Tyrone 0-13 Armagh 0-11
Armagh narrowly lost out to arch-rivals Tyrone in round two of the All-Ireland series, with two the difference in the end.
The home side were the better team throughout the encounter, but Armagh battled back bravely in the end.
Rian O’Neill was red carded before the break, leaving Armagh’s challenge an uphill one. But Kieran McGeeney’s men showed character to get back into the encounter.
Tyrone’s deadly duo of Darren McCurry and Darragh Canavan fired the home side into a 4-1 lead after 11 minutes.
Rian O’Neill traded dead ball efforts with Conn Kilpatrick while Conor Turbitt’s first was cancelled out by Mattie Donnelly.
Armagh could have had three goals in the first half, but the best goal opportunity fell the way of Peter Harte.
Following a one-two with his clubmate Joe Oguz, Harte’s effort smashed off the post and flew to safety.
Turning point
In the ruckus to retrieve possession, Rian O’Neill tangled with Cormac Quinn and the Armagh joint-captain was shown a red card.
O’Neill’s marker Padraig Hampsey, now playing a freer role, popped up with the final score of the half. 8-4 to the hosts.
Without O’Neill, Armagh were devoid of ideas in attack and struggled to penetrate the Tyrone rear-guard after the turnaround.
The Orchard men eventually burst into life in the final quarter, with Ethan Rafferty the driving force behind their revival.
Rory Grugan pointed a free while Oisin Conaty hit his first championship score from the resulting kickout.
A superb Canavan score split two points from Turbitt and Grugan while Canavan hit another to put Tyrone four ahead.
Grugan (free) and Conaty kept Armagh hopes alive late on, but it wasn’t enough for the Orchard County to get something from the game.
It’s Galway up next, in two weeks’ time, in the final group game of the All-Ireland series.
