Stephen Carson fired Coleraine into the lead

Goals by Stephen Carson and Damien Whitehead helped Coleraine beat Armagh City in a low-key Showgrounds clash.

Coleraine suffered first-half blows as Howard Beverland and Jody Tolan suffered ankle injuries a fortnight ahead of the Irish Cup decider.

Armagh's James Slater squandered the best first-half chance.

Carson hammered in Coleraine's opener on 52 minutes and sub Whitehead added the second on 82 and the home side lost Paddy McLaughlin to injury late on.

Coleraine did have first-half chances but Marty Hunter was off-target on each occasion.

After losing Beverland, the Coleraine defence did look a little shaky during the remainder of the first half and Slater should have put Armagh into the lead.

Carson's tremendous goal was totally out of keeping with the general quality of the contest.

John Neill played a long ball over the top and Carson hammered the ball past Paul Colgan.

Armagh regrouped and Shane McGeown hammered against the woodwork while Conor Forker had the ball in the net, only for the effort to be ruled out for offside.

Good work by Dav Patton set up Whitehead's 82nd-minute goal and Coleraine's Matt Crossan hit the woodwork late on.

Paddy McLaughlin became the third Coleraine player to be forced off because of injury and the Bannsiders' medical staff could be busy in the run-up to the cup decider against Linfield on Saturday week.