Armagh 2-14
Donegal 0-11

Armagh's five-star performance this afternoon in Crossmaglen was more than enough to send a poor Donegal side crashing out of this year's All-Ireland SFC.

Paddy O'Rourke's team dominated from start to finish with Jamie Clarke's early brace of goal knocking the stuffing out of Donegal, who never really got into this game, and as a result Armagh emerged nine-point winners to book their place into the second round of the qualifiers.

Armagh couldn't have asked for a better start to this encounter as the lethal Jamie Clarke, who filled the boots of his namesake Ronan with a Man of the Match performance, was fed inside in the first real attack and the corner-forward turned Paddy McGrath with ease to shoot for goal and buried the rebound low for three early points for the hosts.

Charlie Vernon boomed over a huge point on five minutes to extent the lead to four and lift Orchard spirits further, before Michael Murphy announced his arrival in the game for Donegal with a simple free.

However, Clare struck again for the Orchard County after some woeful defending from Donegal allowed a long ball into the square from Steven McDonnell reach the Crossmaglen ace, who slid the ball in low for his second goal in five minutes.
The result of which saw his marker McGrath withdrawn and replaced by Eoin Wade after just 11 minutes of play.

Murphy pulled back a sorely needed score for Donegal with his first from play, but brilliant overs from Clarke and Gareth Swift put the scores at 2-3 to 0-2.

Armagh stuck to the plan and ripped through the heart of Donegal again through Vernon, who picked himself up from a hefty shoulder challenge to release substitute Joe Feeney to raise a white flag.

Aaron Kernan got in on the act for Armagh moments later and shot over from the wing after latching on to a breaking ball.

Down the other end, Murphy was doing his best by winning a free to convert himself for Donegal's third, but he couldn't put up the fight all by himself, as Armagh had a player equal in class in Clarke, who brought his tally up to 2-2 in the 37th minute.

In the fifth minute of injury-time Colm McFadden curled over Donegal's second from play to close the half at 2-6 to 0-4.

John Joe Doherty's men looked to open with some intent immediately after the restart and started well with Murphy's third accurate free, but after that Armagh hit a purple patch which would all but kill off their opponents.

Steven McDonnell's first score of the day was made look easy by the Keady ace after he was slipped through in space that once again badly exposed the visitors' defence.

McDonnell doubled his tally from a free after the next attack and a brace of points from the impressive Gareth Swift saw O'Rourke's charges storm into an unassailable 11-point lead.

Even with half-an-hour remaining, the game looked to be up for Donegal as it was difficult to see where their answers to Armagh's question were going to come from.

A Murphy free was quickly cancelled out by a similar effort from Aaron Kernan - a man that was at the heart of everything good about the hosts' terrific play.

Donegal were presented with a rare sight at goal with 15 minutes to go, but the chance was blasted over by substitute Adrian Hanlon and soon rectified by Armagh when McDonnell swung over a sweet point from the left.

A Murphy free and a point from his Glenswilly club-mate cut the deficit, but once again it was only momentarily as Vernon powered through, dropped possession and was allowed to retrieve by two Donegal defenders and assist Feeney for a second time.

A over from debutant Mark McHugh was about the only thing the travelling support could cheer about and by the time Eamonn McGee picked up his second yellow card with five minutes to go they were on the route home.

Murphy - a one-man show for Donegal up front - brought his personal tally to 0-7 in the closing stages, but there was still enough time for Swift to make a superb fetch from the kick-out and feed Aaron Kernan up the middle to seal the nine-point win.

Armagh - P Hearty, A Mallon, B Donaghy, V Martin, P Duffy, C McKeever, K Dyas, C Vernon (0-1), M Mackin, A Duffy, A Kernan (0-3, 1f), F Hanratty, G Swift (0-3), S McDonnell (0-3, 1f), J Clarke (2-2). Subs - J Feeney (0-2) for A Duffy, P McKeown for Mallon, T Kernan for Hanratty.

Donegal - P Durcan, P McGrath, N McGee, K Lacey, M Maguire, B Dunnion, F McGlynn, N Gallagher (0-1), K Cassidy, M McHugh (0-1), R Kavanagh, D Walsh, C McFadden (0-1), M Murphy (0-7, 4f), C Dunne. Subs - E Wade for McGrath, E McGee for Maguire, C Toye for Dunne, A Hanlon (0-1) for McFadden.

Ref - M Duffy (Sligo). Tweet

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