Gaelic Games

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Paddy Burns joked that the Armagh players "owe our fans an apology" after putting them through some torment before snatching a dramatic 0-23 to 0-22 victory over Tyrone in the opening Ulster Football semi-final at Clones.

The All-Ireland champions looked in a degree of control as they led 0-18 to 0-12 after 47 minutes.

However, as has become the norm under the new rules, two-pointers helped Tyrone fight back to lead by two with eight minutes remaining before Armagh hit the final three scores, with Rory Grugan's last-kick free clinching victory.

"We don't like to make it easy and I'd say there were plenty of hearts in mouths," said Burns of the Armagh fans, who again travelled to Clones in huge numbers.

While Armagh methodically worked to secure their match-winning free after the hooter had sounded, the defender in Burns was pleading with his team-mates to "kick the ball dead".

"That's all I was thinking. If it goes to extra-time so be it," said the corner-back, who plays his club football with Down outfit Burren.

But his team-mates had other ideas and after they poached yet another of Niall Morgan's kickouts, a foul on Conor Turbitt secured the 21-metre free which Grugan was never going to miss.

Burns himself was given the onerous task of marking Tyrone's big forward threat Darragh Canavan and performed the job irably by restricting the Errigal Ciaran star to only two points from play.

"With a boy like Darragh, you just have to do your best to get close and sometimes hope for the best. He got a few shots away that he didn't convert too."

While Burns' smile said it all, Tyrone manager Malachy O'Rourke rued his team's inability to close out the game after seemingly timing their run perfectly to move into the lead with less than 10 minutes remaining.

"We got ourselves in a good position and we're just disappointed we didn't see it out," said O'Rourke, who praised his side's "character" in fighting back from six down to lead.

The Tyrone boss lauded the contribution of young substitute Eoin McElholm who kicked two points after his 47th-minute introduction.

"He was a sort of a spark that lit up the forward line to a degree when he came in. He caused Armagh a lot of trouble and got a couple of great scores and just was a threat straightaway."

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Armagh have made four changes from their opening win over Antrim for Saturday's big Ulster SFC contest with Tyrone as Aidan Forker, Paddy Burns, Conor Turbitt and Oisin Conaty return to the starting team.

The quartet's inclusion means that eight of last July's All-Ireland Final starters against Galway are named in the Armagh 15 for the Clones contest (16:45 BST).

Injury concern Darragh Canavan has been named in the Tyrone team with Mattie Donnelly also drafted into the starting line-up as Ruairi Canavan drops to the bench and Cathal McShane is not named in the 26.

Donnelly's inclusion at centre half-forward results in Peter Harte switching to full-forward.

Corner-back Burns, who was a late cry-off from Armagh's Antrim game because of illness, takes over from Gareth Murphy, who made his championship debut at Corrigan Park.

Skipper and 2024 All-Star Forker, who usually plays at left half-back, is selected at right half-forward in place of Darragh McMullen.

The other two changes come in attack as 2024 All-Stars Conor Turbitt and Oisin Conaty take over from Tiernan Kelly and Stephen Campbell.

Murphy, McMullen, Kelly and Campbell are all named in the replacements.

The All-Ireland Final starters named by Kieran McGeeney are Burns, Forker, Turbitt, Conaty, Barry McCambridge, Connaire Macken, Rory Grugan and Andrew Murnin.

Midfielders Ben Crealey and Niall Grimley, who started against Galway last summer, are included in the substitutes after not featuring in the Antrim game.

Oisin O'Neill remains on the bench despite his impressive contribution as a substitute at Corrigan Park but his brother Rian remains an absentee after opting out of the squad prior to the beginning of the Allianz Football League.

Armagh: E Rafferty; P Burns, B McCambridge, T McCormack; R McQuillan, G McCabe, J Og Burns; C O'Neill, Connaire Mackin; A Forker (capt), O Conaty, P McGrane; R Grugan, A Murnin, C Turbitt.

Subs: B Hughes, S Martlan, O O'Neill, J Hall, T Kelly, C McConville, D McMullen, N Grimley, B Crealey, G Murphy, S Campbell.

Tyrone: N Morgan; A Clarke, P Teague, N Devlin; M McKernan, R Brennan, K McGeary; B Kennedy, C Kilpatrick; A Donaghy, M Donnelly, C Daly; D McCurry, P Harte, D Canavan.

Subs: O O'Kane, C Quinn, P Hampsey, F Burns, B McDonnell, S O'Hare, J Oguz, M Bradley, S O'Donnell, R Canavan, E McElholm.

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Former Tyrone defender Conor Gormley says the 2005 All-Ireland semi-final victory over Armagh was the "most intense game" he ever played in.

Peter Canavan converted a last-gasp free to give the Red Hands a dramatic 1-13 to 1-12 win against their great rivals at Croke Park.

Tyrone went on to win the Sam Maguire that year and Gormley believes the semi-final was the most ferocious encounter during the peak years of their rivalry when they met six times in the championship between 2002 and 2005.

"To me, that All-Ireland semi-final in 2005 was the most intense game I ever played in," three-time All-Ireland winner Gormley told the GAA Social podcast.

