BBC SPORT | N Ireland | Armagh charge into final

Ulster Championship semi-final:
Armagh 0-16 1-05 Fermanagh

A great second-half performance saw Armagh charge in the Ulster Football Championship final at Clones on Sunday.

The Orchard County side were given a real fright in the opening period, but they turned around in the lead, and then turn up the gas after the break.

Fermanagh, undaunted by the underdogs tag, played with a lot of confidence, but the final pass inevitably went astray.

In the end they failed to score a point for nearly 55 minutes which told its own story.

Temporary

They appeared content to fire high balls up to the attack hoping that top scorer Rory Gallagher would get on the end of it.

He did manager a couple of points with his brother Raymond another in that first period.

But playing with the wind, Fermanagh just failed to put points on the board when they ran things temporarily in midfield.

Armagh, on the other hand, got the points when needed, despite not fulfilling their potential.

Armagh mananger Joe Kernan on his way to an Ulster final
Armagh boss Joe Kernan applauds his warriors

The best of those five first-half points was from Ronan Clarke, who was later to depart with a serious shoulder injury.

The young forward took a good ball, spun around and left his marker for dead before finding the target.

Oisin McConville picked up two points while Diarmid Marsden and Paul McGrane also contributed.

But after real rollicking from team boss Joe Kernan at the break, Armagh came out with an extra gear.

The appearance of Barny O'Hagan proved the key for the Orchard boys.

His first touch was to put Armagh further ahead, and from there they never looked back.

Points came at regular intervals for Armagh as they completely dominated in defence and in midfield.

First points

Fermanagh's cause was not helped when they were reduced to 14 men in the 66th minute after Sean Burns got red following a bad tackle on Enda McNulty.

But it was all over by then. Indeed the game was meandering into injury-time when a Rory Gallagher goal allowed Fermanagh to score their first points of the second half.

Armagh finished the half as they started with a quick one-two by the excellent Diarmaid Marsden and Paddy McKeever.

Armagh will now play the winners of the Donegal and Derry semi-final next week.

Armagh: B Tierney; E McNulty, J McNulty, F Bellew, A O'Rourke, K McGeeney, capt, A McCann, J Toal, P McGrane (0-2), P McKeever (0-1), J McEntee, O McConville (0-5), S McDonnell (0-2), R Clarke (0-1), D Marsden (0-3). Substitutes: B O'Hagan (0-1), A O'Rouke (0-1).

Fermanagh: Ronan Gallagher, B Owens, P McGuinness, M Lilley, S Burns, J Gilheaney, N Cox, P Brewster, M McGrath, R Johnston, capt, T Brewster (0-1), S McDermott, Raymond Gallagher (0-1), Rory Gallagher (1-3), K Donnelly.