NFL Division One B/ Galway 0-10 Armagh 0-8: Galway failed to score in the opening half at Pearse Stadium but still had the composure to come back in the second half and carve out their first win of the league season.
Peter Ford's team looked dead and buried when they trailed by 0-6 to 0-0 at the break. They regrouped and displayed commendable courage and conviction to claw their way back and end a three-match losing run which reached its nadir last week with the loss to Sligo IT in the Connacht League final.
"It would have been soul-destroying not to have got something out this game given the amount of effort and work put it," said Ford afterwards. "We showed great passion and great courage in the second half, but we needed to because we had none of that in the first half."
Armagh manager Joe Kernan was far from pleased as his side slipped to their second defeat in three outings.
"We worked hard in the first half but we are not happy with the way we played in the second half. It just was not good enough. I hate losing any match, anywhere, but when it came to lads needing to stand up and counted, not enough did," said Kernan.
It took Armagh 10 minutes to get off the mark when Paul Keenan pointed, but by then they should have conceded a goal but corner back Finian Moriarty blocked a Derek Savage effort on the line after three minutes.
Steven McDonnell landed a '45 and a free to extend Armagh's lead and both Gareth Swift and Charlie Vernon found the range as Galway faded.
But it was a different story in the second half. The introduction of Niall Coleman gave Galway a ball-winning presence going forward, while Pádraic Joyce, back for his first game since last year's championship, turned the game on its head.
The former All Star pointed within a minute of the restart and then landed a superb effort from play from over 50 yards out to reduce the deficit to four points.
Peadar Toal settled Armagh with a pointed free from 30 metres after 44 minutes, but Joyce responded with a free from the same distance .
His cousin Nicky Joyce then took over, pointing a free from the left from 40 metres before then landing one from play from almost the same position after 48 minutes.
Armagh struggled to get back into contention and the margin was reduced to the minimum after 50 minutes when Joe Bergin kicked an excellent point.
But just when it seemed Galway were about to hit the front, Armagh responded with Vernon kicking his second point of the match to put Armagh 0-8 to 0-6 in front with 10 minutes remaining.
Galway finished strongly. Pádraic Joyce reduced the deficit to a point with a free from 40 yards with six minutes left and then Bergin raced through to level the match two minutes later.
Joyce saw a free from the right a minute from time hit the right post and go wide but he still had the confidence and composure a minute later to shoot Galway in front with a point from 25 yards.
Cormac Bane then kicked over a point game deep into stoppage time to seal an unlikely win and give Ford's men a needed boost.
GALWAY: P Doherty; A Burke, F Hanley, D Burke; N Coyne, D Blake, M Comer; B Cullinane, J Bergin (0-2); D Savage, J Fallon, S Armstrong; C Bane (0-1), P Joyce (0-5, three frees), N Joyce (0-2, one free). Subs: N Coleman for Armstrong (34 mins); F Burke for Savage (46 mins).
ARMAGH: C McKinney; F Moriarty, E McNulty, A Mallon; P McCreesh, C McKeever, T McClelland; G Swift (0-1), C Vernon (0-2); P Toal (0-1, free), J Laverty, Martin O'Rourke; S McDonnell (0-2, one free, one 45), P Keenan (0-1), Michael O'Rourke (0-1). Subs: P McKeever for Michael O'Rourke (34 mins); P McGrane for Swift (42 mins); S Forker for Keenan (64 mins); K Toner for Toal (69 mins).
Referee: F Flynn(Leitrim).
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