Armagh back in the bigtime beating Roscommon to the All-Ireland semi-final

A colourful mixture of Swifties, Pride paraders and Armagh supporters converged at the M1 Applegreen on Saturday, fuelling up for the singing and cheering to come – for Swifties a given and for the Armagh fans en route to Croke Park a faithful belief.

That belief turned out to be warranted, with the 19-year wait ended for Armagh who beat Roscommon by a comfortable six points to reach the All-Ireland Football Championship semi-finals for the first time since 2005.

It wasn't the best performance from Armagh and goals in either half from Barry McCambridge and Conor Turbitt were the difference in the end, but Kieran McGeeney's men looked comfortable throughout and with Roscommon reduced to 14 men for the second half when Ruaidhri Fallon picking up a second yellow, once that second goal put six between the teams the contest was over.

Armagh didn't waste any time getting the scoreboard moving with Turbitt sending the ball over the bar with just nine seconds on the clock. Their next score wouldn't arrive for 15 minutes however, as McCambridge was denied a goal by Brian Stack after being set up well by Andrew Murnin in the sixth minute and Rian O'Neill missed a '45 and a free from the same distance before that.

Roscommon had a few scoring chances but Donie Smith missed both pointed efforts and after McCambridge gave Armagh their second point of the afternoon, Conor Cox opened the Rossie's account on 16 minutes.

Armagh looked dangerous every time they got the ball and broke at speed and on 19 minutes after Smith dropped a shot short into Blaine Hughes' arms, the Orchard county broke forward with Rory Grugan swatting the ball to McCambridge who drilled into the roof of the net. The same player, who had an excellent game, fisted over the bar 10 minutes later with Cox making it 1-3 to 0-2 from a free.

Niall Higgins from play and Cox with another free narrowed the margin to two points at the half-time whistle with Armagh leading 1-3 to 0-4 but just before the break, Roscommon were reduced to 14 men when Fallon was dealt a second yellow card for a hit on Grugan who dusted himself off for the resulting free that sailed wide.

Roscommon levelled the match after the restart with points from Eoin McCormack and Smith but McCambridge nudged Armagh in front again from a mark and 10 minutes into the half a couple of quickfire points from Oisin Conaty and half-time sub Stefan Campbell made it a three-point game again 1-6 to 0-6.

It wasn't long before the men in orange really turned up the heat however, widening the margin to six with 51 minutes on the clock.

A good run from Roscommon's Daire Cregg saw him shake his head in disappointment when he offloaded to Dylan Ruane who opted for a point rather than taking on the goal, but there was no such hesitation at the other end minutes later. Campbell pointed a beauty from distance in reply and after Cox converted from a free, Conaty sent the ball over the bar for Armagh and the same player picked up the short kick-out and fisted over to the in-rushing Turbitt who finished to the net.

There was no looking back after that, points were traded with Armagh leading 2-9 to 0-11 as full-time approached and a Turbitt free followed by a brace from Conaty put Armagh seven in front at the start of the three minutes stoppage time allocated. The chants were already ringing around Croke Park from the Orchard supporters when Cox sent the last score over the bar from a free to finish the match 2-12 to 0-12.

MATCH STATS

Armagh: Blaine Hughes; Paddy Burns, Aaron McKay, Peter McGrane; Barry McCambridge (1-2, 1m), Tiernan Kelly, Aidan Forker (0-1); Niall Grimley (0-1), Ben Crealey; Oisin Conaty (0-4), Rian O'Neill, Joe McElroy; Rory Grugan, Andrew Murnin, Conor Turbitt (1-2,1f)

Subs: Stefan Campbell (0-2) for McGrane (H-T) , Oisin O'Neill for R O'Neill (49mins), Aidan Nugent for Grugan (54mins), Conor Mackin for Crealey (63mins), Jason Duffy for Forker (69mins)

Roscomman: Conor Carroll; Niall Higgins (0-1), Brian Stack (0-1), Robbie Dolan; David Murray, Ronan Daly, Eoin McCormack (0-1); Enda Smith, Ruaidhri Fallon; Ultan Harney, Diarmuid Murtagh (0-1), Shane Cunnane; Daire Cregg, Conor Cox (0-5,4f), Donie Smith (0-1)

Subs: Dylan Ruane (0-1) for Murray (6mins), Ciaran Lennon for Harney (14mins), Adam McDermott (0-1) for Smith (54mins), Cathal Heneghan for Murray (61mins), Andrew Glennan for Cunnane (66mins)

Referee: Martin McNally (Monaghan)