Dublin's air of invincibility appears well and truly gone after this comprehensive opening round Allianz League defeat at Croke Park this evening.
It’s the second consecutive game the Dubs have lost at GAA HQ, off the back of last year’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat at the hands of Mayo.
Dessie Farrell will have left Croke Park with plenty to think about following this five point defeat.
Dublin were left firing in high balls from five minutes out, after Lorcan O’Dell’s goal on the hour mark gave them a glimmer of hope, but Armagh saw it out comfortably enough.
The sky blues have generally mustered sterling fightbacks in league games at Croke Park where they’ve trailed in recent years, but it wasn’t there this time round and this will have their fans worried.
The only frontliners missing who started the Mayo defeat were Con O’Callaghan, James McCarthy, Jonny Cooper and Paddy Small.
It was going wrong for Dublin from early on.
They saw two of their starting attack limp out injured in the first half - Aaron Byrne (16 minutes) and Cormac Costello (30 minutes).
Costello was Dublin’s main threat having cut into the Armagh defence for two points from play.
Dean Rock replaced him, but dropped two efforts short from the 45 metre line in the lead-up to half time, one from his hands and the other off the deck.
Ciaran Kilkenny had dropped a free short earlier on, while Brian Fenton also dropped a couple short and had a wide from a chance that he’d usually convert.
There was a general sloppiness about Dublin’s decision making and in their play at times.
Armagh’s first goal for example came when Brian Howard fisted straight to Rory Grugan on 23 minutes.
Grugan fed Aidan Nugent who launched a crossfield ball.
David Byrne missed his attempted interception and Rian O’Neill slotted to the net with supreme poise.
O’Neill also launched over three points from play in a 1-3 first half haul.
Armagh’s second goal came when Tiernan Kelly and O’Neill fed Jason Duffy, who lobbed Evan Comerford for a 2-5 to 0-5 lead on 28 minutes.
Armagh didn’t sit back though and tagged on three more points before half time with Grugan the conductor in chief.
They also saw two shots at goal superbly blocked down, although Dublin’s defending was surprisingly suspect for much of the half.
Armagh had some other big wins with two huge ‘choke tackle’ type turnovers on Ryan Basquel and John Small, while O’Neill thumped Small with a high tackle early on that should have been a yellow card.
Kieran McGeeney’s side lost midfielder Ben Crealy on the stroke of half-time. Crealy had just fouled Brian Fenton for the second time in a matter of minutes.
Armagh managed the game well in the second half and the closest Dublin got to them was five points.
But with Grugan dictating affairs and Connaire and Ciaran Mackin really driving it on, they got three points from their bench to help keep Dublin at bay.
Last season was Armagh’s first year back in Division 1 since 2012, but that campaign consisted of a mini-Ulster Championship, as McGeeney’s men played in the Northern section of a condensed league.
This was more like the big time and some badly needed exposure at Croke Park against big guns outside the North.
Dublin, who shared the League title with Kerry last year, now travel to the Kingdom next Saturday night for an affair that suddenly takes on a lot more significance.
They’ll want to improve on their shot selection after amassing 13 wides and dropping five efforts short here.
Armagh, meanwhile, are at home to Tyrone, a game they’ll really relish.
DUBLIN: E Comerford, L Gannon, D Byrne, E Murchan, T Lahiff, B Howard (0-1), J Small, B Fenton, E O Conghaile, S Bugler (0-2), C Kilkenny (0-1), N Scully (0-1), A Byrne, C Costello (0-3, 1f), R Basquel.
SUBS: R McGarry for Byrne (inj) 16mins, D Rock (0-3, 3fs) for Costello (inj) 30 mins, C McCormack (0-1) for Ó Conghaile ht, L O’Dell (1-1) for Basquel, S McMahon for Murchan 68mins.
ARMAGH : B Hughes, P Burns, A Forker, M Shields, Conor Mackin (0-1), N Rowland, J Og Burns, Ciaran Mackin, B Crealy, J Hall, R Grugan (0-4, 3fs), T Kelly (0-1), J Duffy (1-1), R O’Neill (1-4, 0-1f), A Nugent (0-1).
SUBS : N Grimley (0-1) for Crealy (inj) 35+3mins, S Campbell (0-1) for Hall (inj) ht, G McCabe (0-1) for Rowland 52mins, R McQuillan for Duffy 59mins, M Shields for McQuillan (inj) 62mins.
REFEREE: F Kelly (Longford)
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