Antrim had to dig deep for their victory over massive underdogs Armagh in last night's Bord Gais Energy Ulster U21HC final at Casement Park.

Antrim 0-21
Armagh 0-16

The Orchard County, who were appearing in their first Ulster final in the grade in 31 years, trailed by just three points by the 58th minute of a game that was level on five occasions. But late points from top-scorer Darren Hamill and full back Cormac Donnelly sealed a hard-earned win for the Saffrons.

Armagh led by 0-5 to 0-2 early in the contest, with Kieran McKernan, Michael Lennon and Conor Coulter all on target. But Michael Armstrong and Darren Hamill scored eight points between them to give the home side a slender 0-9 to 0-8 lead at the break.

Playing with the breeze in the second half, Antrim began to get on top with senior stars PJ O'Connell and man of the match Donnelly - who finished with 0-5 to his credit - landing fine points from long range.

The accurate free-taking of midfielder McKernan enabled Armagh to edge back in front, but Antrim didn't panic and pulled away in the closing stages.

Antrim - E Gillan; K Molloy, C Donnelly (0-5, 4f), L McAuley; C Carson, S Shannon, J Campbell; PJ O'Connell (0-2), E Laverty; M Devlin, T McCann (0-1), C Rocks; M Armstrong (0-3), D Hamill (0-10, 4f), C Quinn. Subs: M Lynch for Laverty, T McAlister for McAuley, G Laverty for Devlin, S Woulaghan for Rocks.

Armagh - P Kelly; R Comiskey, P Gaffney, JJ Hughes; S McNaughton, N Curry (0-1), D Carville; K McKernan (0-7, 6f), M Maguire (0-2); P Monaghan, M Lennon (0-2f), D Carville: C Corvan (0-1), C Coulter (0-3), M Moan. Sub: T Duffy for Monaghan.

Ref: D Magee (Down) Tweet

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