Armagh brush aside Antrim to book Ulster SFC quarter-final date with Cavan

Armagh goalkeeper Ethan Rafferty and Patrick Finnegan of Antrim ©INPHO/James Crombie

Armagh will face Cavan in the quarter-finals of the Ulster senior football championship after coming through comfortably against Antrim in the northern province’s preliminary round this evening.

It finished 0-20 to 1-8 at the Box-It Athletic Grounds, where the hosts hit the ground running to build up a 0-9 to 0-1 lead by the 27th minute.

Conor Stewart and Eoghan McCabe registered points that looked to keep the Glensmen in with an outside chance but they’d go in trailing by 0-10 to 0-4 at the half.

Ethan Rafferty (free) and championship debutant Shane McPartland stretched the Orchard County’s lead to eight early in the restart and Conor Turbitt, who finished with 0-8, soon made it a nine-point game.

Rory Grugan would move Armagh’s advantage into double digits come the 52nd minute and there wasn’t anyway back for Andy McEntee’s charges from there – even with Conor Stewart netting the game’s only goal for them midway through the second period.

Kieran McGeeney’s side now look forward to a provincial quarter-final date with Cavan two weeks from today, while Antrim enter into the Tailteann Cup as they remain without an Ulster championship win since 2014’s victory over Fermanagh.

Watch the Full-Time Highlights of Armagh v Antrim in the Ulster Senior Football Championship here on #GAANOW pic.twitter.com/oMEIYlBQ79

— The GAA (@officialgaa) April 8, 2023