IN THE deep of winter, Peter McDonnell and Malachy O'Rourke may get to sit down and have a brew and a talk about what has been a packed summer for both of them. Yesterday, the old college pals again pulled the strings from the sidelines and when it was over, McDonnell had guided Armagh to a senior title in his first season and O'Rourke was ruing what might have been.

They shook hands and had time to exchange a few brief words and then were pulled away by the television men and the public. What McDonnell has done should not be underestimated. The general predication was it would take Joe Kernan's successor a few years to rebuild a team and it was also felt the brightest of the Orange years had passed. And yet they are Ulster champions again and enter the last eight of the All-Ireland as an intriguing proposition.

The days between the replay and this victory gave Armagh time to take stock and as McDonnell evaluated this win, he pinpointed the cut and thrust of loose-ball win as the biggest difference.

"Where we lost last week, I suppose, was in an area that asks questions about masculinity. And that is breaking ball. And it was a big insult to our footballers last week that we were prepared to concede so much of it. And that is what we tackled and dealt with and that gave us the platform to go ahead and win this game.

"We were poor last week. We did the simple things well this week. [Winning this] means everything to all of us. Winning any provincial crown is a hell of an achievement . . . The boys looked at themselves very closely and reflected. And they answered their critics - which were many - this week."

At half-time, Armagh had managed just four points and it looked as though the Fermanagh backs had worked out how to snuff out the threat of Steven McDonnell and Ronan Clarke, forcing both men into uncharacteristic wides. Peter McDonnell admits that poor total was a worry.

"Yes. I am sure it was a source of concern for Fermanagh as well. This is a final, nobody wanted to lose it. It wasn't as if we didn't want to score. I suppose there was nerves. But I am making no apology for that.

"We came here to win a game. We won a game. Full stop."

Down the hall, O'Rourke agreed it had been a tough game to watch from the sidelines. At the break, he may have been the happier manager but his team simply couldn't replicate last week's second-half showing.

"Armagh have a great record in replays but we didn't pay much remarks on that. We felt we had a great chance and we are bitterly disappointed. It is going to be hard to pick the players up again but knowing those lads: any time we have had a setback we have responded well. We knew that if we got the chances, we had to try and put them away. In the first half, we missed them. You have to legislate for the tension out there - I think we had nine wides.

"But at half-time, we felt we were in a good position, we finished strongly last week. We maybe lost our way a wee bit and in fairness, when Armagh got the chances, they did take them."

The injury to Barry Owens proved it was a day that gave Fermanagh no luck.

"It was a big blow. I think there was a point in it. And it is very disappointing for Barry too, he has been through a lot. And just when he was seeing light at the end of the tunnel, to get an injury like that is very tough. Our thoughts are with him."

Long after the final whistle, Ronan Clarke came wandering down the corridor still in his playing gear. "Me and Stevie were happy," he said when asked about his experiences up front.

"We got ball, scored a few and laid it off to bring other boys into the game. Just doing stuff to make us a better outfit."