Michael Murphy’s return to the Donegal jersey was inspirational as Armagh were edged out in horrendous conditions at Ballybofey, 1-9 to 0-11.

A huge roar was carried on the strong wind across MacCumhail Park when 2012 All-Ireland winning captain entered the fray approaching the half-hour mark for his first appearance of the year; another massive cheer went up when the Glenswilly magician expertly dispatched the ball to the Armagh net on the stroke of half time, giving his side a 1-4 to 0-6 interval lead after Niall Grimley’s brace (one from a free, the other a stunning sideline...) and a point from Stefan Campbell (cancelling out a Niall O’Donnell effort) had given the Orchard a two-point cushion.

Jamie Clarke and Rian O’Neill struck first for the visitors but back came the Ulster champions with three Michael Langan frees, Campbell then making it 0-3 each. In between Langan’s second and third points of the night, midway through the first half, both teams were reduced to 14 men as straight red cards were shown to Donegal’s Jason McGee and Armagh’s James Morgan.

Ciaran Thompson notched the first point of the second half but Kieran McGeeney’s men remained very much in contention after Grimley cancelled out a Langan free to leave it 1-6 to 0-8 at the three-quarters stage.

Man of the Match Murphy’s brace made it 1-9 to 0-8 and Armagh rallied with two points from O’Neill before substitute Ethan Rafferty drilled a close-range free over the bar in the fifth minute of injury time as the late smash and grab came up short and Declan Bonner's charges returned to winning ways after shipping back-to-back defeats.

Donegal - S Patton; S McMenamin, B McCole, C Ward; R McHugh, L McLoone, E Ban Gallagher; H McFadden, C McGonagle; C Thompson (0-1f), J McGee, M Langan (0-5f); J Brennan, O Gallen, N O’Donnell (0-1). Subs: M Murphy (1-2) for O Gallen, E McHugh for C Thompson, P Brennan for S McMenamin.

Armagh - B Hughes; J Morgan, A McKay, R McShane; C Mackin, G McCabe, P Hughes; S Sheridan, N Grimley (0-3f); J Hall, R Grugan, C Vernon; S Campbell (0-2), R O’Neill (0-4, 1f), J Clarke (0-1). Subs: R Kennedy for R McShane, E Rafferty (0-1) for S Campbell, J Og Burns for C Vernon, M Shields for J Hall, J McElroy for C Mackin.

Referee - M McNally.

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