Ulster SFC Semi-final/Armagh 1-11 Derry 0-10: Sorry folks, this one never boiled over. Started like a freight train, yes, and at times we saw some breath-taking scoring, but not a red card in sight and nobody was talking about the referee on the way home. That includes Francie Bellew. Instead, the contest simmered at a decent level until Armagh pulled away thanks to their impressive reservoir of talent. If Derry are to learn a lesson from this, it's to forget about dethroning the Ulster champions by kicking 14 wides.
What makes Ulster football special is the lack of predictability so Armagh and Tyrone making it past the landmine-infested earlier rounds to the July 10th decider, back in Croke Park, was only cautiously predicted.
After a replay apiece, yellow and red cards galore, touchline bans and plenty of sublime football - don't forget that - both teams will fight for a piece of history, but they will need the next two weeks to recuperate first.
A large chunk of the 27,633 Gaels at yesterday's game in west Belfast had orange jerseys on their backs. They followed Joe Kernan and his warriors through the Fermanagh revenge encounter before two heated meetings with Donegal made the legs heavy. This hurdle was cleared because of the stubbornness champions develop as well as the likes of Tony McEntee and John Toal being launched from the bench late on. Even Tyrone will struggle to cope with these kind of impact players.
They say Derry need more point-scoring forwards to help Paddy Bradley and Enda Muldoon carry the load, but in Eoin Bradley, Paddy's little brother, and Mark Lynch, this potential is already evident. They must learn from this experience quickly, though, as the qualifiers are upon them in five days.
One great servant in Derry's recent past misfired and it cost them dearly. With Armagh defenders double-teaming Paddy Bradley all day, Muldoon needed to step up. His free taking was wayward and he was off the pace required for a hot championship Sunday. He looked every bit like a player coming back from injury.
If Derry are to have any further say in the championship, Muldoon must return to last year's All Star form.
The major conundrum of the opening half was how Derry played so wastefully yet managed to stay two points adrift. Armagh must take some blame here.
The tension was evident even before the throw-in as we looked to see how the marking duals shaped up. The reprieved Bellew went to Muldoon, while Andy Mallon was handed the task of minding Bradley. Within eight minutes, and 0-2, Mallon was switched to Colin Devlin as the more physical Enda McNulty took over the arduous task.
Sandwiched between the Derry captain's opening brace was two absolute screamers from Steven McDonnell and a clever point from Aaron Kernan - who stamped his authority with a mature performance.
For the next 20 minutes Derry dictated the games tempo. They constantly asked questions of the Armagh defence with Bellew, McNulty and Martin O'Rourke all shown yellow cards by referee Michael Monahan. Only problem was Derry failed to post a single score in this period. Just a plethora of wides. Eoin Bradley finally broke their drought, but it was this period of waste that cost them a shock victory, or at least force Armagh to go up a gear.
Into the second half Paddy Bradley took over the free taking from all angles to good effect, yet by this stage Ronan Clarke had began to shake off Kevin McCloy down the other end.
There was some confusion regarding Bellew as he was ticked by Monahan despite receiving a yellow card earlier in the game. Something the referee is entitled to do. Regardless, on seeing the colour black not red, Francie spun round like one of those corner backs he so regularly tortures and disappeared into the crowd before anyone complained. This may be seen as an area of controversy, but Bellew didn't deserve the earlier yellow while his shuddering shoulder on a rampaging Lynch was a marginal call. Muldoon missed the free.
Then came the Armagh push. Kernan began to cause untold damage on the left flank and it was one of his raids forward that created the goal. After getting a glimpse of the net he shot but McCloy got his body in the way only for the rebound to sit nicely for Toal to finish. Within three minutes Mallon and Kernan added two more points and Armagh were gone.
The Derry positives came far too late as first Muldoon then Bradley created half chances by breaking the laws of physics and carving holes through the Armagh centre. Slight nudges from last-gasp challenges denied a clear sight at goal and Armagh survived.
Eoin Bradley and Lynch kicked late points to show their worth but it will be needed earlier if they are to challenge elite teams later in the summer.
Armagh can and will improve after the two-week lay-off before Ulster invade Croke Park in a repeat of the 2003 All-Ireland final. If you aren't interested by then you never will be.
ARMAGH: 1 P Hearty; 2 A Mallon, 3 F Bellew, 4 E McNulty; 5 A Kernan (0-4, 3f), 6 K McGeeney (capt), 21 A O'Rourke; 8 P Loughran, 9 P McGrane; 10 M O'Rourke (0-1), 11 J McEntee, 12 O McConville (0-1); 13 S McDonnell (0-2, 1f), 14 R Clarke (0-1), 15 B Mallon (0-2). Subs: 20 T McEntee for P Loughran, 22 J Toal (1-0) for J McEntee (both 48 mins), 26 S Kernan for B Mallon (64), 24 M Mackin for R Clarke (65 mins), 19 C McKeever for A Kernan (69 mins).
DERRY: 1 B Gillis; 2 K McGuckin, 3 K McCloy, 4 G O'Kane; 5 P Wilson, 6 S Lockhart, 7 P Kelly; 8 F Doherty, 9 Patsy Bradley; 10 P Murphy (0-1), 11 M Lynch (0-1), 12 E Bradley (0-2); 13 C Devlin, 14 Paddy Bradley (capt) (0-5, 2f), 15 E Muldoon (0-1, 1f). Subs: 19 P McFlynn for P Kelly (50 mins), 20 J McBride for C Devlin (55 mins), 18 F McEldowney for P Wilson (59 mins), 17 M Kelly for G O'Kane (68 mins).
Referee: M Monahan (Kildare).
