Armagh do the damage early

Armagh booked their place in the Nicky Rackard Cup semi-finals with a one-sided win over Sligo in Crossmaglen on Saturday.

Armagh scored an unanswered 1-9 in the first-half to lead 1-13 to 0-2 at half-time with all six forwards scoring from play.

James King scored the only goal in the 24th minute before full-forward Declan Coulter finished the half strongly hitting 0-4 from play.

Sligo were out of their depth and two points from Gary Waldron was all they had to show for their efforts in the first-half. They improved on the restart, hitting six points, but by that stage Armagh were out of sight.

ARMAGH: S Doherty; M Garvey, C Clifford, C McKee; P Gaffney, N Curry, K McKernan; R McGrattan, P McCormack; J King (1-0), C Carvill (0-3), D Carvill (0-6, 2 65s), C Corvan (0-3), D Coulter (0-4), R Lewis (0-1).

Subs: C Reid for King (ht), N Duffy for McGrattan (48), F Bradley for Reid (57), C Coulter (0-2) for Lewis (64), D Carvill for C Carvill (64).

SLIGO: D Loughnane; E McGowan, D Tobin, T Cawley; J Kenny, M Burke, R Cox; A Cawley (0-1), T Conneely; K Gilmartin, R Molloy, D Burke; G Waldron (0-6, two 45s), K Raymond (0-1), C O’Mahony

Subs: M Gilmartin for O’Mahony (55), MJ Crean for McGowan (64), C Parke for Molloy (69).

Referee: Liam McAuley (Antrim).