Tipperary manage Peter Creedon unhappy with referee following Armagh loss

Armagh 2-8 Tipperary 0-13: Allianz Football League Division 3: Drama, controversy and passion enveloped the Athletic Grounds yesterday as Armagh staged a Lazarus-like injury-time recovery to snatch an unlikely victory from the jaws of defeat – and leave Tipperary manager Peter Creedon shell-shocked

Most of Creedon’s ire was directed towards referee David Coldrick.

“There were several dubious decisions, including a penalty award before half-time, the red card shown to Robbie Kiely and the fact that additional injury-time was played when the referee had been told time was up. We put far too much effort into this to be robbed in such a manner,” fumed Creedon.

His side had remained on Armagh’s shoulder for the greater part of a first-half highlighted by Jamie Clarke’s scoring wizardry, but were stunned when Coldrick awarded a 34th-minute penalty from which Clarke sealed the home team’s 1-4 to 0-4 interval advantage.

Colin O’Riordan and Conor Sweeney then came to the fore for Tipp, sweeping over four unanswered points between the 37th and 41st minutes.

A Mark Shields goal appeared to have soothed Armagh’s frayed nerves but Tipperary cut loose once again, garnering five points between the 46th and 61st minutes to steal into an improbable 0-13 to 2-5 lead.

It was an advantage they enjoyed until Clarke complemented Micheal McKenna’s 70th minute point by potting two of his own deep in injury-time to take his side over the line.

Manager Kieran McGeeney bore a slightly sheepish look, as opposed to Creedon’s expression of disbelief, as he curtly assessed the smash and grab. “Some of our misses in front of goal were unforgivable and we stood off them too much in the second-half. We have a lot of work to do,” declared McGeeney.

Scorers for Armagh: J Clarke 1-5 (1-0 pen, 0-1f), M Shields 1-0, T Kernan, A Forker, M McKenna 0-1 each.

Scorers for Tipperary: C Sweeney 0-4 (frees), C O’Riordan 0-3, B Grogan 0-2 (0-1f), S O’Brien 0-2, M Quinlivan, G Hananigan 0-1 each.

ARMAGH: T Harney; F Moriarty, C Vernon, M Murray; M Shields (1-0), C McKeever, S Connell; A Findon, S Campbell; E McVerry, M McKenna, A Forker; T Kernan, C Rafferty, J Clarke.

Subs: A Mallon for Moriarty (42), K Dyas for Connell (42), S Harold for Dyas (54), C O’Hanlon for Kernan (58), E Rafferty for Shields (60). Yellow Cards: Findon (28), Moriarty (35), McKenna (46).

TIPPERARY: E Comerford; A Campbell, P Codd, A Morrissey; S Kennedy, P Acheson, R Kiely; C O’Riordan, S O’Brien; G Hannigan, B Grogan, B Fox; C Sweeney M Quinlivan, I Fahy. Subs: P Austin for Fahy (52), B Mulvilhill for Grogan (64), S Flynn for Hannigan (66). Yellow cards: Hannigan (40), Codd (47), Austin (67), O’Riordan (71).

Referee: David Coldrick (Meath).