Four quickfire goals powers Armagh past Derry and ensures their Division 1 status for next year

Four goals in the opening seven minutes of the second half powered Armagh to a resounding 15-point victory over Derry, which ensured their survival in Division 1.

Ross McQuillan, Barry McCambridge, Conor Turbitt and Darragh McMullen all hit the net to pile more misery onto the already relegated Oak Leaf County.

The home side benefitted from a spread of scores in the first half, with 10 different players making up their 12-point tally. At the other end Derry had to rue their wastefulness in front of the posts, converting just eight of their 20 shots in the opening period.

Armagh took the lead in the opening minute through Ross McQuillan and never relinquished their advantage. McQuillan was one of six changes to Armagh’s listed starting XV, owing to an outbreak of a bug in the camp.

Rory Grugan added from a free, before Derry opened their account through Coalan Devlin. Armagh hit three of the next four via Stefan Campbell, McQuillan and Darragh McMullen but Derry were just a point behind following 0-3 from Ethan Doherty – a one pointer and a two pointer.

Last year’s Young Footballer of the Year Oisin Conaty had a goal chance for Armagh when he broke clear and got one on one, but Derry goalkeeper Ben McKinless made a superb save and pushed the shot onto the post. Conaty would add a fisted point moments later, however.

Tomas McCormack and Shane McGuigan then traded scores, before Ethan Rafferty showed that goalkeepers can still have an impact despite the new rule changes, slotting over a point. Armagh were well on top at this stage and further scores from Greg McCabe and Campbell had them five ahead.

Derry hit the next three points on the spin with two for Niall Toner and one for Marty Bradley, but they lost their talisman Shane McGuigan to a red card. In the space of five minutes, he was booked for a closed-fist tackle on McCabe, before he hit Andrew Murnin after the St Paul’s man had played the ball, and McGuigan received his marching orders.

Armagh closed out the first half in style, with further scores from Conor Turbitt and Peter McGrane seeing them lead 0-12 to 0-8 at the break.

Then came the perfect start to the second half, as Armagh hit four goals in a flash.

The post was on hand to assist the first two, as a Campbell shot came off the upright and right into the lap of McQuillan, and he drilled a shot into the roof of the net. Then Grugan hit the post and the rebound fell for Barry McCambridge to gather and fire past Ben McKinless.

McKinless was in the spotlight a moment later, as despite fielding a dropped short shot from Turbitt, he carried the ball over the line under pressure from Callum O’Neill and a green flag was raised.

A Conor Glass point offered momentary reprieve for Derry, but a botched kick-out from the Oak Leaf County led to Armagh’s fourth goal in quick succession. Conaty slipped a pass into Grugan and played the ball to Darragh McMullen, who smashed his shot into the roof of the net, making the score 4-12 to 0-9.

That meant it was as good as game over, but the two sides were even scores from that point on, Turbitt finished the day with 1-4, Campbell pushed his tally out to 0-4 and Grugan and Rafferty chipped in two-pointers.

For Derry, Anton Tohill added a late goal, whilst Conor Glass finished with 0-6, including a superb two-pointer.

Results elsewhere meant that Tyrone were relegated alongside Derry – despite finishing with seven points.

MATCH STATS

Armagh: Ethan Rafferty (0-3, 1tp); Peter McGrane (0-1), Barry McCambridge (1-0), Paddy Burns; Ciaran Mackin, Greg McCabe (0-1), Tomas McCormack (0-2); Callum O’Neill, Oisin Conaty (0-1); Darragh McMullen (1-1), Rory Grugan (0-3, 1f, 1tp), Conor Turbitt (1-4, 1f); Stefan Campbell (0-4), Andrew Murnin (0-2), Ross McQuillan (1-2).

Subs: Joe McElroy for McQuillan (48), Jarly Og Burns for Mackin (54), Jemar Hall for Conaty (56), Gareth Murphy for P Burns (67), Oisin O’Neill for Grugan (67).

Derry: Ben McKinless; Diarmuid Baker, Eoin McEvoy, Marty Bradley; Conor Doherty (0-3, 1tp), Padraig McGrogan, Jody McDermott; Conor Glass (0-6, 2tp, 1’45), Anton Tohill (1-0); Ethan Doherty, Niall Toner (0-3, 2f), Caolan Devlin (0-4, 2f); Ben McCarron, Shane McGuigan (0-1), Paul Cassidy (0-1).

Subs: Patrick McGurk for McDermott (33), Mark Doherty for Bradley (48), Declan Cassidy for McCarron (56), Ryan Mulholland for Baker (56), Charlie Diamond for McGrogan (61).

Referee: David Gough (Meath).

Attendance: 9,143.