Warrenpoint undone by Armagh City in wild weather at Milltown

​It was a bad day at the office for Warrenpoint Town who were beaten by Armagh City in a topsy-turvy game in horrific conditions.

The wild weather reflected goings on at the Milltown pitch with momentum switching as wind and rain turned to bright sunshine and then back to heavy rain by the finish with Armagh scoring two late goals to seal victory.

Before that the Point led 2-0 and it could have been three. Armagh pulled one back before the break and equalised in the second half. Rory Powell put the hosts in front again with a beauty but it wasn’t long before Armagh replied to square proceedings again at 3-3. They took the lead for the first time late on and sealed the win from the spot at the death.

Jim O'Hanlon should have scored the opening goal a minute from throw-in but the Warrenpoint striker missed a gilt-edged chance from close range.

Sill, the home side looked the stronger side despite the high winds where ball control was nigh on impossible. Adam Carroll burst through the middle with the goal in his sights minutes later but he halted by an Armagh defender who conceded a free that came to nothing.

On 11 minutes however, the deadlock was broken from a well-taken Matthew Lynch corner into the box. The first shot was parried out but fell straight to Carroll who stuck the rebound in the net from five yards out.

Armagh had their first shot of the game five minutes later with a hit-and-hope from midfield by Igor Rutkowski who was falling backwards, but his effort sailed high over the bar and the action quickly returned to the other end of the pitch again.

Warrenpoint won a penalty on 22 minutes and Lorcan Forde stepped up making no mistake with his finish to the top left hand corner.

It looked like the home side were in control of proceedings but on 26 minutes a couple of bad moves at the other end, led to a penalty for the visitors.

Rudkowski took the spot kick with confidence and suddenly Armagh were back in the game at 2-1.

The weather had calmed down considerably by then and Armagh were beginning to get on the ball more. They did get away with a hand ball late in the half that could have reduced their number to 10 but as it was the teams went into the break with the home side leading by a goal.

The sun came out for the restart with the first action a corner for Armagh start of the second half that flew harmlessly across the face of goal and out.

Armagh were doing most of the attacking in the early stages however and were rewarded for their efforts when Ethan Doogan-Ballantine got on the end of a long diagonal cross and fired a low shot from the left that beat Daniel Devine to level proceedings at 2-2.

Armagh almost took the lead three minutes later when a close-range shot by Stephen Teggart was stopped by Devine but tensions boiled over minutes later with a number of players involved in a scuffle in midfield that finished with yellow cards for Forde and Noeem Oladunjoye.

The home side were at sixes and sevens until an absolute beauty by Rory Powell who surged forward and drilled into the net just after the hour mark.

Never-mind taking the lead again Gary Boyle's men really needed something to get their shape back and a nice piece of play followed two minutes later when they were sure they had doubled their advantage. Keeping the ball low, the play finished with Carroll shooting low for the far corner. The ball pounded off the post across the face of goal and looked sure to be going in at the other side but it somehow came off the inside of the far post and into the keeper’s arms.

And unfortunately for Warrenpoint the game was soon level again when Armagh broke forward and Ben Mullen finished to the net.

There was still plenty of time for the hosts to redeem themselves with 20 minutes left on the clock and while more goals certainly looked like a possibility, it was anyone’s guess who would find a winner.

Mullen missed from a free header at the far post on 75 minutes while there were a few half-chances at the other end that came to nothing.

Armagh had another gilt-edged chance from a cross to the back post but while Ruairi Duffy couldn't quite connect, minutes later they found the threatened finish, with Conor Mullen goal poking home from a long ball into the crowded box to make it 4-3.

Armagh had their tails up after that and were the only side that looked like scoring in the last five minutes. They sealed the deal with a penalty converted by Rutkowski to end a miserable day in Milltown.

MATCH STATS

Warrenpoint: D Devine, C, Murray, C Crane, J Boyle, M Lynch (J Doran 67), J O'Hanlon, R Powell (D Loye, 67), A Carroll, D O'Hanlon (S Hutchinson 88) L Forde (R Doyle 88), M Robinson

Subs not used: E Carry, E Byrne, J O'Flaherty

Armagh City: C Byrne, A Dunne, S Geraghty (C Mullen 60), B Mullen, A Watson, I Rutkowski, E Doogan-Ballantine (C Cronin 84) J Clarke (M McConnell, 60), J Moore (R Duffy, 60), S Teggart, N Oladunjoye (Scott McCann 73)

Subs not used: A Coogan, L Hunter

Referee: Stewart Long