Cork content to make a point

Conor Counihan expressed himself happy enough to be making the long journey home with a point in the bag and, while they could have left with nothing, they really should have departed with two.

It was that kind of afternoon.

The visitors named a strong selection, one admittedly weakened by the late failure of Colm O’Neill and Patrick Kelly to pass fitness tests, but they were facing a side operating without its centrifugal force.

The Kernans, Stephen and Tony, goalkeeper Paul Hearty and Jamie Clarke were all absolved of duty thanks to Crossmaglen’s latest tilt at Paddy’s Day, Steven McDonald was sitting in his civvies in the stand and Ronan Clarke is still some way from fitness.

Paddy O’Rourke handed out five league debuts and Armagh finished the game with six U21s. Favourites for the drop to Division 2 before the off, they backed up those odds in a first half which rarely rose above the mediocre.

The main incident of note came on the 20th minute when one of the hosts’ new boys, midfielder John Kingham, spilled a miscued Paul Kerrigan free into the back of his own net. The groan which greeted it was the perfect soundtrack for the game in general at that point.

Cork reached the half-hour mark with 1-3 to their name. Armagh had just the one free from Paul Carvill to their credit but then Kerrigan and Finian Moriarty traded some mischief along the sideline and the fixture thundered into life.

The Nemo Rangers man was sent to the line for inclining his head towards his opponent and the spark extended to the far side of the pitch minutes later when 27 players hared into a brief melee after Graham Canty and Malachy Mackin collapsed together in a heap.

It wasn’t pleasant but it wasn’t anything to write home about it either and referee Syl Doyle obviously agreed as just two players saw yellow cards when everyone calmed down and went their respective ways.

Armagh used the interval well. Captain and centre-back Ciaran McKeever was utilised as the free man and, with Mackin moved back from full-forward to midfield, the chess pieces were in place to launch the cavalry charge.

The Ulster side did it by running at the heart of the Cork defence and it was no coincidence that the entire half-back line finished the game with cautions or that Armagh pulled level by slotting over five of the next six points from frees.

It was their first from play, through Mackin after 53 minutes, that brought them level and newcomer Eugene McVerry tipped over another 60 seconds later to put them in front. The whole thing had taken just a dozen minutes.

Cork were in serious trouble by now. Not only were they conceding at a rate of knots but their inability to maintain possession meant that they had hardly seen the opposing 45 let alone the Armagh posts since Fintan Goold’s free in the 38th minute.

Gone were the leg-pumping runs from Paudie Kissane and Kerrigan’s loss was more than just numeric given his influence prior to seeing red. Yet, to their credit, the Munster side responded when the need was greatest.

Substitute Sean Kiely spilled the ball that led to Armagh’s go-in-front point but the Macroom man made up for it with the score of the day soon after – a beauty of a kick from the touchline whilst under pressure.

Kiely’s kick restored parity, not just to the scoreboard but to the play itself. Cork began to find outlets up front and their two-man forward line of Donncha O’Connor and Mark Collins combined brilliantly in the final quarter.

Each was denied what would surely have been the winning goal by the goalkeeper’s legs and a superb last-ditch defensive block but the ‘what ifs’ were not exactly monopolised by those making for the away dressing-room afterwards.

Brian Mallon had already brought the sides level for the fourth time in 12 minutes on the stroke of the 70 when Michael Shields fouled the onrushing Charlie Vernon to leave McVerry with a chance to be a hero on his debut.

It was bang in front of Ken O’Halloran’s posts and near enough to the 45 but the Mullaghbawn youngster’s kick belied his obvious nerves and trailed off wide to leave these sides inseparable for the seventh time in their last 13 league meetings.

Scorers for Armagh: E Lavery 0-4 (3 fs), A Forker 0-3fs, P Carvill (f), M Mackin, B Mallon 0-1 free.

Scorers for Cork: OG 1-0, D O’Connor, M Collins 0-2 each, F Lynch, S Kiely, F Goold (f) 0-1 each.

Subs for Armagh: C Rafferty for Kingham (27), A Forker for Watters (35), S Campbell for Carvill (35), B Mallon for Duffy (44), R Rafferty for Dyas (58).

Subs for Cork: S Kiely for O’Driscoll (51), D O’Sullivan for O’Leary (56), E Cotter for Cadogan (58), L Shorter for Lynch (65).

Referee: S Doyle (Wexford).