GAA: Armagh beat Westmeath 1-12 to 1-07 in bad-tempered game
Last Updated: 08/07/17 10:26pm
Armagh suffered a narrow one-point defeat when these sides last met in the NFL four years ago but this time round they snatched a thrilling 1-12 to 0 1-7 victory over Westmeath at Cusack Park in Mullingar.
Westmeath, in a hugely entertaining contest, looked to be cruising to victory in front of 5,012 in the evening sun, but in the second half they kicked ten wides and that cost them dearly.
Armagh had substitute Gregory McCabe sent-off after the interval while star forward Jamie Clarke and influential wing-back James Morgan got black cards in the first half.
Westmeath felt the full force of Armagh throughout the encounter, but they also had Mark McCallon and John Egan black carded late on in the game as tempers frayed.
But Ethan Rafferty's strike sealed the win for Armagh - it came in the fifth minute of added time, and Paul Sharry's earlier goal was just a consolation as a result.
There was some ferocious physicality on show in the first-half with most of it coming from the Armagh side where they gave away 19 frees.
And it resulted in two black cards to two Crossmaglen players with Clarke and Morgan having to leave the field before the 19th minute of the game.
The first black card came when Clarke allegedly fouled Jamie Gonoud off the ball, and he was gone after just 72 seconds of play.
Target-man John Heslin tapped over two points for Westmeath and substitute Stefan Campbell kicked Armagh's first point before Gavin McParland tied the game up for the first time in the tenth minute.
The teams were level on three occasions in the first-half but after Niall Grimley and Heslin traded scores Armagh took control.
They had long asserted their physical dominance on the game, and when McParland, Rory Grugan (two) and Stephen Sheridan scored they held a 0-7 to 0-3 lead in the 29th minute.
But just one minute later Westmeath were back within a point - corner back Mark McCallon made a surging run through the middle, passed to Sharry, he gave Frank Boyle the ball and his shot was saved well by Blaine Hughes but Sharry converted the rebound into the open goal.
Just before the break Heslin scored his fourth point to draw the sides level at 1-4 to 0-7 at half-time. And the St Loman's clubman added two more inspirational efforts afterwards.
But Armagh remained composed even despite their ill-discipline they drew level through Grugan and Aidan Forker.
McCabe got his red card, when he was shown black following an earlier yellow, after tangling with Sam Duncan.
Westmeath had their chance to push on and win the game but they missed too many opportunities in front of goal and substitute Oisin O'Neill kicked two valuable points in the dying stages.
Alan Gaughan gave Westmeath a chance but Rafferty collected a pass from Niall Grimley and blasted past Darren Quinn to secure a famous win after the most intense 76 minutes.
Armagh: B Hughes; A McKay, C Vernon, P Hughes; A Forker (0-1), B Donaghy, J Morgan; S Sheridan (0-1), N Grimley (0-1, 1f); C O'Hanlon, A Duffy, R Grugan (0-3, 2f); J Clarke, A Murnin, G McParland (0-2).
Subs: S Campbell (0-2) for Clarke (2, black card), G McCabe for Morgan (20, black card), O O'Neill (0-2) for Duffy (44), M Shields for McKay (44), C McKeever for McParland (57), E Rafferty (1-0) for O'Hanlon (64).
Westmeath: D Quinn; M McCallon, K Maguire, J Gonoud; J Dolan, F Boyle, D Lynch; G Egan, S Duncan; J Egan, P Sharry (1-0), K Reilly; K Daly, K Martin, J Heslin (0-6, 4f).
Subs: T McDaniel for G Egan (28), C McCormack for Martin (31-34, blood) & for Reilly (55), A Stone for Duncan (56), N Mulligan for Lynch (60), A Gardiner for McCallon (66, black card), A Gaughan (0-1) for J Egan (66, black card).
Referee: Padraig O'Sullivan (Kerry).
