No cold comfort for Lyons

Dublin 0-7 Armagh 1-15On what must have been a chilly afternoon for Tommy Lyons, figuratively as well as literally, his under-strength Dublin team was taken apart by the All-Ireland champions at Croke Park yesterday. Although it took Armagh a while to get started, once they found their rhythm their superior forwards and physical strength brushed aside the challenge of the Leinster champions.

At the launch of the Allianz National Football League last week Lyons defended the importance of the competition by stating he never sent teams out to lose. If he changes his mind at any stage in future he'll have this performance to guide him.

He acknowledged his players had become dispirited when early chances were not taken but it was a sluggish display by Dublin and whether calculated for effect, the manager began making ominous noises about the side having "over-performed last year".

He is of course well aware February is a bit early for wake-up calls and that by the heat of mid-summer few will remember this fixture for anything except its record attendance for a divisional match, 54,432.

If he were in any doubt his opposite number Joe Kernan would have reassured him. The Armagh manager allowed that his team had played with great confidence, adding that an All-Ireland win was likely to have had such an effect, but was cautious about the long-term significance of big wins on February 2nd.

On a cold, cold afternoon the large crowd gathered Dublin-fashion - that is the majority piling in at the last minute. It must be frustrating for the GAA on the biggest opening weekend the league has had that the two feature matches, this and Saturday's floodlit match in Cork, should have turned out to be such one-way affairs.

You wouldn't have guessed this from the first 25 minutes when Dublin looked the sprightlier team. John McNally scored within 30 seconds and they moved the ball well to create good scoring chances that weren't taken.

Spared by these errors, Armagh's defence tightened up and the supply of opportunity dried up. Dublin will have mixed feelings about the attacking performance. The team was missing its two strike forwards, the suspended Ray Cosgrove and Alan Brogan, who was withdrawn before the throw-in to allow him more time to recover from a pre-Christmas operation.

Of the newcomers brought in Tomás Quinn did best. Although marksmanship - particularly in his speciality, dead-ball situations - let him down he dug in, made himself available for ball and created some decent openings for himself.

Otherwise it was a struggle. Eoin Bennis came in for Brogan but couldn't make an impact and went off at the break. The highly-regarded Brian Cullen got onto a good share of ball but couldn't make the best of it. Colin Moran continues to be at odds with his game and all in all, Lyons and his selectors have plenty to do in the weeks ahead.

Armagh just muscled their way into proceedings. Their strength could be seen in the challenges that frequently caused Dublin to lose possession and Kernan afterwards said he was happy with the amount of possession his team had regained after losing it initially.

Centrefield was moving in Armagh's direction and the impulse to experiment with Ciarán Whelan and in turn Darren Magee at full forward didn't help Dublin - in either respect.

Defensively there was some comfort in that David Henry played well at left-corner back and Paddy Christie battled under pressure. But in the tight margins of error Armagh helped themselves.

The match turned in a few minutes at the end of the first half. After 25 minutes having led and been pulled back to 0-1 and 0-2 apiece Dublin saw the initiative slip. Paul McGrane, Steven McDonnell and Oisín McConville, twice, reeled off four points between them in as many minutes.

Armagh's sharpness and superior finishing in those minutes opened up the four-point interval gap, 0-7 to 0-3, and there was a sense Dublin had shot their bolt. At least it was difficult to see where four unanswered points or a goal might come from and it could have been worse.

In the seconds before the break Barry Duffy - a late call-up for the injured John Toal - had been presented with a straightforward goal chance by McDonnell's skilful unstitching of the cover. But his palmed attempt rolled wide of the goal.

The match was signed off in the minutes just after the break. Firstly Diarmuid Marsden carefully guided over two points to stretch the lead. Then McDonnell appeared to have rattled off a loose shot but instead it toppled down on top of the goalmouth for Duffy to redeem his first-half miss by fisting into the net.

Nine points adrift five minutes into the second half, the match had lost meaning for Dublin. They plugged away without picking up the momentum.

As well as being overpowered, they lacked the strength to kick to length and many shots dropped into Paul Hearty's waiting hands in the Armagh goal.

Of what remained, Francie Bellew's foul on Magee might have got him a red rather than yellow card in the 63rd minute.

The inhumane decision to play three - ultimately five - minutes injury-time as temperatures plummeted had just one consequence. McDonnell had to be helped off with an injury.

"He seemed to go over on his ankle," said Kernan afterwards, "but we don't know for sure what it is yet."

About the day's only imponderable for the Armagh manager.

ARMAGH: P Hearty; E McNulty, J McNulty, F Bellew; A O'Rourke (0-1), K McGeeney, A McCann; T McEntee, P McGrane (0-2); B Duffy (1-0), J McEntee, O McConville (0-5, one free); P McKeever (0-1), S McDonnell (0-3), D Marsden (0-3). Subs: K Hughes for O'Rourke 57 mins, P Duffy for B Duffy 65 mins, M O'Rourke for McKeever 67 mins, D Turley for J McEntee 69 mins, P McCormack for McDonnell 73 mins.

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; B Cahill, P Christie, D Henry; C Goggins, S Ryan, P Andrews; C Whelan, D Magee; C Moran (0-1), B Cullen (0-1), S Connell; E Bennis, J McNally (0-2), T Quinn (0-3, one 45). Subs: D O'Mahony for Bennis half-time, D Homan for Connell 41 mins, P Casey for Andrews 45 mins, J Sherlock for Moran 51 mins.

Referee: J Bannon (Longford).