Armagh did two things as they sliced through Tyrone in the second round of the National League – they raised the decimal levels of their fans who roared from the first whistle to the last and they silenced the critics who had written them off after a poor opening game against Galway last week.
Just before a ball was thrown in at a jam-packed Athletics Ground, the electricity went out, the scoreboard went blank and those addicted to Wi-Fi nearly had a panic attack.
The game continued regardless and Malachy O’Rourke would have wished that the scoreboard never switched back on in that opening half because the All-Ireland champions proved why they were exactly that, and completely dismantled their Ulster neighbours.
Ethan Rafferty was drafted in for Blaine Hughes and it will be hard to see Kieran McGeeney dropping their fly goalie from here on as the shot stopper not only kept things tidy at the back but joined the attack on almost every occasion, and kicked two incredible two-pointers with the wind at his back.
Rafferty wasn’t the only one enjoying himself just outside of the new 40m arc as Ross McQuillan and Aidan Forker also got in on the action, striking beautiful long range efforts over the bar with supposed ease.
The Red Hand county worked tirelessly to create a scoring chance against the wind, too, but only their young half back, Shea O’Hare, managed to score from play before Seanie O’Donnell finally added to that score late in the first half.
The Orchard side could have scored three goals in that half alone, with Rory Grugan missing a gilt edged chance in front of the net, going for the curling effort only to see the ball bend just wide of the post from close range.
However, the centre half forward already had credit in the bank as he collected a clever ball from Oisin Conaty and stampeded towards Niall Morgan before slipping it to Andrew Murnin at the last second to extend their lead by three points.
A Darren McCurry free was the only other score that Tyrone managed in an opening half that they will want to forget, and even the most optimistic Armagh fan would have been rubbing their eyes when looking at a half-time scoreboard that read 1-14 to 0-3 to the home side.
Tyrone’s Michael McKernan surges forward
The away team would have felt aggrieved by the fact that they could have very easily been awarded a penalty just before the half had finished as Rafferty tangled with Brian Kennedy, and fans sighed a breath of relief when referee Joe McQuillan blew his whistle to signal the interval rather than a spot kick.
O’Rourke performed some much needed surgery on the team, introducing both Conn Kilpatrick and Eoin McElholm at the break, but it was the men in orange who started the brightest.
Cornerback Tomas McCormack decided to get in on the action and Grugan converted a free shortly afterwards.
Another double substitution from O’Rourke saw Ciaran Daly and Rory Brennan introduced to try and salvage something from the wreckage, and two McCurry two-pointers put a bit of polish on the board, but it still didn’t make for good reading from a Tyrone point of view.
Eventually, the men in white and red started to look like themselves again, and with the wind on their backs, they used that momentum to start popping over some scores as Kennedy, O’Donnell and O’Hare all scored consecutively.
Rafferty showed that he isn’t just a player when the elements favour him as he went on a surging run against the gale and against the Tyrone defence to pop over another point from play, bursting the opposition’s growing bubble.
Michael McKernan at least kept his scoring streak going by joining the increasingly popular two-pointer club, and that was followed by a Kieran McGeary point, but Andrew Murnin made sure that the Man of the Match choice wasn’t going to be easily given to his goalkeeper as he kicked his fourth point to go with his earlier goal.
McKernan went for one more two-pointer on the buzzer but Rafferty fittingly got the last touch of the ball, tipping it over to make sure that it only counted for one, and surely securing his award.
Armagh: E Rafferty 10, T McCormack 8, B McCambridge 8, J Duffy 7, C Mackin 7, A Forker 8, G McCabe 7, B Crealey 8, R McQuillan 8, O Conaty 9, R Grugan 8, D McMullen 7,J Hall 7, A Murnin 10, C Turbitt 9,
Substitutes: Stefan Campbell for R McQuillan (54), Ciaran McConville on for R Grugan (65), Jarly Og Burns on for C Mackin (66).
Armagh scorers: C Turbitt 0-4 (1f), A Murnin 1-4, O Conaty 0-1, R McQuillan 0-3 (1 2p), E Rafferty 0-5 (2 2p), A Forker 0-2 (1 2p), R Grugan 0-1 (1f), T McCormack 0-1, D McMullan 0-1, J Hall 0-1.
Tyrone: N Morgan 6, A Clarke 5, P Teague 4, N Devlin 4, F Burns 4, M McKernan 8, S O’Hare 7, B Kennedy 7, L Gray 5, S O’Donnell 7, K McGeary 6, A Donaghy 4, D McCurry 7, M Donnelly 4, R Cassidy 3
Substitutes: Conn Kilpatrick on for A Donaghy (35), Eoin McElholm on for R Cassidy (35), Ciaran Daly on for Frank Burns (44), Rory Brennan on for Liam Gary (44), Cahal McShane on for M Donnelly (65).
Tyrone scorers: S O’Hare 0-2, D McCurry 0-7 (3f, 2 2p), S O’Donnell 0-2, B Kennedy 0-1, E McElhom 0-1, M McKernan 0-5 (2 2p) K McGeary 0-1.
Referee: Joe McQuillan