Diarmuid Marsden, scorer of the winning point, was the toast of Armagh football last night. He had struggled with a groin injury all season and started a match for the first time. "It was a very special day for me," he said. "I have never been on an Armagh team to beat Derry before." Referring to his injury and how it has upset his season, Marsden said: "I haven't trained in two months. However, the leg is okay at the minute but I still have a bit of work to do on it.

"We always knew we were fit enough to come back after they (Derry) went into the lead towards the end. Our performance today was more of a battling effort. At times you have to grind out a result and that was what we did today.

"We need to get more ball around the middle and must improve in the sector," said Marsden.

Armagh joint-manager Brian McAlinden said: "We are delighted to be in the Ulster final although we nearly threw it away in the second half when Derry came at us in waves. But we weathered the storm.

"I would give us eight out of 10. Our main problem was we lost the midfield battle for long periods in the second half and that wouldn't do in the Ulster final."

McAlinden was upset because of Alan O'Neill's neck injury and said: "Alan was a big loss to us. I could have pushed him into the middle of the field had he remained on. He got a bad bang on the neck. The boys dug in deep. Jarlath Burns came through with some good ball from the middle towards the end. At the end of the day our forwards won it for us," he added.

Eamonn Coleman, Derry's joint-manager, said it was hard work to get a shot at their post, "although we scored as much as they did in the second half." "We missed a few vital frees and a penalty," he said. "Anyway, it's all set up for ding-dong Ulster final. Armagh were very hungry and were going for everything."