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Picture Courtesy Niall O'Connell
DUBLIN 0-19
ARMAGH 0-24
Dublin suffered their first defeat in the group stages of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship as they succumbed to holders Armagh by five points at Croke Park on Sunday afternoon.
With Dublin forced to line out without the injured Con O’Callaghan, they trailed by 0-13 to 0-9 at half-time with their early dominance long forgotten as Armagh seized control in the second quarter.
Despite enjoying plenty of territory in the second-half, the hosts were unable to make sufficient inroads against their more clinical opponents and will most likely require a victory in their final group game against Derry in a fortnight’s time to advance to the knockout stages.
Having dropped an effort short with an earlier attempt, it was Seán Bugler that opened the scoring after a minute with Armagh levelling matters soon after through a Rory Grugan free.
Both Brian Howard and Colm Basquel spurned presentable chances to restore the home lead as the visitors edged in front by the 5th minute courtesy of Jarly Óg Burns.
Dublin were enjoying generous amounts of possession and Cormac Costello made the most of the supply coming his way as he kicked a brace of excellent points off his left foot to edge the Dubs back in front.
Late replacement Paddy Small also chipped in with a brace and Costello’s third score from play of the quarter helped Dublin stretch into a three-point lead by the 11th minute.
However, they failed to score for the following nine minutes, despite creating a number of opportunities, as the All-Ireland champions drew level thanks to Grugan’s two-pointed effort and a second score from Burns.
While Lorcan O’Dell and Costello (free) popped over scores for Dublin at the start of the second quarter, their control at midfield began to wane as Armagh began to click through the gears.
Two-pointed efforts from Grugan (free) and Rian O’Neill saw them take the lead by the 28th minute with further points by Oisín Conaty and Conor Turbitt helping build a five-point lead.
Stephen Cluxton impressed during the half with two fine stops to deny Conaty and Andrew Murnin with a barren spell of twelve minutes ended as Costello clipped over a 34th minute free to leave his side facing a four-point deficit at the interval.
Another cracking two-pointed score by O’Neill saw Dublin fall further behind within two minutes of the restart with substitute Lee Gannon and Grugan (free) trading scores by the 40th minute.
The hosts weren’t helping their cause by infracting the rules on no less than three occasions in the opening ten minutes of the second-half, allowing Grugan the simplest of tasks of adding to his tally.
While Costello and Bugler raised hopes of a Dublin comeback with two-pointed scores by the end of the third quarter, some frustrating wides undermined those ambitions as their opponents preserved their buffer through scores by Ethan Rafferty, Darragh McMullan and Stefan Campbell.
Dublin gained a degree of momentum through scores from Small and Gannon but as the wides racked up, their hopes of turning the tide began to ebb into the distance.
Scorers – Dublin: C Costello 0-8 (3f, 1 P2); P Small 0-4 (1 P2); S Bugler 0-3 (1 P2); L Gannon 0-2; L O’Dell, B Howard 0-1. Armagh: R Grugan 0-8 (4f, 1 F2, 1 P2); R O’Neill 0-6 (2 P2, 1 F2); J Óg Burns, O Conaty 0-2 each; E Rafferty, R McQuillan, D McMullan, C Turbitt, J McElroy, S Campbell 0-1 apiece.
Dublin: S Cluxton; D Byrne, T Clancy, S MacMahon; A Gavin, B Howard, S Bugler; P Ó Cofaigh Byrne, K McGinnis; C Kilkenny, C Basquel, N Scully; P Small, C Costello, L O’Dell. Subs: L Gannon for Basquel (20), J Small for Gavin (half-time), T Lahiff for McGinnis (48), L Breathnach for O’Dell (48), E O’Donnell for Scully (61).
Armagh: E Rafferty; P Burns, B McCambridge, P McGrane; R McQuillan, T Kelly, J Óg Burns; J Duffy, B Crealey; D McMullan, R Grugan, O Conaty; R O’Nell, A Murnin, C Turbitt. Subs: S Campbell for Turbitt (53), J McElroy for Duffy (63), T McCormack for Grugan (67), N Grimley for O’Neill (68).
Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan).