Cork earn draw in League clash at Armagh

Armagh 0-10 Cork 1-7

Armagh and Cork shared the points at the Athletic Grounds, where the Rebels saw a six points lead whittled away after they were reduced to 14 men with the dismissal of Paul Kerrigan.

It was Kerrigan who grabbed a fortuitous goal for the Munster men, but a resurgent Orchard side turned the game around in the second half, with Malachy Mackin leading the charge from midfield and Eugene McVerry and Aidan Forker kicking the vital points, before substitute Brian Mallon sent over a late equaliser.

Armagh, playing with wind advantage, managed just one point in the first half, and struggled to break down a dynamic Cork defence in which half back trio Noel O’Leary, Graham Canty and Paudie Kissane posed a constant threat going forward.

But the Rebels were guilty of some poor finishing, and managed just one point, a Fiachar Lynch effort, in the opening 19 minutes.

They took a grip on the contest on 20 minutes with a fortuitous goal. Paul Kerrigan sent in scuffed free kick which should have been comfortably dealt with, but midfielder John Kingham failed to hold the ball and it dropped into the net.

When Mark Collins followed up with a neat point, the visitors led by 1-2 to 0-0, and the margin would have been greater but for some solid defending from Andy Mallon, Brendan Donaghy and Ciaran McKeever.

Armagh registered their sole first half point from a 13 metre free, converted by Paul Carvill in the 26th minute, but that was quickly cancelled out by a superb Donnacha O’Connor effort.

Cork suffered a setback after half an hour when Kerrigan receviede a straight red card after tussling with Finnian Moriarty.

They led by 1-3 to 0-1 at half-time, but Malachy Mackin, having moved from full forward to midfield, began to run at the Rebel defence, and won the frees which Eugene McVerry converted to narrow the gap to two points.

Substitute Aidan Forker also steered over a couple of frees, and by the 50th minute, the gap had been trimmed back to a single point.

Mackin thumped over a long range equaliser, Armagh’s first score from play, following a superb turnover by Andy Mallon, before McVerry sliced over the lead point in the 53rd minute.

Substitute Sean Kiely guided over a superb score from the sideline to bring Cork level, and they went back in front through Mark Collins with six minutes to play.

But a flowing move ended with substitute Brian Mallon curling over a delightful equalising point with three minutes to play.

Armagh scorers: E McVerry 0-4 (3f), A Forker 0-3 (3f), P Carvill (f), M Mackin, B Mallon 0-1 each.

Cork scorers: P Kerrigan 1-0 (f), M Collins, D O’Connor 0-2 each, F Goold (f), F Lynch, S Kiely 0-1 each.

Armagh: N Geoghan, A Mallon, B Donaghy, D McKenna, P Duffy, C McKeever, F Moriarty, C Vernon, J Kingham, C Watters, K Dyas, A Duffy, P Carvill, M Mackin, E McVerry.

Subs: C Rafferty for Kingham, A Forker for Watters, S Campbell for Carvill, B Mallon for P Duffy, R Rafferty for Dyas

Cork: K O’Halloran, R Carey, M Shields, E Cadogan, N O’Leary, G Canty, P Kissane, A O’Connor, P O’Neill, F Goold, F Lynch, C O’Driscoll, M Collins, D O’Connor, P Kerrigan.

Subs: S Kiely for O’Driscoll, D O’Sullivan for O’Leary, E Cotter for Cadogan, L Shorten for Lynch

Referee: S Doyle (Wexford).