Finlay forces a replay

Football round-up : Paul Finlay earned Monaghan another crack at Armagh with an injury-time free at Clones this afternoon

Football round-up: Paul Finlay earned Monaghan another crack at Armagh with an injury-time free at Clones this afternoon. The match finished with both sides level on 0-10 apiece.

Monaghan, who were expected to follow neighbours Cavan into the qualifiers, made light of their underdogs status, building a 0-4 to 0-1 lead in the opening quarter.

But Armagh, marshalled by the effervescent Steven McDonell, fought their way back into the contest and with points from Oisin McConville and Ronan Clarke giving them a 0-5 to 0-4 lead at the break.

Armagh built a four-point lead of their own in the second half but Monaghan refused to lie down, chipping away at that advantage before Finlay was afforded the opportunity to force a replay with virtually the last kick of the game.

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The sides will meet again in Clones next Saturday afternoon.

Elsewhere, Meath opened their Leinster campaign with a 1-15 to 0-10 win over Louth at Croke Park.

Louth had threatened an upset and led by four at the interval but were unable to hit the target once in the entire second-half as Meath set up a quarter-final meeting with Wexford at the end of the month.

Offaly also progressed to the last eight, a 0-15 to 0-11 win over Westmeath enough to book them a clash against Kildare.