Armagh 3-15
London 3-14

Armagh claimed the Nicky Rackard Cup with a one point win over London in a Croke Park thriller.

The sides exchanged scores early on as they went point for point before Paul Breen grabbed Armagh's first major after he was the first to react when a Paul McCormack penalty was saved.

That score helped the Orchard into a four point lead which soon was extended when the Ulster men grabbed goal number two as Ryan Gaffney brilliantly pulled on a long ball through to finish to the net.

London were rocking at that point but two quick fire goals had the Exiles right back in contention as David Maher and Martin Finn finished in style just before the interval as the sides went in deadlocked at 2-7 apiece.

From being seven points down, London soon took the lead after the restart when Maher was on hand to bag goal number three for the Londoners. But Armagh were resolute and as the scores kept coming thick and fast they responded with their own third goal from ace Breen.

A flurry of scores had Armagh in the driving seat but London refused to lie down and Richard O'Connell hit a hat trick of points as they came to level the contest, with extra time looking a possibility.

Then up popped Breen to bring his tally to 2-4 and condemn London to their second consecutive final defeat in the competition.

Armagh - J Burke, B Mallon 0-1, P McArdle, P Gaffney, B McCormack, E McDonnell, N Curry, F McMullan, B Breen 0-1, R Gaffney 1-2, J Corvan 0-2, K McKernan, P McCormack 0-3, G Enright, P Breen 2-4. Subs - C Carragher 0-1 for McArdle, M Lennon 0-1 for McKernan.

London - JJ Burke, C Burke, M Ryan, E Phelan, M Fitzsimmons, C Forde, K Kennedy, N Forde, J Reddan, M Mythen 0-2, R O'Connell 0-3, A Fitzgerald 0-1, D Maher 2-2, M Finn 1-6, T Toomey. Subs - N Coady for Phelan, B Forde for C Burke, P Stephenson for Forde, F Tierney for Fitzsimmons, K Walsh for Reddan.

Ref - D Magee. Tweet

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