Armagh are not finished at all yet

Armagh made a solid breakthrough back into the big-time in this year's All-Ireland championship following their comfortable victory over Monaghan in Clones on Saturday evening last.

Armagh were by far the superior side, they looked stronger in every sector and when they upped the tempo in a particularly impressive third-quarter Monaghan simply had no answer.

Goals win championships and Armagh's two strikes on the Monaghan citadel were key scores, the first by John Toal after only three minutes getting them off to the perfect start and the second by Stephen McDonnell in the 13th minute of the second half effectively sealing victory for them.

Monaghan by contrast were again in wasteful mood just as they had been the previous Sunday against Cavan in the Ulster semi-final and while Armagh did the waste some chances themselves, particularly in the first half when they hit seven wides, their profligacy was not as costly as they were able to capitalise better on opportunities that came their way.

Armagh led at half-time by 1-4 to 0-3 and while both sides should have had more scores on the board at that stage Monaghan had greater cause to rue a series of missed chances that saw them hit nine wides in the first half.

On the resumption Armagh extended their lead to six points within eight minutes of the restart with scores from Martin O'Rourke and an Oisin McConville free and effectively sealed victory with an increasingly dominant third-quarter performance.

The vital score came in the 13th minute when Stephen MacDonnell finished off a lightning counter-attack to the Monaghan net for a score that joint team manager Brian Canavan felt "sealed the match for us at that stage.

"It could have gone either way after a first half that had seen us miss a lot of chances but we played very well in the third quarter and the goal came at just the right time."

Armagh suffered a setback in the 24th minute of the second half with the dismissal of midfielder Tony McEntee for a second bookable offence and this led to an unsettled final 10 or 12 minutes

The game also marked the return to action of Armagh's Diarmuid Marsden and Cathal O'Rourke with both being introduced as second-half substitutes.