Armagh 0-17 Cavan 0-13 By Shane Corrigan Armagh booked their place in the last four of the Ulster SFC on Sunday evening when they overcame Cavan's challenge by four points in Kingspan Breffni Park. It was Cavan who took the lead after three minutes through Martin Reilly when the half-forward was put through by Jason O'Reilly for a point. The visitors sent three chances the wrong side of the post before Stephen Kernan got them on level terms after picking Michael McDonald's pocket to race forward and raise a white flag. Paul McGrane and Cian Mackey traded points on the quarter hour mark to keep things on an even scale. Armagh then began to boss the Breffni men with scores from Stephen Kernan, Aaron Kernan and Ronan Clarke to establish a three-point advantage. Cavan boss Donal Keogan took action by introducing Lorcan Mulvey to the centre of the field and points from captain Mark McKeever and Sean Johnston (free) either side of the switch looked to signal their intent. However the Orchard County came to life in the last ten minutes of the half with a well executed '45 from Steven McDonnell followed by Paddy McKeever firing over. Mackey pointed his second in the meantime for the hosts but a brace of points from McDonnell ensured Armagh would go in at the interval with a four-point advantage. Dermot McCabe attempted to set the tone for Cavan in the second-half with a point 40 seconds after the restart. Moments after, the game's first clear goal chance saw Ronan Clarke denied by James Reilly, with a pointed free from McDonnell the eventual outcome. McDonnell followed up with a white flag to push Armagh's lead to five before Stephen Kernan had hit the post for the visitors. Cavan came back with three points from Sean Johnston, two frees and a dazzling run from the Breffni marksman in the space of three minutes cut the deficit to two. Peter McDonnell's side responded with Charlie Vernon and Stephen Kernan both firing over, but the game could well have been done and dusted on 51 minutes when McDonnell rounded his marker for goal but was denied by James Reilly who made himself big once again. Ronan Clarke and Kieran Toner combined for a score each shortly after to bring back a five-point gap, but two more from Johnston still had Cavan in the hunt in the last five minutes of the game. The Orchard men held firm in the closing stages though with Paul McGrane continuing his outstanding contribution at the centre of the field right until the end. The victors registered their last score three minutes from time with McGrane and Aidan O'Rourke combining to feed an inviting ball to McDonnell who lashed over his sixth point of the day to assure Armagh of a provincial semi-final date with Down on June 29. Armagh - P. Hearty; A. Mallon, F. Bellew, F. Moriarity; C. Vernon (0-1), A. O'Rourke, C. McKeever; P. McGrane (0-1), K. Toner (0-1); A. Kernan (0-2) (1f), S. Kernan (0-3), M. O'Rourke; S. McDonnell (0-6) (45, 1f), R. Clarke (0-2), P. McKeever (0-1). Subs - T. Kernan for S. Kernan (67), B. Mallon for M. O'Rourke (69). Cavan - J. Reilly; M. Hannon, R. Dunne, P. O'Reilly; B. Watters, A. Forde, M. Cahill; M. McDonald, M. McKeever (0-1); M. Reilly (0-1), R. Flanagan , C. Mackey (0-2); S. Johnston (0-6) (3f), D. McCabe (0-3) (1f), J. O'Reilly. Subs - L. Mulvey for McDonald (22), S. Brady for J. O'Reilly (35), E. O'Reilly for M. Reilly (42), M. McDonald for Mulvey (43), D. Sheridan for Dunne (55). Referee: D. Coldrick (Meath) Tweet

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