Armagh were full value for their 2-8 to 0-10 victory over Kerry in Tralee.

Brian Mallon and John Kingham - who started at full forward - fired the goals for Paddy O'Rourke's men, who were mightily impressive throughout. In contrast, the losers looked rudderless and they were booed off the pitch by some disgruntled home supporters at the final whistle.

Both sides finished with 14 men, Tomas O Se and Finian Moriarty seeing red in the final quarter.

The Orchard County dominated the early exchanges and roared into a 0-2 to no score lead inside five minutes, with Aidan Forker and midfielder Malachy Mackin on target. It would have been worse for the Kingdom had Eugene McVerry managed to convert a goal chance.

However, it did get worse when centre forward Brian Mallon took advantage of sluggish Kerry defending to turn and slot a low left-footed shot to the net in the tenth minute: 1-2 to no score. Barry John Keane replied with his second wide of the game and James O'Donoghue followed up with a poor miss from a 14-metre free from straight in front of the posts.

Jack O'Connor had his hands on his hips and was looking on with disbelief as his players made a really sloppy start, characterised by poor kicking and some bad handling errors. A huge crowd had turned out for the game and hundreds of spectators were still streaming through the turnstiles twelve minutes after the start.

Another Forker free from 40 metres in the 15th minute made it 1-3 to no score; Kerry's response was to give captain Kieran Donaghy a roaming commission around the middle of the field. Darran O'Sullivan also recorded a wide but Kerry finally got their opening score in the 18th minute when O'Donoghue tapped over a close-range free after he was dragged down by Brendan Donaghy as he bore down on goal.

Sean O'Sullivan linked up with Darran O'Sullivan and Keane to supply Kerry's first score from play after 21 minutes. The same player and Forker missed chances at either side and Paul Galvin also dropped one into the hands of Armagh custodian Niall Geoghan.

Armagh's Anton Duffy drilled the yellow ball wildly off target in the 27th minute as the Orchard men tried to get back amongst the scores and the match was held up when Mackin collided with an opponent after laying the ball off. The inspirational Cullyhanna clubman was left on the deck in need of treatment, having shipped a heavy blow, but he recovered and was able to resume.

Bryan Sheehan collected a pass from O'Donoghue and kicked an excellent point to draw the Kingdom closer but Armagh had the last say of the half when Forker converted a free, which was moved forward for dissent, giving the Ulster raiders a deserved 1-4 to 0-3 interval advantage.

Kerry had introduced Declan O'Sullivan before the break. Could he inspire a second-half revival?

Donaghy's attempted point came back into play off the crossbar seconds after the restart and Armagh then stretched their lead to seven points…

When a high ball went into the Kerry goalmouth, a mix-up between Thomas O Se and goalkeeper Brendan Kealy (who might have been better advised to have stayed on his goal-line) allowed John Kingham to flick the ball to the net: 2-4 to 0-3. Sheehan replied with a pointed free from close range.

Kerry continued to persevere with the long ball but it was food and drink to the Armagh men, who were defending tenaciously and mopped up everything that was thrown at them. Kerry thought they had a goal when Darran O'Sullivan fisted the ball goalwards but Donaghy made a brilliant intervention to save it on the line; Sheehan's resultant '45' went wide.

Two Sheehan frees - either side of a superb Declan O'Sullivan strike - halved the margin, leaving Kerry within three points heading into the final quarter.

But then came three Orchard scores in as many minutes: Forker kicked a beautiful shot on the turn at the Mitchels end and the other Armagh wing forward Duffy followed up instantly. Mackin, donning the No.9 shirt, landed a lovely point to make it 2-7 to 0-7 with 57 minutes gone. Superb stuff from the visitors!

O'Donoghue pulled back a point for the struggling hosts but their hopes went up in smoke shortly thereafter when Tomas O Se picked up a red card after his knees seemed to connect with an opponent's ribs. And substitute Colm Waters confirmed Armagh's victory with an exquisite late point.

The visitors were also reduced to 14 men before the final whistle as Finian Moriarty collected a second yellow card and Kerry's two consolation points were of little or no significance.

Armagh: P McEvoy; A Mallon, B Donaghy, D McKenna; K Dyas, C McKeever, F Moriarty; C Vernon, M Machin (0-2); A Forker (0-4) , B Mallon (1-0), A Duffy (0-1); C Rafferty, J Kingham (1-0), E McVerry. Subs: B J Padden for C Rafferty (44), C Waters (0-01) for B Mallon (54), J Lavery for K Dyas (65), G McPartland for A Forker (68), D Lavery for A Duffy (70).

Kerry: B Kealy; S Enright, M O Se, B McGuire; T O Se, K Young, A O'Mahony; A Maher, B Sheehan (0-6); P Galvin, Darran O'Sullivan, S O'Sullivan (0-1); J O'Donoghue,(0-2) K Donaghy, B J Keane. Subs: Declan O'Sullivan (0-1) for S O'Sullivan (35), D Bohan for S Enright (45), P Crowley for A O'Mahony (58), P Curtin for B J Keane (60), S Scanlon for A Maher (68). Tweet

Most Read Stories