AFTER 29 MINUTES, the scoreboard was reading Armagh 3-4 Fermanagh 0-1.

By the finish, Fermanagh had only reduced that gap by two points.

So, no. It wasn’t the game that Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney was expecting and preparing for.

“If you look historically, Armagh Fermanagh games, they are those types of games. There were very few in my lifetime anyway playing against them; it was always tight,” he said afterwards.

“I suppose like everything else it depends, in the league (game against Fermanagh) we had a couple of goal chances and we didn’t take them and today we did. And that pushes a team to come out at you and we were able to expose gaps. But on another day they don’t go in and it is a different game.”

From the first three minutes, Armagh denied Fermanagh the chance to get their hands on the ball. Their appetite looked ravenous and keen. It was all for good reason.

“The boys looked hungry at the start and we wanted to get off to a good start because we know Fermanagh were looking to keep it tight and push us in,” said McGeeney.

“So very happy with the first half the work rate was excellent, three goals gave us a big cushion and I know the game petered out a wee bit, but very happy with the result.”

So the thought remains. Last year, Armagh reached the Ulster final and the All-Ireland quarter-final. They were beaten by Derry and Monaghan respectively, on penalties. McGeeney himself says they don’t count the defeats on penalties, but are they in a better place now?

“It’s hard to say, I think Armagh have been in a decent place this last four or five years but unless we win All-Irelands or things…

“We got beat by Derry last year on penalties and everything Derry is doing is f***ing brilliant and everything we’re doing is a load of shite. That’s just the way sport goes.

“Ya know, you can’t get any closer and they are classed as a top team so listen all we can keep doing is plugging away. It’s not that we can’t do better we can we just have to get better at those tight moments.”

Sounds like a side impatient to get to another Ulster final. The next step on the road will be Saturday, 27^th April, when they face Down in Clones.

“For us, it’s just about momentum the whole time, it’s trying to get momentum, play the top teams and come out better in the results part of it. So any time you get a chance to play in those finals or against the top four or five teams you have to take them because it gives you an honest assessment of where you are on that day,” says McGeeney.

And what of Down?

“I’d imagine if you ask Conor (Laverty, Down manager) he thinks they’ll beat us. They topped division three and had been flying. No one has come close to them in terms of their scoring and there is serous pace in their team as well.

“Down Armagh games, typically no one really fears each other they like to get out there and get stuck into each other.”

We will see.