Armagh 0-14 Roscommon 0-9 Salad days in Crossmaglen. In these days of fresh spring showers, the market town feels like the centre of the football universe. Armagh have the silver and the form and can do no wrong.
Earnest and optimistic, Roscommon visited the home of the All-Ireland champions and found they could do nothing to alter Armagh's unimpeachable run through the league.
Winning can be a hard habit to break. This was hardly a polished hour of football from Joe Kernan's men but it was, importantly, always utterly enough. They were uncompromising in their control of the narrative.
"We are happy enough," allowed Big Joe before strolling down the road to his house for dinner and the Sunday papers.
"Four wins out of four, it's a position we never expected to be in. And we are introducing one or two lads and they are doing very well for us. We would hope to rest a few more lads now over the next few games. There is still a long way to go, you know."
Armagh are at that enviable yet equally dangerous stage in the life span of a championship force where the rest expect them to win. On a day when only the McEntee boys found their range from open play, the Ulster team found a way to get it done.
Paddy McKeever wrapped five frees from the right wing, Oisín McConville floated as many from the opposite wing. Aidan O'Rourke was masterful at the heart of the orange defence and young Andy Mallon, alarmingly slight looking, gave a classy and intelligent account of himself at corner back. Paul McGrane was Paul McGrane; February Sundays or All-Ireland finals seem to alter the Ballyhegan man's iron-minded serenity not a bit.
Even without seven of the September boys, it was a tough unit for Roscommon to break down. Yet their manager Tom Carr could afford to leave mid-Ulster in reasonably satisfied mood. Although they peppered the statistics sheet with frees conceded, they were never seriously prised open by the Armagh attack.
David Casey's dominance at full back was such they liberated him to try to design a late drive from farther upfield. And before Frankie Dolan's 49th-minute walk to the showers for smiting Francie Bellew, there was a promisingly jagged edge to the Ros attack at times. After a gorgeous 17th-minute point by Nigel Dineen, they were up 0-5 to 0-2 and the home fans, accustomed to seeing their guests thrown to the wolves from the first whistle, were getting restless.
"Then we had a free in front of goal that we took short and that was crucial - we could have been four points up and in the driving seat," remembered Carr.
"Instead they tacked over a couple of quick points. But this is a tough place to come and the sending-off was a killer. Overall, it wasn't a bad performance."
And it wasn't, even if at half-time there was the abiding sense that the 0-7 to 0-6 scoreline would not to live up to its promise as a thriller.
So it went. Tony McEntee banged over a distance point after the break and McKeever added a free.
John McEntee then sent his county on the way with two of his trademark high, dissecting kicks from half a mile out that were always going over the bar. There are times when the Cross forward seems to embody all that is best about Armagh football, with his honest, uncomplicated athleticism and his application of economy and skill. He is rarely showy but always in control and pops up for quietly devastating scores.
One passage, midway through the first half, illustrated why Armagh are so tough to handle just now. Working the ball up the left wing, the champions ran up several culs-de-sac as Morgan Beirne, Grehan and Gary Cox led a Roscommon raiding party running their hearts out. Armagh could - and should - have lost the ball but their knowledge of each other was total as they wove an intricate path to safety through Kieran Hughes and Steven McDonnell before John McEntee toiled for a free.
McConville, as ever, floated it over. It was a small but significant moment and gave Armagh a lead they would not surrender.
Life has been going like clockwork for Armagh for quite some time now. And they are entitled to enjoy the relaxing Sunday football games that have presented themselves to date.
For as Joe Kernan well knows, the gods have ways of working mischief. Armagh, incidentally, visit Peter Canavan and Tyrone next weekend.
ARMAGH: P Hearty; A Mallon, J McNulty, F Bellew; K Hughes, A O'Rourke, P McCormack; P McGrane, P Loughran; P McKeever (0-5, fress), J McEntee (0-3), O McConville (0-5, frees); S McDonnell, M O'Rourke, T McEntee (0-1). Subs: E McNulty for J McNulty (28 mins); D Marsden for S McDonnell (56 mins); P Duffy for P McGrane (57 mins), K McElvanna for F Bellew (65 mins).
ROSCOMMON: S Curran; J Whyte, D Casey, Ray Cox; B Higgins, F Grehan, M Beirne; K Mannion, S O'Neill; G Cox (0-3, 1 f), Ronan Cox (0-1, f), S Lohan (0-1); N Dineen (0-2, 1 f), G Lohan, F Dolan (0-2). Subs: G Dunning for G Lohan (28 mins), J Kybcg for R Cox (44 mins); C Connelly for S Lohan (50 mins), I Daly for O'Neill (54 mins), R O'Connell for Dunning (66 mins).
Referee: M Monaghan (Kildare).
