Down 0-15

Armagh 2-7

Down are celebrating their first Ulster SFC victory in four years after seeing off neighbours Armagh at Pairc Esler.

Trailing by 0-9 to 2-4 at half-time, Eamonn Burns' charges outscored their local rivals by 0-6 to 0-3 in a niggly second half which referee Conor Lane struggled to keep under control in the closing stages. The standard of play deteriorated as they game wore on, but that won't bother the home side, who were full value for their win. After going 22 months without a victory before beating Meath in this year's Allianz League, things are suddenly looking up for the Mourne County, who can now look forward to a provincial semi-final against the winners of next Sunday's clash between Monaghan and Cavan.

Before an attendance of over 16,000, the hosts were quickly into their stride and led by 0-4 to 0-0 after nine minutes thanks to points from Caolan Mooney, Connaire Harrison, goalkeeper Michael Cunningham (free) and Jerome Johnston. Armagh finally got themselves on the scoreboard four minutes later when Mark Shields reacted quickest to the breaking ball and blasted to the net. Aaron McKay could have had a second goal moments later, but his shot flew over and the sides were level.

Darragh O'Hanlon restored the Mourne County's lead, only for them to concede a second major in the 22^nd minute. Andrew Murnin was the scorer this time, firing home after Cunningham had blocked Stefan Campbell's initial shot. Aidan Forker tagged on a point and corner back Paul Hughes also got in on the scoring act as the Orchard opened up a three-point advantage, 2-3 to 0-6.

However, a trio of scores from Darren O'Hagan, Harrison and Shay Millar had Down briefly back on level terms before Stephen Sheridan's point gave the visitors a slender lead at the end of a most entertaining opening half.

Similar to the start of the game, Down resumed with four unanswered points per Darragh O'Hanlon (two), Caolan Mooney and Conor Maginn to take a 0-13 to 2-4 lead before Anthony Duffy replied for Kieran McGeeney's men. The hosts then suffered a double blow when midfielder Niall Donnelly was stretchered off with a serious-looking injury and debutant Anthony Doherty was black-carded in the 56^th minute for dragging down Jamie Clarke.

In spite of this, full forward Barry O'Hagan swung over another point to make it a three-point game once again with seven minutes remaining. A wasteful Armagh were struggling badly for scores, but they almost equalised when Aidan Forker's goal attempt hit the outside of the post in what was his last involvement in the game.

Niall Grimley had a bad wide before Gavin McPartland (free) and Down sub David Kibbin traded points.

With the game deep into injury-time and the Orchard County needing a goal, Kevin McKernan took one for the team by cynically taking down McPartland in front of the Down goal. The incident led to some ugly scenes which saw McKernan receiving a black card and two players from either side receiving yellow cards (referee Lane initially erred by showing Armagh's Joe McElroy a red card).

When order was eventually restored, Jamie Clarke knocked over the free to bring it back to two before a great catch by full back Gerard McGovern was followed by the full-time whistle 12 minutes into added time.

Down - M Cunningham (0-1f); A Doherty, G McGovern, D O'Hagan; D O'Hanlon (0-4, 2f), C McGovern, C Mooney (0-2); K McKernan, N Donnelly; P Turley, C Maginn (0-1), S Millar (0-1); J Johnston (0-1f), C Harrison (0-2), R Johnston (0-1). Subs: B O'Hagan (0-1) for C Harrison, D McKibben (0-1) for N Donnelly, N McParland for A Doherty (BC), J Murphy for R Johnston, A Carr for P Turley, M Poland for C Maginn.

Armagh - B Hughes; J Morgan, C Vernon, P Hughes (0-1); A McKay (0-1), B Donaghy, M Shields (1-0); S Sheridan (0-1), J McElroy; A Forker (0-1), O O'Neill, R Grugan; J Clarke (0-1f), S Campbell, A Murnin (1-0). Subs: N Grimley for C Vernon, A Duffy (0-1) for O O'Neill, G McParland (0-1f) for R Grugan, N Rowland for A Forker, C O'Hanlon for A Murnin, C McKeever for S Campbell.

Referee - C Lane.

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