McDonnell gives Armagh the edge

ULSTER SFC FIRST ROUND Armagh 1-10 Derry 1-7:BACK IN the dark 1980s somebody christened the attritional Ulster championship the pullers and draggers day out.

Things have improved quality-wise since then, but, in terms of a spectacle, yesterday in Celtic Park was a throwback.

Armagh came, saw and conquered, registering a mildly surprising first round win against a Derry side whose flatness and lack of invention betrayed the promise of their richly talented full-forward line.

The two Bradley boys and Mark Lynch are players which any county would covet. Apart from odd little flashes yesterday, they went unnoticed on the field.

Armagh didn’t scintillate, but you come to Derry in May for the win – not to provide a spectacle.

For a period late in the dour, free-ridden first half it looked as if they were about to go under as Lynch suddenly became the most influential figure on the field.

Stevie McDonnell carried Armagh on his shoulders to the break. Paddy O’Rourke shifted his soldiers around at half-time. All was good.

The sides had traded punches for the first 20 minutes or so or, more precisely, they had traded frees. After a bright start when Armagh spurned a goal chance which fell to Brian Mallon, referee Maurice Deegan took a strict position on the new hand-pass rule amongst other things.

This may have been necessary and wise, but it left us with a very staccato game to endure.

The little ray of light that we craved came 10 minutes from the interval when Derry did what we imagined they would be doing all afternoon.

They cut straight through the centre of the Armagh defence moving the ball from Lynch to Fergal Doherty to Paddy Bradley who dived to fist home to the roar of the crowd.

It was a goal which came at the wrong time, however. Armagh still had enough minutes left on the clock to make a stand and they did just that with three points from talismanic forward McDonnell.

Two of his scores were wondrous, the other a routine bit of free-taking. The overall effect was dragging a dog by the scruff of the neck. Armagh came around.

If they are to gain momentum and go on a run through Ulster, McDonnell will be central to every plan. On his blow he is the country’s best forward.

The sides were level at half time with Derry having a right to the lion’s share of regrets. If Armagh looked more muscular, Derry looked quicker – an advantage they failed to exploit apart from their goal. Derry had enjoyed marginally more possession and the better chances plus the benefit of a decent wind. Yet, the game still hung there for the taking.

Armagh grabbed it in a manner befitting men of orchards. Charlie Vernon, who had been delegated away from the midfield post which his shirt number was made for, had been tailing Mark Lynch through the first half, a job which was becoming increasingly thankless as Lynch’s confidence grew.

Now Vernon moved to midfield where his sense of adventure was immediately evident. Within two minutes of the restart he had embarked on a solo run holding off at least two challengers as he bore down on goal. He ended the journey with a fine point.

Minutes later, Ryan Henderson made a fine catch and turned for another point. Armagh were two ahead. There was an ocean of time left, but Derry looked oddly fatalistic about the entire business.

It all ended around midway through the half. Eoin Bradley, on a yellow already, delivered a high tackle on Aaron Kernan and got shown a second yellow and thus a red. Losing a man, a Bradley at that, looked like a bad blow, but worse was to come.

Stevie McDonnell had taken to falling back scavenging near his own half, a rare sight.

He won possession and launched a perfect pass, the ball floating over the Derry defence into the hands of young sub Jamie Clarke, not long out of his teens and getting his first real touch in championship football. He took possession, turned and slipped the ball to the Derry net. The quicksilver work of a natural forward.

From there on there was little to be writing home about.

The first championship penalty under the new rules was taken from 11 metres by Derry’s Gerard O’Kane. History, however, fell to the keeper, Armagh’s Paul Hearty, who with what felt like depressive inevitability, saved the kick.

For the 10,242 people in attendance it was time to make a rush to beat the traffic and mull over the consequences.

For Derry and Armagh, those consequences are as follows.

Derry dawdle now until the play-offs in six or seven weeks. The Ulster semi-finals will miss their presence for the first time in five years.

Armagh cruise on, mindful of the need to improve. They face a tough outing against neighbours Monaghan in Casement Park in three weeks’ time.

ARMAGH: P Hearty; A Mallon, K Toner, B Donaghy; P Duffy, C McKeever, F Moriarty; C Vernon (0-1), J Lavery , M Mackin, A Kernan (0-3, frees), G Swift, B Mallon, S McDonnell (0-5, four frees), R Henderson (0-1) Subs: V Martin for Lavery (35 mins), J Clarke (1-0)for Henderson (51 mins), Dyas for Swift (54 mins), M McNamee for M Mackin (68).

DERRY: B Gillis; B Óg McAlary, K McGuckian, D McBride; G O Kane (capt), B McGuigan, M Bateson; F Doherty, Patsy Bradley; Sean Leo McGoldrick, M Lynch (0-4, three frees), D Mullan; Paddy Bradley (1-2, frees), Eoin Bradley (0-1), Raymond Wilkinson. Subs: B McGoldrick for McGuigan (25 mins), James Kielt for Wilkinson (52 mins), M Craig for Bateson (56), J Diver For Doherty (62 mins), E Muldoon for SL McGoldrick (68).

Referee: M Deegan(Laois).