Galway ... 1-17 Armagh ... 1-14: An extremely sharp and more methodical Galway had a fully deserved victory over the All-Ireland champions at Crossmaglen yesterday.
Before the game GAA president Seán McCague officially opened the new Cardinal Ó Fiaich stand at St Oliver Plunkett Park and Archbishop Seán Brady performed the blessing.
The Galway attack was extremely skilful, Matthew Clancy in particular, giving Armagh skipper Kieran McGeaney a tough time of it for most of the 70 minutes.
The visitors were streets ahead in speed and thought and controlled the midfield with Joe Bergin turning in a solid performance. Their full forward line, capably led by Padhraic Joyce, accounted for 1-12 of their total.
Galway manager John Mahony was quick to praise his team but also sounded a word of caution.
"I am both pleased and relieved. Defeat here would have left us with a major relegation concern. We are not out of the woods yet with a tough game remaining against Dublin. It was a very enjoyable game, a lot of good scores but we certainly had the edge in pace. It's a credit to the Armagh lads the way they came back at us, showing the typical spirit that has them All-Ireland champions."
Against the wind Galway raced into a 0-6 to 0-1 lead after 12 minutes, Matthew Clancy, Derek Savage (two), Michael Meehan, Padhraic Joyce and Joe Bergin all on target.
Enter Steven McDonnell, Armagh's main contributor, to stamp his own inimitable style on the proceedings. He almost single-handedly led an Armagh revival and points from John McEntee (two), Paddy McKeever and McDonnell had them level 0-8 each at the break.
Galway restarted in positive style, two quick points from danger man Savage but McDonnell again rose to the challenge and with 20 minutes remainining the tribesmen were ahead by a single point.
Galway had always more in reserve and two strikes for Padraic Joyce eased them further ahead. Then came the decisive score. Matthew Clancy was grounded by Francie Bellew for a 60th minute penalty and Savage's strike opened up 1-15 to 0-12 advantage.
With five minutes remaining Bergin had a classy Galway side seven points up but their opponents produced a creditable comeback including a Paul McGrain goal in between points from Barry O'Hagan.
The large home support responded vociferously but the westerners held out for a fully deserved victory.
ARMAGH: P Hearty; E McNulty, J McNulty, F Bellew; K Hughes, K McGeaney (0-1), A McCann; P McGraine (1-1), P Loughran; P McKeever (0-2), J McEntree (0-2), B O'Hagan (0-3); S McDonnell (0-4), B Duffy, T McEntee. Subs: J Toal for Loughran (40 mins), D Marsden (0-1) for Duffy (48 mins), A O'Rourke for Hughes (59 mins).
GALWAY: A Keane; M Comer, G Fahy, T Meehan; D Meehan, R Fahy, S De Paor; J Bergin (0-2), J Fallon; P Clancy (0-3), M Clancy, D O'Brien; D Savage (1-4); P Joyce (0-6), M Meehan (0-2). Subs: K Comer for Fallon (half-time), L Colleran for T Meehan (48 mins).
Referee: J Bannon (Longford).
