McConville forces replay with last gasp point

Armagh 0-12 Donegal 0-12

Fourteen-man Donegal came within a whisker of shocking Armagh who needed an injury-time equaliser from Oisin McConville to force a replay at Clones.

A thrilling Ulster Football Championship tie will be settled next Saturday, back at St Tiernach's Park, when the sides meet again.

Donegal had midfielder Kevin Cassidy sent off seven minutes before half-time, but performed heroically, turning a three points deficit into a three points lead.

And it looked as if they were going to pull off a sensational result, before McConville emerged as the saviour.

Armagh's use of the diagonal ball opened up the Donegal defence on more than one occasion in the opening quarter, and when Ronan Clarke fisted two points and Steven McDonnell and Oisin McConville also found the target, they led by 0-4 to 0-2 after 23 minutes.

Colm McFadden struck cleanly and accurately from long distance frees to bring Tir Chonaill back into it, but they suffered a blow in the 28th minute when midfielder Kevin Cassidy received a straight red card following a clash with Martin O'Rourke.

For a few minutes Donegal were in disarray, but Armagh failed to punish, and Brian McEniff's side recovered late in the half to grab points from Brian Roper and Adrian Sweeney.

Brian Mallon gave Armagh a 0-7 to 0-5 half-time lead, but they just couldn't cope with Donegal's support play and short, running game.

Three more McFadden scores helped the men from the north-west into a 0-10 to 0-7 lead, and although Clarke and Brian Mallon helped Armagh to narrow the gap, they too were reduced to 14 men when substitute Paddy McKeever was dismissed on a straight red nine minutes from the end.

The introduction of Philip Loughran, however, helped Joe Kernan's side regain control at midfield, where debutant Neil Gallagher had been revelling, and scores from Paul McGrane and Aaron Kernan brought them within striking distance, before McConville rescued the Orchard men.