Ulster SFC Final/ Armagh 3-15; Donegal 0-11: No team makes a statement quite like Armagh. The manner of this truly silencing proclamation, with the Ulster final all jazzed up and packing the house in Croke Park, was vintage stuff from Joe Kernan's deep and soulful team.
Armagh were out to show they have some football in them yet and it was just unfortunate for Donegal that they happened to be in the way. In 1999, on their way to their first Ulster title since 1982, Armagh inflicted a memorable beating on Down, the royalty of the northern scene. Here, in claiming their fourth provincial title in six years, they were in similarly provocative mood.
They broke Donegal, the highly fancied young pretenders who came into this final under a great weight of expectation, in a way that was sometimes quite dark to watch. They reminded us of certain truths in sport: the team is everything, nothing matters like desire, and greatness is a weapon best used sparingly.
Whether Armagh actually required a great performance to win yesterday is moot: they delivered it anyway and in a way that was oh so familiar. They went retro in more that the style of their jerseys. Big Kieran Hughes, rooted to the bench for a couple of seasons, got his chance and caused havoc along the right wing. Kieran McGeeney, working to overcome injury for much of the season, returned to his familiar number six berth and led constantly throughout. Francie Bellew dimmed yet another bright forward light, ushering Adrian Sweeney off the field.
Diarmuid Marsden was at his sharp and workaholic best, now harrying back in defence, now fisting the first-half goal that did much to sink the Donegal ship. Paddy McKeever, the blond half-forward who has been maligned at times, had a glorious personal afternoon. And all Armagh's best work seemed to involve some moment of audacity from Oisín McConville. His injury-time goal was cold and beautiful and will long haunt Donegal fans.
The only compromising aspect was that Armagh encountered a team shed of its vivacity and natural comfort on the ball. From the beginning, Donegal looked hesitant, and as the game went on, fearfully young and boyish when pitted against their broad and sharp opponents. Few things worked for them: Ray Sweeney and Niall McCready did admirable jobs on Ronan Clarke and Steven McDonnell, and Colm McFadden did enough to justify the hype, but as a team, they got lost early on. Armagh invited them down culs-de-sac and again and again they were tempted, Christy Toye in particular finding that running at the Armagh defence is an unforgiving pastime.
Brendan Devenney won plenty of frees but could not find room to score: the Donegal forward line was held to a single, Adrian Sweeney, point from open play.
With McGeeney dropping deep and McConville and Clarke isolated up front, Armagh fell into a familiar pattern and found, to their joy, Donegal could not cope. Hughes had already forced a decent save from Paul Durcan by the time Marsden got a fist for Armagh's 28th-minute goal - the young Donegal goalkeeper should have stayed on his line. Up 1-6 to 0-4, Armagh responded to this opportunistic moment with five minutes of pure class.
Aidan O'Rourke, Hughes, Philip Loughran and Paul McGrane were in command around the middle and delivered a series of quick balls. Marsden clipped another point and McKeever fired two more. Having been in the game for much of the half, Donegal departed at half-time trailing 1-9 to 0-4. For Armagh, the hard work was done.
If Colm McFadden's 37th-minute shot on goal had hit the net instead of the crossbar, the game might have taken a different turn. But there were no ifs. Armagh sat back for the key 20 minutes after half-time and though Donegal worked valiantly to reduce the lead to five points, Armagh always looked comfortable and tapped over a point here and a free there to keep Donegal at distance. And then, as if sensing their opponents' weakening, they sought to kill the game, McDonnell providing a slick hand-pass which McKeever finished with great confidence. At 2-12 to 0-10 after 62 minutes, it was all over.
For Donegal, it was a merciless afternoon for loyal, long-time players like Damien Diver and Brian Roper. But for the kids Brian McEniff has brought through - the likes of Brendan Boyle, Eamon McGee, Toye and McFadden - the pain of this defeat will be of lasting benefit.
With the game won, Armagh kept snapping and hitting and then scoring gorgeously. They kept doing that because to stop would be untrue to themselves and disrespectful of the game. So it was that McConville delivered the grace note with a touch of the born scorer's hubris.
As Joe Kernan noted, it would be unreasonable to expect Armagh to play so well next time out. But there does seem to be within this team an unspoken quest for the perfect performance. Here, they came close but against a young Donegal team who know they left their best game behind them in the hills. Whether they have the soul to come back for more this summer is something only they can tell.
With Armagh, that has long ceased to be a question. Some day, this Armagh team may suffer a slow death in the afternoon but not on Croke Park and not when there is silver to be won.
ARMAGH: P Hearty; E McNulty, F Bellew, A Mallon; K Hughes, K McGeeney, A O'Rourke; P Loughran (0-1), P McGrane; P McKeever (1-3), T McEntee (0-2), O McConville (1-3, 0-1 a free); S McDonnell (0-2), R Clarke (0-1), D Marsden (1-2). Subs: B Mallon (0-1) for R Clarke (63 mins), J Toal for Loughran (64 mins), J McNulty for McGeeney (67 mins), A McCann for Bellew (67 mins), J McEntee for Marsden (67 mins).
DONEGAL: P Durcan; N McCready, R Sweeney, D Diver; E McGee, B Monaghan, S Carr; B Boyle, S McDermott; C Toye, M Hegarty (0-1), B Roper (0-1); C McFadden (0-4, frees), A Sweeney (0-1), B Devenney (0-2, frees). Subs: J Gildea (0-1) for McDermott (half-time), R Kavanagh (0-1) for Toye (half-time, inj.), P McGonagle for Roper (53 mins), J Haran for A Sweeney (63 mins), K Lacy for McGee (65 mins).
Referee: M Collins (Cork).
