Northern lights shine bright

Armagh 2-17 Laois 1-11: For a one-sided, poorly attended Bank of Ireland All-Ireland quarter-final there was plenty of significance in Saturday afternoon at Croke Park.

Primarily there was a noticeable gathering of the storm clouds that appear to presage a third meeting between Ulster finalists Armagh and Tyrone.

Just as Tyrone learned vital lessons that will be expected to give them the edge when facing Dublin in next weekend's quarter-final replay, so Armagh also went up the gears against an outclassed Laois team.

Most ominous for the team's two possible remaining opponents, there was evidence that Armagh's attack is back in business. Steven McDonnell finished the National League in a blaze of sharp shooting that made him the game's form forward. In the couple of weeks it took to get to the championship opener against Fermanagh that stardust had dulled and the Killeavy man endured a frustrating Ulster championship.

Mind you, everything is relative. Carelessly gifted the chances to spike Tyrone's progress in the two provincial final matches, McDonnell's trigger finger didn't tremble and his confidence was wondrously untouched by the difficult spell.

Even on Saturday, before he rediscovered his A game and was burdened with match stats of two frustrating wides and no score, the corner forward was buzzing around the attack demanding the ball, eager for responsibility, his self-assurance bullet proof.

During McDonnell's initial down period Ronan Clarke had stepped in to become Armagh's best attacker until a knock against Donegal appeared to snag his momentum.

But Clarke was also back on top at the weekend and in the early, difficult stages he was destroying Darren Rooney with an exhibition of full-forward play that few established full backs could have coped with.

Clarke's three points were complemented by a lovely assist for the goal in first-half injury-time that simultaneously announced the end of McDonnell's lean spell and the match as a contest.

This was a fine performance by the Ulster champions. For all the criticism of their undoubted negative capabilities, Joe Kernan's team are also capable of playing great, traditional football.

The Ulster championship doesn't always encourage the emergence of this sweeping football and it is surely significant that Saturday was Armagh's first crack at non-Ulster opposition since playing Laois at the same stage two years ago - another open, relatively uninhibited encounter.

Kernan decided not to risk Kieran McGeeney, the team's dominant personality and captain, who was recovering from a hamstring pull. In his place Aidan O'Rourke had a great game, recovering from Laois's early assaults to command the centre and feed his forwards with some excellent long ball.

In the end there must have been a sense that the fates, which had sprung Paul McGrane from suspension and jerked McGeeney's hamstring, had done Armagh a favour given the lack of cover at centrefield and the abundance of it at half back.

All of these hosannas looked fairly remote though in the first quarter. Laois brought a game plan to Croke Park that sought to emulate Fermanagh's coup a year previously. For a while it worked.

At kick-outs Laois contracted the whole field into an almost linear formation down the middle and broke off at speed to initiate movement with variety and pace.

For all that, Noel Garvan had a disappointing hour - which is as much as Mick O'Dwyer gave him - and was overshadowed by his partner Pádraig Clancy.

Clancy and the irrepressible Ross Munnelly - and perhaps Billy Sheehan who ended up with three points - were the only Laois players to survive on Armagh's level and between them they had a hand in all but one of the team's opening six-point salvo, which at 0-6 to 0-3 represented the high-water mark of the midlanders' challenge.

Laois would go over 20 minutes without adding to that score and by the time they did the match was over.

Yet by the 16th minute it looked as if O'Dwyer's team had the chance of opening up a daunting gap on the Ulster champions. As if sensing the enormity of the opportunity, they balked. In the 10 minutes that followed a succession of scoring positions were frittered away and Armagh must have known they were in business.

The three-point deficit was looking increasingly good value as Laois wasted scoring chances, including the possible goals that would have really put it up to Armagh. As the unease spread the Leinster side began to lose focus and distribution suffered to the extent that even the opportunities dried up and possession was tamely turned over.

In that flaky zone Armagh sensed weakness and closed the half with an unanswered 1-5. The goal put the tin hat on it - Clarke rising to beat Joe Higgins with a perfect flick to send in McDonnell. To amplify the organ music in Laois's heads Brian "Beano" McDonald missed a kickable free just before the whistle.

Laois had the glimpse of a lifeline in the 41st minute when replacement Chris Conway shouldered Paul Hearty over his goal line but referee John Geaney, in a borderline call, disallowed it.

Hearty, however, paid back any indulgence 10 minutes later by letting a harmless shot trickle through his legs after a feisty run at the Armagh defence by Munnelly, who had an absorbing contest with Andy Mallon, had set up Barry Brennan.

It was, however, blotting paper in a flood. In the end Laois did well to avoid double-digit defeat and, for the first time in a while, Kernan was able to run down his bench in the closing minutes with the job well and truly done.

ARMAGH: 1. P Hearty; 7. C McKeever, 3. F Bellew, 4. E McNulty; 5. A Kernan (0-2, frees), 27. A O'Rourke, 2. A Mallon; 8. P Loughran, 9. P McGrane (0-1); 10. M O'Rourke (0-2), 11. J McEntee (0-1), 12. O McConville (1-3, 0-2); 13. S McDonnell (1-5, 0-1 free), 14. R Clarke (0-3), 15. B Mallon. Subs: 23. T McEntee for J McEntee (53 mins), 18. S Kernan for B Mallon (64 mins), 23. K McElvanna for A O'Rourke (64 mins), 20. A McCann for A Kernan (65 mins), 26. M Mackin for M O'Rourke (68 mins). Yellow cards: C McKeever (15 mins), E McNulty (38 mins, first half), A Mallon (36 mins), F Bellew (40 mins), P McGrane (59 mins).

LAOIS: 1. F Byron; 2. A Fennelly, 3. D Rooney, 4. J Higgins; 5. C Begley, 6. T Kelly, 7. P McMahon; 8. P Clancy (0-1), 9. N Garvan; 10. R Munnelly (0-4, three frees), 11. B Brennan (1-1), 12. B Sheehan (0-3); 13. D Brennan, 14. S Kelly (0-1), 15. B McDonald. Subs: 22. C Conway (0-1) for S Kelly (half-time), 23. G Kavanagh for McDonald (half-time), 24. K Fitzpatrick for D Brennan (51 mins), 24. M Dunne for Garvan (61 mins). Yellow cards: D Rooney (30 mins), D Brennan (38, first half), A Fennelly (69 mins).

Referee: J Geaney (Cork).

Attendance: 32,187.