the game as the stronger team. There was little to separate them over the previous hour, but by outscoring the reigning league champions 0-4 to 0-1 in the last 15 minutes Kildare deserved to win.
Yet this wasn't the result Armagh expected. Although they also lost their opening league match, to Wexford, last year before building ruthlessly toward their first league title, Kernan had a worried look about him. He knows it's going to be hard now to repeat last year's run.
"It would be great if it were that simple," said Kernan, who was surprisingly critical of his own team. "We're very disappointed. Without taking anything away from Kildare, it wasn't good to see them pulling away from us in the last 15 minutes.
"We can make excuses and talk about the players missing, but I believe the players out there were good enough to win that match, and they didn't do it.
"So a lot of the boys will have to look at themselves and wonder did they stamp their authority to take a place on this team. I think there will be question marks over a few of the boys.
"But look, hurt can be a good thing. We've been hurt before like this, and the whole year is not going to hinge on one day. But we are still very disappointed.
"That was a game we could and should have won. We had the chances but gave the ball away too many times. In fairness Kildare caught us on the break a few times, but we didn't step on the pedal when we needed to.
"That's our problem, so we've plenty to work on at training this week."
Kildare will return to training with an extra bounce in their step, with two of the more valuable league points already in the bag. They're at home to Down next week and if they build on this result it can be a productive spring.
It wasn't the perfect display, with a few poor wides thrown in, but their attitude can't be faulted.
John Doyle ran tirelessly from the gun and picked up 0-7, four from placed balls. Pádraig Brennan is fast regaining his form at corner forward, while the newcomers Adrian Kelly and David Jordan displayed their scoring touch.
A vintage performance from Dermot Earley at midfield was perhaps the true platform for Kildare's victory. With his series of injuries behind him he resembled the player of old, collecting buckets of ball around the midfield area and chipping over two points. He dominated Kieran McGeeney, who didn't look comfortable in his new position and after a half hour reverted to centre back to cover for the injured Andy Mallon.
Behind him Glenn Ryan didn't do too badly either, proving again there can be life in old GAA legs.
Earley's reaction to the victory summed up the effort of Kildare, who travelled to Crossmaglen hungry for the win.
"That means an awful lot, winning up in Crossmaglen, against the league champions," said Earley. "We said we'd try hard to get a positive start, because we wanted those two points . . . we worked hard for each other, and just really wanted to win."
Space and possession were always hard to come by, but Kildare enjoyed the greater share early on, Doyle's opening frees putting them 0-2 to 0-1 ahead.
Armagh's best move of the half, finished by new full forward Gareth Swift, gave them their first advantage, and they moved two points clear approaching the half hour. But the sides were level twice more before the break - which arrived at 0-6 apiece.
Things swung back and forth. Doyle and McDonnell exchanged frees, before Paddy McKeever made good impact as a substitute. McDonnell edged Armagh ahead 0-9 to 0-8. Yet against all recent trends Kildare finished stronger, with Doyle and Earley scoring freely from play, before Brennan added the security point.
"We've been doing a lot of road running," added Earley, in explanation of the stamina-fuelled finish. "Our fitness is quite good, so we were able to hold up that intensity . . . It's not championship, but we were the stronger team for the last 15 minutes. The most important thing is to build on this."
KILDARE: E Murphy; A McLoughlin, K O'Neill, J Lonergan; A Rainbow, G Ryan, D Lyons; D Earley (0-2), M Foley; D Jordan (0-1), D McCormack, J Doyle (0-7, four frees); P Brennan (0-1, a free), A Kelly (0-1), E Callaghan. Subs: P Mullarkey for Rainbow (49 mins), T Fennin for Callaghan (58 mins), K Brennan for Foley (67 mins), H Lynch for Jordan (70 mins).
ARMAGH: C McKinney; P Duffy, E McNulty, C Vernon; JP Donnelly, C McKeever, A Mallon; J McEntee (0-1), K McGeeney; P Keenan, S Kernan, T McEntee; S McDonnell (0-6, all frees), G Swift (0-1), L O'Hare. Subs: P Loughran for Mallon (31 mins, inj), P Toal for O'Hare (43 mins), P McKeever (0-2, one free).
Referee: M Duffy (Sligo).
