Armagh lose out to Wexford

All-Ireland SFC Quarter-Final
Wexford 1-14 Armagh 0-12

Matty Forde kicked 1-5 for Wexford as their late second-half surge ended Armagh’s All-Ireland dreams for another year.

Forde snatched the all-important goal on 62 minutes when he escaped from Francie Bellew to pounce on Eric Bradley’s long ball and skipped round Paul Hearty to send the Model men into the All-Ireland semi-final.

Forde, who seemed hampered by an injury to that point, then filleted Bellew for the remaining ten minutes to grab two more glorious points and another famous scalp for Jason Ryan’s men.

Wexford will now face the winners of Saturday week’s Dublin-Tyrone clash.

However, Armagh did have a late chance to set up a grandstand finish, when with 70 minutes on the clock, Aaron Kernan delivered a free into a thicket of players, which was met with an orange fist, but Wexford goalkeeper Anthony Masterson saved brilliantly and conserved his side’s lead.

Forde again grabbed all the headlines, but the foundations for victory were laid by midfield duo Bradley and Brendan Doyle, who atoned for their Leinster final nightmare against Dublin with a thoroughly dominant display.

Armagh had gone into the break a point to the good, with Wexford registering just one point from play and Forde failing to live up to his billing, despite one sublime effort from the sideline.

Armagh’s Steven McDonnell started to exert his considerable influence after the break, kicking three points in total and giving the Wexford defence nightmares in the process.

McDonnell grabbed two points inside a minute midway through the second half to give his side a two-point cushion, while Aaron Kernan also chipped in with three points.

But when the pressure was on in the final minutes, it was Wexford who showed the greater nerve, with Redmond Barry and Forde the inspirational influences in a sensational  win.

The first half had told a different story as Wexford continually coughed up possession in the face of some fierce Armagh pressure.

However, the Armagh attack failed to click in the opening minutes, with McDonnell, Stephen Kernan and Ronan Clarke all kicking wides, while Charlie Vernon kicked another easy chance into the goalkeeper’s arms.

However, McDonnell soon found his range nine minutes in to open the scoring after Clarke had stripped Collie Byrne of the ball and offloaded to the Armagh sharpshooter, who curled the ball over from a tight angle.

Forde then finally started to exert his influence on the game, twice drawing fouls from Bellew in a two-minute period that saw Wexford level the game, with Forde and Ciaran Lyng converting the placed balls.

The Armagh defence choked up the space in front of the Wexford goal forcing Forde to venture further out the field in search of the ball.

And the Wexford midfield, with Bradley particularly impressive, had the upper hand over 35-year-old Paul McGrane and Kieran Toner, but failed to convert their glut of possession into score on the board.

Aaron Kernan and Ronan Clarke, who was by now starting to torment Wexford full-back Phillip Wallace, added further points to give the Orchard men a two-point buffer.

Wexford had little trouble winning the ball and they were, at times, ponderous in front of goal, but Armagh soon started to give away of succession of frees which Lyng was more than happy to punish.

Forde then fired over a glorious sideline kick from way out on the left touchline, before PJ Banville grabbed Wexford’s first point from play after 30 minutes.

For all their possession, the recurring theme of the first period was Wexford’s inability to hold onto the ball, with Armagh stripping them of the ball ten times in total in 35 minutes.

It was the same problem that led to the mauling against Dublin in the Leinster final, and on this occasion, it was Clarke who was the man to dole out the punishment.

His superiority in the full-forward line was underscored when he outmuscled Wallace twice in the final minutes of the half to notch a pair of brilliant points that gave Peter McDonnell’s men a 0-6 to 0-5 lead.

But Forde, ably assisted by his midfielders and some clever Masterson kick-outs, further etched his name into Wexford folklore with a late showing that has delivered Wexford to football’s top table.
Scorers for Armagh: C Vernon 0-1, R Clarke 0-3, S McDonnell 0-3, A Kernan 0-4 (0-3f), B Mallon 0-1,

Armagh: P Hearty; E McNulty, F Bellew, F Moriarty; A Kernan, A O’Rourke, C McKeever; P McGrane, K Toner; C Vernon, B Mallon, M O’Rourke; S McDonnell, R Clarke, S Kernan.

Subs: P McKeever for S Kernan ’46, B Donagh for C Vernon ’62, D McKenna for K Toner.

Scorers for Wexford: C Lyng 0-5 (0-3f), M Forde 1-5 (0-1f, 0-1sl) PJ Banville 0-1, B Doyle 0-1, R Barry 0-2.

Wexford: A Masterson; D Walsh, P Wallace, B Malone; A Morrissey, D Muphy, C Morris [capt]; E Bradley, B Doyle; R Barry, P Colfer, C Byrne; C Lyng, PJ Banville, M Forde.

Subs: N Murphy for D Walsh ’60, C Deely for A Morrissey ’60, R Stafford for C Byrne ’66, T Wall for P Colfer ’67, A Flynn for B Doyle ’73.

Referee: Paddy Russell (Tipperary)

Attendance:  30,000 approx