All-Ireland SFC: A very strong Kerry for Armagh in round three

Armagh made a storming start in Killarney and Joe McIlroy went close to an early goal, but his shot went the wrong side of the post.

Paul Gainey got the first point of the game for the hosts, but Armagh’s scrappy play paid dividends as they rattled off the next four scores to go ahead.

But they were soon brought back by a combination of their own waste and some brilliance from David Clifford.

Orchard County hit four wides in succession before Carey and David Clifford, who remained calm until the 12-minute mark, on his 50th Championship appearance, fired low into the far corner for his 26th goal after latching on to a superb pass from Dylan Gainey.

He scored another before the momentum returned to Armagh through points from Ross McQuillan and Jason Duffy.

The end-to-end nature of the absorbing contest continued as Clifford scored another point and Dylan Gainey added three, including a two-pointer to put Carey ahead.

A close-range free from Conor Turbitt and a score from Oisin Conaty brought Armagh back to within a point, but a David Clifford two-pointer cut Kerry’s lead back to three.

Armagh then suffered a hammer blow on the stroke of half time as they conceded a second goal after some poor play management.

As Kieran McGeeney’s side pushed for a late point before the hooter, Jarley Og Burns surrendered possession cheaply and, with Ethan Rafferty outside his net, Paul Geaney collected a long pass and stroked the ball into an empty net to give the Kingdom a six-point lead at the break.