Armagh's nerve holds firm

Armagh 1-16 Sligo 0-17
When the clock finally ran down on Sligo's courageous summer, their reflections were tinged with regret. Armagh won by two points and head for the next grand day out - an All-Ireland semi-final with Dublin - but defeat for Sligo came with a hint of self-destruction.

In Navan yesterday there was plenty to suggest Armagh were deserved winners; their midfield caught the tightest grip on the game and their forwards flowed more fluently. Yet when Sligo looked deep into their hearts and again drew up their fighting spirit, a victory was certainly within their grasp. A more experienced and confident team may well have grabbed it.

Instead, when Sligo got themselves back into contention, the opportunities were allowed to slip away. The fire-cracking start to the second half that saw Armagh poach a goal - from Ronan Clarke - and two points in a matter of minutes proved the great decider, only because Sligo's famed response never kicked in like it had against Tyrone and the same opposition two weeks ago.

It was five minutes into the second half, when Armagh were up 1-12 to 0-8, that Sligo first drew deep into their reserves. Three unforgivable wides in succession left them with nothing, and only the pointed free of Gerry McGowan came as consolation. Later on, when Eamonn O'Hara and John McParland inspired another hold on possession and the score was reduced to three - 1-15 to 0-15 - once again the grip was loosened. Oisín McConville, the most potent scorer on the field, landed another free and Armagh's nerves were let rest a little.

And finally, when in added time O'Hara and Dessie Sloyan had brought Sligo back to within two points, their greatest chance at glory beckoned. Seán Davey was in front of goal with the ball in his hands, and though the Armagh men were onto him like a swarm of bees, he fell to the ground and a penalty was on the minds of everyone.

But not on the mind of referee Seamus McCormack. Benny Tierney came out with the ball and slipped it on to Kieran McGeeney and with that Sligo's day was over. A short while later the whistle blew.

Afterwards Sligo manager Peter Forde wasn't hiding the regret. "We just conceded too many scores in the first half," he said. "And when you concede 1-16 overall you will always struggle. In the first half, though, too many of their forwards had our backs under pressure, and we were finding it hard at midfield as well.

"And giving away 1-2 straight at the start of the second half didn't help either, but the lads battled great and got themselves back in touch. We had our chances too but just hit too many bad wides, bad wides that wouldn't normally have. And we didn't defend well enough at times."

With Armagh's Paul McGrane lording midfield, much of the attack was one-way traffic and Steven McDonnell and Barry O'Hagan (a late replacement for Paddy McKeever) both licked up the advantage.

"Armagh certainly played exceptionally well in the first half, and got that blistering start to the second half, and that was the big difference," added Forde. "But once again there was nothing between the two teams. Two points separate us over two matches. That's the big disappointment."

Forde wasn't about to dwell on the controversial penalty incident. It was the failure to convert their scoring chances that ultimately proved fatal. Dara McGarty never got his radar within range, and for all Kieran Quinn's tireless work too much possession were squandered.

Further back there were problems too. Nigel Clancy was eventually replaced at centre back as was Paul Durcan at midfield, as Sligo failed to gel tight enough to crack open the Armagh team. Defensively Armagh were still the model team, and with McConville and Clarke sharpening up significantly in the second half their scoring options never looked like drying up.

Manager Joe Kernan, however, singled McGrane out for great praise. "I don't know how many clean balls he caught but I thought he was tremendous. It was very unusual for one man to catch so much clean ball the way Paul did."

Throughout the field Kernan also felt his team had the greater steel than Sligo. "Well it was a gutsy display," he said, "but it had to be gutsy. Sligo just wouldn't throw the towel in so we just had to keep upping the ante the whole time.

Watching in the stands yesterday was Dublin manager Tommy Lyons, though Kernan too had got his preview of what is to come by attending Croke Park on Saturday: "Well of course Dublin looked brilliant. I thought they'd improved an awful lot from their drawn game. In fairness I felt Donegal could have done a little better, but you have to give full credit to Dublin."

Though Armagh yesterday lacked much of the verve that marked Dublin's victory, Kernan looked forward to a new day out: "Well we do have a hill to climb. On this performance you'd probably think, no, we couldn't beat Dublin, but we're going back to Croke Park to give it everything we have."

HOW THEY LINED OUT

ARMAGH: 1 B Tierney; 2 E McNulty, 3 J McNulty, 4 F Bellow; 5 A O'Rourke, 6 K McGeeney, 7 A McCann; 8 J Toal, 9 P McGrane; 12 O McConville, 11 J McEntee, 14 R Clarke; 13 S McDonnell, 20 B O'Hagan, 15 D Marsden. Subs: J Donaldson for McCann (27 minutes), C O'Rourke for O'Hagan (50 mins), P Loughran for McEntee (64 mins), T McEntee for Toal (69 mins). Booked: B O'Hagan (28 mins), J McEntee (34 mins), J Donaldson (42 mins), A O'Rourke (55 mins), K McGeeney (70 mins).

SLIGO: 1 J Curran; 4 B Philips, 6 N Clancy, 3 N Carew; 2 P Naughton, N McGuire, 7 P Doohan; 8 P Durcan, 9 E O'Hara; 10 K Quinn, 12 J McPartland, 14 D McCarty; 13 D Sloyan, 11 S Davey, 15 G McGowan. Subs: M Langan for Carew (38 mins), M McNamara for Durcan (52 mins), K O'Neill for Clancy (56 mins). Booked: E O'Hara (34 mins), P Naughton (60 mins), M MacNamara (68 mins).