Flashback: Dublin v Armagh - 2012 Allianz League Clash

Dublin and Armagh meet at Croke Park on Saturday night as the Boys in Blue line out in their penultimate league match of 2026.

The Dubs will guarantee their top-flight status with a win against Orchard County this weekend, and they'll look for inspiration from their 2012 league win over Armagh as they look to get the job done.

On that day 14 years ago, Pat Gilroy's Dublin were ruthless, romping home by 16 points, winning 4-17 to 1-10, with Dublin legend Diarmuid Connolly bagging himself a hat-trick while Tomás 'Mossy' Quinn was the other Dublin man on the goalscorers list.

Dublin, as the scoreline suggests, were in control from the first whistle. Quinn and James McCarthy combined to send Connolly through for a composed finish in the eighth minute.

Moments later, Armagh were caught out again when a defensive mix-up between Declan McKenna and Ciaran McKeever allowed Quinn to fire a perfectly placed shot past Philip McEvoy.

Quinn, along with points from Paul Flynn and Connolly, pushed the Dubs 2-05 to 0-02 clear after 20 minutes.

Substitute Gavin McParland added a couple for Armagh, but they couldn’t break the midfield grip of Michael Dara Macauley and Eamon Fennell.

Connolly struck his second goal on 28 minutes from Macauley’s lay-off, sending the All-Ireland champions in at half-time 3-7 to 0-5 ahead.

Armagh showed signs of life after the restart with scores from Brian Mallon and Aidan Forker, and their hopes rose when Caolan Rafferty finished to the net in the 49th minute after Gavin McParland’s shot was saved.

Dublin quickly snuffed that out, hitting 1-04 in the next 10 minutes.

Connolly added two frees before finishing Eoghan O’Gara’s pass to the bottom corner from a tight angle.

O’Gara and sub Jonny Cooper added to Dublin’s tally, while Brian Mallon landed two late frees for Armagh, but the gap was far too big to close.

Philly McMahon’s late second yellow card was a minor blemish on a fine Dublin performance that was thoroughly deserving of the win.

The Dubs would narrowly miss out on the top four and a place in the Division 1 semi-finals, finishing fifth, while Armagh were relegated to Division 2. Elsewhere, Cork were crowned Division 1 champions after beating Mayo in the league decider.

In the 2012 championship, Dublin would retain their Leinster title with a three-point win over Meath before being dethroned as All-Ireland champions by beaten finalists Mayo in the All-Ireland semi-final.

Dublin: M Savage, D Daly, R O'Carroll, P McMahon, J McCarthy (0-01), G Brennan, C Dias, MD Macauley (0-01), E Fennell (0-01), P Brogan, A Brogan (0-01), P Flynn (0-02), D Connolly (3-03, 0-02f), E O'Gara (0-03), T Quinn (1-03, 0-01 ’45)

Subs: D Byrne for P Brogan, S Murray for A Brogan, J Cooper (0-02) for McCarthy, C Murphy for Fennell

Armagh: P McAvoy, A Mallon, B Donaghy, D McKenna, K Dyas, C McKeever, P Duffy, J Lavery, M Mackin, A Forker (0-03, 2f), C Watters, C Rafferty (1-00), A Duffy, J Kingham, B Mallon (0-04, 3f)

Subs: G McParland (0-03) for Lavery, BJ Padden for Kingham, F Moriarty for Dyas, S Campbell for Forker, R Rafferty for Watters

Referee: M Collins (Cork)