Rian O’Neill achieves Armagh lift-off to leave Donegal for dust

Armagh 3-17 Donegal 0-16

For a while in the first half, this All-Ireland qualifier in Clones looked like it would be competitive. Armagh had squandered the benefit of a lively opening goal while Donegal calmly chipped away at them with points and by the 21st minute led by four, 0-9 to 1-2.

All the ghosts of the past decade’s unprofitable dealings with Donegal were re-materialising, the most recent a mere seven weeks previously – the latest in a run stretching back through 12 years of championship.

What happened though was an emphatic exorcism. From then on, Armagh outscored their opponents 2-15 to 0-7, meaning that for the seventh time, manager Kieran McGeeney has taken a team through the now defunct qualifiers and into the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

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Donegal were unwilling collaborators in the transformation, coughing up two turnovers on Shaun Patton’s kick-outs. In the 27th minute, it ended in Stefan Campbell’s shot being cleared off the line by Caolan Ward – the converted 45 cheap at the price.

From the resulting kick-out, Patton somehow decided to go short again. This time, luck didn’t intervene and Aidan Nugent ended up one-on-one with the Donegal goalkeeper, who panicked and brought him down. A black card led to the temporary introduction of deputy goalkeeper Michael Lynch for the duration of the sin bin. Somewhat debatably, corner forward Patrick McBrearty was sacrificed.

Rian O’Neill drilled home the penalty, past Caolan McGonigle press ganged into service. It was the centrepiece score in a devastating 1-6 without reply that took them from four behind to five ahead.

In a commanding performance. O’Neill was an uncontentious man-of-the-match, by turns creator – for two of the goals – and scorer, ending up with 1-7, including four quality points from play. O’Neill has struggled a little in the championship to find his best form but it was on display on Sunday in Clones.

Leading by four at half-time, 2-8 to 0-10, Armagh held the whip hand and they mercilessly lashed Donegal with it in the second half.

Watching the pace and penetration of the team, Jarlath Óg Burns for example getting up from wing back for three points and the bewildering patterns and runs conjured by O’Neill and Stefan Campbell, it was a jolt to remember how in the first quarter they had looked out of answers, as Donegal tightened the squeeze on their opponents’ at times aimless looking attacks.

For a while it looked as if Donegal had remedied the failings that lost them the Ulster final. The ultra-cautious minding of possession at the end of that match was replaced by a brisker template.

Michael Murphy was positioned on the edge of the square to optimise his menace and their play was more urgent, generating scoring attempts every two minutes for the first half and crisply finishing six points in the opening 12 minutes.

So what happened? Coach, Kieran Donaghy identified the stirrings of the revival.

“We got a few vital turnovers, I felt our half backs starting coming on to the ball really well, Greg McCabe and Jarly Óg and Rian started getting on ball and pulling strings. And we got a bit of a press up on a few of their kick-outs after frees, and we got a few turnovers, we should have got two goals off it, got one.”

Whereas Armagh were running out of options in the first quarter, the Donegal defensive screen went up in smoke as soon as the match turned. The collective scars of the Ulster final evidently took a toll. Murphy didn’t ignite at full forward and was hounded by Aidan Forker and the attacks petered out into endless recycling of the ball.

At the start of the second half, Donegal needed to reassert themselves and quickly. Instead Burns nailed the opening score of the half. It was the start of an unaltered trend – five unanswered points in the third quarter, sending Donegal’s chances spinning into oblivion.

Even their mini-revival was squashed. The movement of Armagh’s forwards was unstoppable. Jason Duffy’s livewire contributions energised the collective and O’Neill’s class delivered a clever hand pass to send Ben Creally steaming through the middle. He popped it to centrefield partner, Stephen Sheridan, who deftly sidestepped Patton to score the third goal.

Shane O’Donnell rallied the cause and finished with 0-4 from play but it was all done but for the adornments. Conor Turbitt notched a tasty brace of points off the bench and Armagh were already looking forward to a first Croke Park quarter-final in five years.

Donegal face into an uncomfortable inquest. The team has gone backwards incrementally since the Ulster titles of 2018 and ‘19 and although manager Declan Bonner has a year left on his appointment, it looks like the end of an era.

ARMAGH: 1 E Rafferty; 2 J Morgan, 3 A Forker, 4 C O’Neill; 5 A McKay, 6 G McCabe, 7 J Óg Burns (0-3); 8 S Sheridan (1-0), 9 B Crealey; 10 R Grugan (1-3, one free), 11 S Campbell (0-1), 24 A Murnin; 13 A Nugent, 14 R O’Neill (1-7, 1-0 pen, two frees, one 45), 15 J Duffy (0-1).

Subs: 22 C Tubritt (0-2) for Murnin (57 mins), 12 J Hall for Sheridan (64), 17 M Shields for Nugent (66), 19 C Higgins for Duffy (70), 25 J Kieran for O’Neill (73).

DONEGAL: 1 S Patton; 2 C Ward, 3 B McCole, 6 EB Gallagher; 5 R McHugh (0-1), 8 C McGonagle, 7 O McFadden Ferry; 9 J McGee (0-1), 12 M Langan; 10 C Thompson (0-1), 17 P Mogan, 24 A Doherty (0-1); 13 P McBrearty (0-1), 14 M Murphy (0-6, five frees), 15 S O’Donnell (0-4).

Subs: 16 M Lynch for McBrearty (29 mins), 13 P McBrearty for Lynch (h-t), 25 J Brennan for Thompson (46), 19 C O’Donnell for Ward (58), 11 N O’Donnell (0-1) for Langan, 22 J McKelvey for McHugh (both 64).

Referee: B Cawley (Kildare).