A SECOND half fightback by Derry just wasn’t enough to see overcome a determined Orchard County in their back yard this afternoon.
Armagh kicked off the second half the way they finished the first half at the Athletic Grounds.
Rory Grugan pointed just a few minutes into the restart to increase the Orchard County’s lead to 1-09 to Derry’s 0-05.
And two minutes later Armagh could have had a second goal when Forker played in Stevenson and the magnificent McKinless pulled off a superb safe to spare Derry’s blushes.
On 42 minutes, Grugan got his fifth point of the game as Armagh increased their lead to ten points.
A minute later Derry made a double substitution Patrick Kearney and James Kielt coming on for Michael Bateson and Mark Lynch.
And Kielt went straight into the action as lined up a free from 45 metres, and it went over for Derry’s first score of the half.
Derry’s tail went up and Enda Lynn quickly scored a second.
The point almost found the net but Hughes made a fine stop in the Armagh goal.
On 50 minutes, Ruairi Mooney scores a good point for the Oak Leafers which helped to reduce the deficit to just two points.
Five minutes later, Derry made a third subsitution with Fergal Higgins coming on for Jack Doherty.
But a dangerous Armagh came back fighting with two successive points from Charlie Vernon and Michael Stevenson to push their team’s lead out to four points on 58 minutes.
And what a great substitution Kielt was for Derry, scoring two successive point – one from a 45 and one from open play. Derry were getting close with the score at 1-12 to 0-10.
Another point for Derry and the gap was now down to one point. Andrew Muirnin picked up a black card before he was substituted.
With a succession of tit for tat points, including another point for Jack Kielt from a free, Armagh led by 1-13 to Derry’s 0-13 as the game went into a four minutes of added time.
But the fight back by Derry wasn’t enough and Armagh proved the stronger finishers in the end.
Points from Niall Rowland on 72 mins and Michael Stevenson free kick helped Armagh to close out the match with a five point win – 1-15 to Derry’s 0-13.
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