Armagh make first All-Ireland final since 2003 after thrilling win over Kerry

All-Ireland SFC semi-final: Armagh 1-18 Kerry 1-16 (after extra time)

All the pain was worth it. All those tight games that Armagh left behind them, all those knife-edges they fell down on the wrong side of, they were only purgatory in the end. They are in an All-Ireland final for the first time since 2003, coming back from five points down on 55 minutes to beat Kerry in extra-time.

Kieran McGeeney’s side have seen so many bad days in this stadium, this felt like them saying firmly that they’d had enough. They took a while to get going here but got their sea legs under them eventually and turned this into a brilliant game down the stretch. But Kerry will wonder how they ran out of steam so badly and how they did not kill the game off when they were on top.

With 47 minutes on the clock in normal time, Kerry led by 1-11 to 0-9 after Paul Murphy had popped up to slam home their goal. But they only scored 0-5 the rest of the way, including two periods of extra-time. For all that Armagh came and grabbed their chance, Jack O’Connor’s side surely go back down the road wondering how they left it behind them.

It had started so well for the Kingdom. All the early urgency and energy came from Kerry, who immediately got the spray paint out and tagged their territory. Paudie Clifford was fizzing around the place, Dara Moynihan and Tony Brosnan were raiding from the wings. David Clifford was being well shackled by Barry McCambridge but still insinuated himself into it to kick a free and set up a score for Seán O’Shea. By the 15th minute, they were 0-6 to 0-2 up and cruising.

It was to Armagh’s credit that the day didn’t get away from them. Niall Grimley landed two points in a minute, the first after a goalmouth scramble, the second when Kerry fell asleep at a free. Rian O’Neill whistled over one of his own after McCambridge pulled off a turnover on Clifford, to the lusty delight of the Armagh crowd. With 22 minutes gone, Armagh had the margin back to a point.

But they were coming up shy on the non-negotiables. They didn’t get level, for one. They gave up cheap scores, for another. A Paul Geaney mark turned into a handy Clifford free after a silly foul from Paddy Burns. Then came a Clifford mark and a boomer from Diarmuid O’Connor soon after and just like that, Kerry were three up again, 0-9 to 0-6 on the half-hour.

Armagh started missing, into the bargain. Andrew Murnin had the first goal chance of the day but got too close to Shane Ryan and saw it smothered. Oisin Conaty, so potent all year for them, skewed a handy one wide with nobody near him. Ben Crealey came galloping forward with intent but missed as well. Armagh had tossed 1-2 away like confetti.

It meant that Kerry were able to take a 0-10 to 0-6 lead into the break with them. For Armagh, it must have felt like a golfer getting out of a bad round with a 73. They had done so much you’re not supposed to do in an All-Ireland semi-final and yet they were still within spitting distance. And when Aidan Forker landed the first score of the second half with a lovely effort off his left foot, there was only a goal between them.

Now it was Kerry’s turn to find their swords turn into balloon animals in front of goal. Tom O’Sullivan found himself through on goal twice in a minute but, unusually for him, looked every inch the corner back both times. For the first, he turned back inside and fed David Clifford for a point. For second, he went himself and blazed haplessly wide.

Armagh were still breathing. A free from Grugan and another inspirational score from Forker cut the gap back to two, 0-11 to 0-9 in the 45th minute. And even when Paul Murphy slapped in what looked like the game-breaking goal soon after, Kieran McGeeney’s side weren’t cowed. They went up the other end of the pitch and got the next two scores, a Conor Turbitt free and a smooth curler from Rian O’Neill.

But they needed a goal themselves. It came much the same way as Kerry’s had. A shot for a point that dropped short – O’Neill the kicker this time, as Clifford had been at the other end – and the ball squirting loose. McCambridge whipped on it like a handball champion burying a killshot. Kerry 1-12 Armagh 1-11, 55 minutes gone.

This was anyone’s now. Paudie Clifford popped up to try to make it Kerry’s, pushing them two points clear just after the hour. But second-half sub Stefan Campbell came thundering into matters, skating out on a loop to nail two points on the spin. And when O’Neill came on to a loose ball 55 metres out, it felt like the most natural thing in the world for him to casually stroke it over.

It gave Armagh the lead for the first time all day, 1-14 to 1-13 in the 65th minute. But Dylan Geaney came off the bench for Kerry to kick a stunner with his first involvement to send us to extra-time.

By now, it felt like a stay of judgment. Kerry players were going down with cramp all over the place – Clifford, O’Shea and Jason Foley all limped away from misses in extra-time. All the momentum was with Armagh – Jarly Óg Burns joined the fray and immediately split the posts. Turbitt wriggled free of a clinch to put two between the teams. When Ross McQuillan sprinted into open country to put them 1-17 to 1-14 up after 83 minutes, they looked home and hosed.

Cillian Burke and Paudie Clifford hit back for Kerry but it was dying wasp stuff. Soon after, Turbitt broke clear for the sealing score and Armagh were in the final.

ARMAGH: B Hughes; P Burns, A McKay, B McCambridge (1-0); A Forker (0-2), P McGrane (0-1), T Kelly; N Grimley (0-2), B Crealey; J McElroy, R Grugan (0-1, one free), R O’Neill (0-3); O Conaty; A Murnin, C Turbitt (0-5, three frees). Subs: S Campbell (0-2) for McGrane (half-time). J Duffy for Conaty (49 mins), A Nugent for Crealey (57 mins), R McQuillan (0-1) for Forker (60 mins), O O’Neill for Murnin (62 min), J Óg Burns (0-1) for Turbitt (extra time), S McParland for Kelly (extra time), Turbitt for Nugent (80 mins), Conaty for Grugan (85 mins).

KERRY: S Ryan; T O’Sullivan, J Foley, T Morley; G White, P Murphy (1-0), B Ó Beaglaíoch; D O’Connor (0-1), J O’Connor; T Brosnan (0-1), P Clifford (capt; 0-2), D Moynihan (0-1); D Clifford (0-4, two frees, 1 mark), S O’Shea (0-5, one free, one 45), P Geaney. Subs: C Burke (0-1) for Moynihan (47 mins), K Spillane for Geaney (47 mins), D Geaney (0-1) for Brosnan (59 mins), G O’Sullivan for Ó Beaglaíoch (65 mins), BD O’Sullivan for J O’Connor (70 mins), M Breen for White (extra time), D Casey for Foley (78 mins), Steven O’Brien for D O’Connor (half-time, extra time), Sean O’Brien for Murphy (85 mins).

Referee: David Gough (Meath).