Ford points to positive policy

Sligo manager Peter Ford reflected on the remarkable ability and character of his team to recover against seemingly impossible odds, writes Pat Roche

"Most teams would have been dead and buried out there today. We have been making big recoveries for a few games. We're never gone. It's great for our players and our supporters. It's no fluke. We have done it a few times. Our policy is to keep playing away and we got away with a draw today."

Ford added: "Fair play to the full squad. We tried to play for 70 minutes but didn't manage it today mainly because of our faults in the first half. I was disappointed with the first-half display but I was delighted and not surprised with the way they got back into it.

"The attitude is right throughout the squad although all this late rallying is not good for the heart.

Ford felt that a goal chance was on after Dara McGarty intercepted Justin McNulty's attempted clearance late in the game. "But," he added, "I commend the wing forward for taking the point to square the match. He took the wisest option."

"With 10 minutes or so to go I was thinking of a draw and would have taken it at that stage," said Armagh goalkeeper Brendan Tiernan. "We didn't perform well as a team today and hopefully we will have learned from the experience."

Sligo captain Eamonn O'Hara was understandably upbeat afterwards.

"It was a great achievement by the lads to get back into the match. We had studied Armagh's form and we know a lot more about them now, especially their brand of football.

They got in for two goals, two great goals in their view. In our view they were goals that we will be looking at and will try to find the real cause for how they happened."

O'Hara added: "I thought we fought well and we can all be pleased with the second-half display. Early on we were hitting a lot of aimless ball at the Armagh posts and were not getting the breaks.

"In the second half things began to fall into place for us. We were getting a fair deal of the breaking ball and launched confident waves of attacks. In the end we got the scores that mattered and hope to go one better the next day.

"We learned a lot from the Tyrone game but for a lot of the time today we were not playing well. Armagh were right on top of us in the first half and for some of the second.

"They hit us hard and we spilt a lot of ball. Armagh were quick to take advantage of the situation."

O'Hara continued: "The Tyrone game did us a lot of good. We have more confidence in what we are about as a result and have fallen into the good habit of paying no heed to whatever the arrears may be; we fight to the last ball.

"Armagh lost their shape from midway through the second half and we seemed to be coming in waves at them." said the Sligo captain.