Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
FRUITFUL FOR ORCHARDMEN
FOURTEEN man Armagh out-fought and out-thought Division
Two promotion favourites Kildare in a stormy Athletic Grounds last night.
The Orchardmen brought a physical edge Kildare couldn’t match and charged into a 0-8 to 0-1 half-time lead, with Oisin O’Neill and Stefan Campbell using the strong wind advantage to stroke over superb points.
A half-time scuffle as the teams made their way off seemed to clear the air after a spiteful first half and the second half was of much higher quality.
The sides were level at one point each in the early stages of the game but from there, Armagh completely took over.
They had the wind and knew they needed to take a big lead into the interval and reeled off seven points in a row. Armagh bullied Kildare, and the Lilywhites came off second best in a lot of the physical exchanges.
Stefan Campbell hit two points from play while Jamie Clarke – on as a sub for Conor Turbitt – hit two points before half time.
Armagh lost Jamie Clarke to a second yellow card just four minutes after the restart.
But they were firing now and scored four points in the first eight minutes after the break.
Kildare went close to a goal through Daniel Flynn after a goalmouth scramble and it seemed to spark them into life as Paddy Brophy pointed in the 45th minute.
Paddy Brophy, Jack Robinson and Adam Tyrrell brought Kildare back into it but Armagh saw the game out with a level of control to make it two wins from their opening three games.