Armagh booked an All-Ireland quarter-final berth with a 0-18 to 0-13 victory over Meath at sodden Croke Park.

The winners turned the screw in the second half, with Aaron Kernan (making his first start of the year) and Stefan Campbell pulling the strings, and they had eight different scorers as they brought Meath's year to a disappointing end.

Tellingly, in the last 25 minutes, the winners outscored their opponents by eight points to three.

Armagh led by the odd point from 15 at the end of an action-packed and rather bizarre first half. The losers notched the opening two points; the Orchard men then floated over eight in a row; but the Royals finished the opening period like a steam train with five unanswered scores from the 31st minute onwards.

With the rain pelting down on a dull and gloomy evening in Dublin 3, both sides struggled to cope with the atrocious conditions, leading to a scrappy first 35 littered with poor shooting and bad decision making.

The Royals started brightest but there were five minutes on the clock by the time they opened the scoring into an empty Hill 16 through Andrew Tormey. Mickey Newman's free doubled the gap before Jamie Clarke opened Armagh's account after a slip-up from Meath goalkeeper Paddy O'Rourke.

Aidan Forker equalised in the tenth minute following another Meath mistake and Tony Kernan tapped over a free from the hands in the 14th minute to edge Paul Grimley's charges ahead for the first time. After a flurry of Armagh misses, Forker - who had been responsible for two of those - redeemed himself with the Ulster county's fourth successive point to make it double scores at the midway stage in the first half, 0-4 to 0-2.

Mick O'Dowd's men had been unfortunate in the 15th minute when Newman's blistering shot cannoned back off the crossbar and Armagh goalkeeper Philip McEvoy then did well to fist away a dangerous Newman delivery.

The beaten Leinster finalists were without captain Kevin Reilly (hip) while Graham Reilly started on the bench, with Shane O'Rourke and Adam Flanagan drafted into their starting team. Mickey Burke and David Bray - both of whom were introduced as substitutes against Dublin - were also in from the start today.

Armagh, meanwhile, were also without their captain, but they had the luxury of bringing in Aaron Kernan in place of their talismanic centre back Ciaran McKeever, who was on crutches on the sideline for this crunch clash.

Following another litany of missed chances - including a fifth effort dropped short into Meath custodian O'Rourke's arms - the elusive Forker (who was giving Donncha Tobin the run-around) flew through to knock over a fifth point for the northerners off his left peg.

Forker must have thought he had claimed his fourth score but O'Rourke did well to claw his shot away from over the crossbar. However, the border men did stretch their gap almost immediately when Kyle Carragher turned Burke to make it 0-6 to 0-2 after 27 minutes.

Tony Kernan (free) and Stefan Campbell piled on the misery and the Royals registered their first score in 24 minutes when Newman slotted an excellent free from a difficult angle to reduce the arrears to five points, 0-8 to 0-3.

Suddenly, Meath's midfield dominance started to tell… Carroll smacked over another superb point after good vision from David Bray and substitute Graham Reilly, who had replaced Brian Meade, landed a third Royal County score in as many minutes to leave just three between them after 33 minutes.

An astonishing David Bray free from a nigh-on-impossible angle meant it was a two-point game and a sumptuous injury-time Newman '45' (after Tormey's shot had rebounded off an upright and deflected wide off Charlie Vernon) brought the curtain down on an error-strewn but thrilling opening period, 0-8 to 0-7.

The momentum was with Meath as the sides retreated for their Jaffa Cakes and they continued where they left off upon the restart as Graham Reilly clipped over the equalising point within seconds. But Aaron Kernan got on the end of a rapid Armagh break to restore the Orchard County's advantage immediately.

The floodlights were on for the second half as the rain continued to spill down and it felt more like a winter's night than the middle of summer. There was no shortage of niggle in evidence and Shane O'Rourke and Aaron Findlon picked up yellow cards for tussling off the ball. Armagh's Stephen Harold had seen yellow in the second minute of the first half for a hard hit on Damien Carroll.

Tony Kernan doubled the gap with another super score but back came Meath with an exquisite David Bray finish and a stunning long-range free from goalkeeper Paddy O'Rourke - 0-10 apiece after 41 minutes. O'Rourke then smashed a '45' wide after Tony Kernan had dropped a shot short into his hands - something Armagh were doing all too often with the threat of Jamie Clarke being snuffed out.

Clarke's Crossmaglen Rangers clubmate Aaron Kernan pointed the Ulster raiders back in front with a trademark finish in the 45th minute and Mark Shields penetrated the Royal rearguard to blaze over the point that made it 0-12 to 0-10.

A frantic period of play followed as Meath tried to get back into the game but they had costly misses from David Bray, Tormey and Newman (free) before the industrious Campbell interjected with an important Armagh point. A minute later, as the match became more spread, centre forward Kevin Dyas finally got his name on the scoresheet with a sweet strike from distance at the end of an expansive move - 0-14 to 0-10 with twelve minutes of normal time left.

Campbell had become the most influential player on the field and he drilled over the score that left five between the sides with an hour played. Paddy O'Rourke gave the Royals a crumb of hope when he nailed another wonderful free from long range but substitute Brian Mallon punctuated a flowing Armagh move with a terrific point moments later - 0-16 to 0-11.

Graham Reilly's third point left four between them again with seven minutes left but Brian Mallon speared over another brilliant Armagh point as the northerners closed in on an All-Ireland quarter-final place. O'Rourke's safe from Shields denied Paul Grimley's men what would have been the sealing goal.

Meath needed a goal but Armagh had conceded just four of those during Grimley's nine previous championship matches in charge. A converted Newman free narrowed the gap to four with two minutes remaining but O'Rourke sent a late '45' wide after Andy Mallon had blocked Paddy Gilsenan's shot.

The brilliant Aaron Kernan picked out substitute Stefan Forker, who became the eighth Armagh player to score, and the Orchard County held on for their first victory at Croke Park since 2008.

They will face either Donegal or Dublin in the last eight.

Armagh - P McEvoy; C Vernon, A Mallon, J Morgan; M Shield 0-1s, B Donaghy, A Kernan 0-2; S Harold, A Findon; S Campbell 0-3, T Kernan 0-3, A Forker 0-3; J Clarke 0-1, K Dyas 0-1, K Carragher. Subs - M Murray for Morgan, R Grugan for Carragher, B Mallon 0-2 for Forker, S Forker 0-1 for Kernan.

Meath - P O'Rourke 0-2; M Burke, B Menton, D Keogan; D Carroll 0-1, P Harnan, D Tobin; S O'Rourke, A Flanagan; B Meade, B McMahon, A Tormey 0-1; D Bray 0-2, S Bray, M Newman 0-4. Subs - G Reilly 0-3 for Meade, E Harrington for Carroll, D McDonagh for S Bray, J Wallace for D Bray, P Gilsenan for McDonagh.

Ref - R Hickey (Clare). Tweet

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