ULSTER SFC QUARTER-FINAL Tyrone 2-10 Armagh1-10: THE ALL-IRELAND champions started their campaign by freeing themselves from their traditional adversaries – for the time being at any rate.
As they gathered around the kiosks for water at half-time yesterday, fans on both sides agreed this tussle was not like the old days. But if it did lack the heavyweight feel of a few years ago, Armagh responded to the bleak position of an eight-point deficit in the second half to make Tyrone earn their safe passage through.
The one-goal difference between the teams was just about fair, although this was a very controlled performance by Tyrone and never once did they look troubled.
Still, they found new ways to demonstrate their versatility here. In the first half, for instance, when Stephen O’Neill was slow to find his range from distance, big Joe McMahon volunteered himself to kick a 50 and duly banged it over.
And just after half-time, with Armagh in dire need of affirmative action, Conor Gormley ghosted behind their full-back line and rattled home a goal with the casual authority of a marquee forward.
But Tyrone seem more deeply wedded than ever to their “play anywhere” philosophy – the long, deceptive ball in came from Owen Mulligan and O’Neill, having obviously sighted a white jersey sprinting past him, allowed the ball to run over his head. Even he may have been surprised by Gormley’s exuberant finish.
That left Tyrone ahead by eight points with 30 minutes left. Armagh have made this stadium their own on so many afternoons but with the team shorn of so many big names and their loyal following gone quiet, there must have been a private fear they were in for a long close.
Instead, it was Tyrone who lost hold of the game, going 19 minutes without a score and suddenly finding themselves thrown into what Seán Cavanagh later termed “the real white heat” with 10 minutes to go.
Armagh’s comeback was part doggedness, part good football and it hinged on a wonderfully-taken goal from Ronan Clarke, who took a long, accurate pass from Martin O’Rourke and shook off the frantic attentions of Gormley to finish superbly.
An Aaron Kernan free was immediately followed by a snappy point from play by Brian Mallon, who was on song all day and, at the perfect time in the match, Armagh had found voice.
For Mickey Harte, it made for an interesting last 10 minutes. Better to learn something from the match than to coast through. In seven minutes, they responded with three points without reply.
Almost inevitably, the middle of these was a cloudbusting (had there been clouds, that is) effort from Brian Dooher, just on the field for the first time in months.
That was followed by a trademark score from Stephen O’Neill, who took a pass from Joe McMahon, bought space with a solo and then delivered an effortless-looking point with the outside of his left boot.
It was enough to take the sting out of the game and although Armagh were chasing a goal through injury-time, they were facing a team who have mastered their own art of calmly and gently closing the day out.
Tyrone only touched on fifth gear here. They started slowly and registered eight first-half wides which they would land on other days. They also relaxed after Gormley’s goal and needed that wonder score from Dooher to restore their equilibrium. Yet they had some fine individual performances.
Justin McMahon had a full-blooded battle with Martin O’Rourke and still found time to carry untold ball forward for Tyrone and worked manically – in particular, winning a ball to which he had no right and setting up Seán Cavanagh for a point just before half-time.
Ryan McMenamin put in a solid afternoon shadowing Steven McDonnell, and Davy Harte and Philip Jordan are more like advance scouts than footballers, always breaking ahead, exploiting gaps and rarely taking the wrong option.
Elsewhere, Stephen O’Neill gave sufficient assurance that his immense powers remain intact. He had plenty to do for his goal but the ease with which he took it was vintage O’Neill; a feint and a low, clean finish and from the moment he grabbed Harte’s scuffed pass, the only issue seemed to be how he would choose to score it.
So Armagh, the Ulster champions, bow out of the province. No team could ship the loss of the senior men that have retired from the Orchard County over the last season or two so but there were encouraging signs here.
They were in contention at the end on a day when the Clarke-McDonnell axis was well contained. They have some fine athletes in James Lavery, fullback Brendan Donaghy and Dromintee’s Barry Shannon, who had a solid afternoon.
Kevin O’Rourke had a bright opening 15 minutes and Brian Mallon converted every chance that came his way.
But it will take time for this generation of Armagh players to leave their stamp on the game. A tough draw in the qualifier could mean a terribly brief summer. But nobody in Tyrone will be that surprised if they meet the blazing orange further down the road.
TYRONE: J Devine; PJ Quinn, C Gormley (1-0), R McMenamin; D Harte, J McMahon, P Jordan; K Hughes, E McGinley; M Penrose, T McGuigan (0-2, frees), J McMahon (0-1, free); S O'Neill (1-3, two frees), S Cavanagh (0-2), O Mulligan (0-1). Subs: B Dooher (0-1)for T McGuigan (52 mins), C Cavanagh for M Penrose (54 mins), S O'Neill for Justin McMahon (60 mins), N Gormley for Joe McMahon (67 mins), R Mulgrew for K Hughes (67 mins).
ARMAGH: P Hearty; A Mallon, B Donaghy, B Shannon; F Moriarty, C McKeever, A Kernan (0-3 frees); K Toner, J Lavery (0-1); P Duffy, M O'Rourke, B Mallon (0-3); S McDonnell (0-3, two frees), R Clarke (1-0), K O'Rourke. Subs: S Kernan for P Duffy (44 mins), T Kernan for K O'Rourke, S Forker for A O'Rourke (both 64 mins).
YELLOW CARDS: Tyrone– Gormley (50, 69); Armagh– F Moriarty (10), B Shannon (35), T Kernan (71)
Referee: P McEnaney(Monaghan).
