Armagh 1-15
Tipperary 0-12
Orla Bannon reports from the Athletic Grounds
IN WHAT WAS their first home game of the season, Armagh picked up their first league win against 14-man Tipperary to move up to third in Division 2.
A training ban breach last year meant their first home game of the 2019 campaign was played in Newry but they made a triumphant return to the Athletic Grounds today and delivered an emphatic win over depleted Tipperary.
Charlie Vernon scored the game’s only goal after 19 minutes before a straight red card for Brian Fox, for a punch on Jamie Clarke, left Tipp team a man down from the 25th minute.
Armagh were by far the better side in the first half, moving the ball accurately and with a relentless pace which Tipp struggled to match.
They didn’t have the same fluidity and every time the ball went into the forwards in the first half, it came straight back out again.
By the time Jemar Hall pointed in the 16th minute, he was the fifth Armagh forward to raise a white flag.
The excellent Rian O’Neill, Stefan Campbell, Rory Grugan and Vernon all scored from play in the first quarter and although Jamie Clarke didn’t raise a white flag all day, he pulled the strings and set up several scores including the goal.
O’Neill’s superb ball with the outside of his right foot found Clarke who could have shot, but he unselfishly fisted the ball across the square to the back post where Vernon steamed in and buried it into the back of the net.
Tipp, without seven of thir first-team regulars through injury, were lethargic in the first half and things went from bad to worse with the loss of Fox.
Tipp relied on the free-taking of Liam McGrath and Conor Sweeney and failed to score from play until McGrath’s left-footed point in the 55th minute.
Armagh led 1-9 to 0-7 at half time and after allowing leads to slip in previous rounds, the message at the break was clearly ‘what we have, we hold’.
They were in no mood to let this one slip and played a more lateral game at a slower pace in the second half with Tipp unable to penetrate.
Further injuries to Kevin O’Halloran and Paul Maher weakened Tipp’s challenge further, although Sweeney’s superb sideline conversion was a rare highlight.
Scorers for Armagh: Charlie Vernon 1-1, Niall Grimley 0-4 (2 ’45′s, 1f), Rian O’Neill 0-3, Rory Grugan 0-3 (1f), Stefan Campbell 0-2. Jemar Hall 0-1
Scorers for Tipperary: Liam McGrath 0-6 (5f), Conor Sweeney 0-5 (4f), Liam Boland 0-1
Armagh
Blaine Hughes
James Morgan
Aaron McKay
Paul Hughes
Aidan Forker
Greg McCabe
Connaire Mackin
Stephen Sheridan
Niall Grimley
Jemar Hall
Charlie Vernon
Rory Grugan
Stefan Campbell
Rian O’Neill
Jamie Clarke
Subs:
Ryan Kennedy for Morgan (ht)
Joe McElroy for Forker (41)
Pearse Casey for Hughes (61)
Aidan Nugent for Clarke (61)
Ethan Rafferty for O’Neill (70).
Tipperary
Michael O’Reilly
Alan Campbell
John Meagher
Emmett Maloney
Conall Kennedy
Daire Brennan
Jimmy Feehan
Steven O’Brien
Liam Casey
Kevin O’Halloran
Liam McGrath
Brian Fox
Philip Austin
Conor Sweeney
Paul Maher
Subs:
Liam Boland for Kennedy (31)
Liam Boland for Maher (ht)
Dan O’Meara for O’Halloran (49)
Ben Hyland for Austin (53)
Paddy Codd for O’Brien (67)
Referee: Jerome Henry (Mayo).
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