"It is hard to describe. Nearly every step you took was so important and then when you got the ball, every mattered that day - everything mattered.

"The way the game ended, when Peter got the free, it was such a relief to get that game over and be on the right side of the result."

Gormley, who started all three of Tyrone's All-Ireland final wins under Mickey Harte, says he would love to play in the 2005 game again now, 20 years on.

"It was a crazy game. The crowd was massive, and the rivalry really came to a head that day, it was a mighty game to be involved in."

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Former Tyrone defender Conor Gormley believes his county's chances of beating Armagh in the Ulster Championship semi-final depend on the fitness of forward Darragh Canavan.

Canavan sat out the Red Hands' last-eight win against Cavan with a hamstring issue and faces a race against time to be fit for Saturday's game in Clones.

Three-time All-Ireland winner Gormley is hopeful Canavan can feature given how important he is to Malachy O'Rourke's young side.

"Darragh is going to be massive, if he is fit it's a whole new extra dimension to Tyrone," he told the GAA Social podcast.

"Do Armagh put a man marker on him? It gives them a bit more to think about."

Gormley believes that Tyrone can triumph against the All-Ireland champions if they can replicate how Antrim managed to unsettle the Orchard County in the quarter-final.

"I think they can beat Armagh, but it will take a massive shift," he added.

"After watching what Antrim did to Armagh, if Tyrone pick a bit off that they could cause them serious problems."

The 44-year-old, who also won three All-Stars during his decorated inter-county career believes there is "still more to come" from many players in O'Rourke's side.

"They're taking their time to find their feet, some of these players are finding the transition from under-21 and club football to play at that level," he explained.

"They're doing very well but there is still more in them, the likes of Ruairi Canavan, he has a bit to go yet he can be a serious player once he does that.

"A few players need to get up to the physical size and speed of the game and we'll know more about them after Saturday with Armagh being at that level."

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Ryan McEvoy hailed Daniel Guinness' 63rd-minute two-pointer for sparking the dramatic Down comeback that saw them overturn a seven-point deficit to stun Fermanagh in the Ulster SFC.

Fermanagh looked in complete control when a Declan McCusker score left the home side seven ahead with less than 10 minutes remaining but Guinness' score from outside the 40-metre arc suddenly had Down believing again.

"As soon as he hit the two-pointer, I really knew that the comeback was on, that we could do it," said Kilcoo man McEvoy, who went on to fire Down's ultimately winning goal after Guinness had followed up his two-pointer with a major of his own to increase Fermanagh's jitters.

"It [Guinness' two-pointer] really lifted the whole team and we got the goals to finish it off, to seal the deal."

Despite looking certain to exit the Ulster Championship, McEvoy insisted that Down's belief had never wavered.

"Conor [Laverty] has instilled a real belief in this team. No matter, who we are playing, we can do it, we can win. The togetherness in this squad is unbelievable."

Guinness, himself, itted that Down "didn't show up for the first 25 minutes of the second half".

"But a bit of fighting spirit at the end and we're through," said the Carryduff club-man.

"Over the last few years, we've been on the end of a couple of gutting defeats and at times, you think 'something has to change here'.

"At the end we pulled it out of the bag but [it's] nowhere near good enough."

Guinness added that the new rules do mean that leads hitherto regarded as impregnable can now be reeled in.

"Five, six, seven, eight points down was previously a big margin but now you can claw it back pretty quickly by tagging on a few scores. Being able to press the kickout is huge," he added after Down clinched a victory which sets up a semi-final in eight days' time with the winners of Sunday's concluding quarter-final between Monaghan and holders Donegal.

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Conor Love said it was "hard to put into words" Fermanagh's crushing disappointment after Down snatched a dramatic 2-19 to 0-23 Ulster SFC victory at Brewster Park.

Love's all-action display, which included scoring 0-5 and still earned him the man-of-the-match award, helped Fermanagh lead by seven points with seven minutes remaining only for Daniel Guinness and Ryan McEvoy goals to earn Down an unlikely win.

"Honestly, I can't even think about what happened there in the last 10 minutes," said a clearly devastated Love as Fermanagh remained without an Ulster Championship win since 2018.

"We can play the football. We're as good as any team. Honestly…….but there's no point thinking about it now."

The Enniskillen Gaels club-man itted however that the squad are going to have to study their late collapse, painful viewing as it will undoubtedly be, adding that it was not the first time they have thrown away seemingly a winning lead.

"We're going to have to look at it again. To lose it like that, it's happened too much the last years."

The arrival of the new football rules - and in particular the two-point score - led to a series of comebacks during the Allianz Football League and Love said Fermanagh had inflicting something similar on Sligo when fighting back to draw the Division Three contest at Brewster Park on 1 March.

"That's the thing with the new game. We've been the other way with Sligo in the League when we were seven down.

"It's not like we weren't aware that that could happen. It happened but you're never ready for that."

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Wexford avenged their Leinster Championship defeat by Antrim last year as they beat the Saffrons 2-24 to 0-19 in the provincial series opener at Wexford Park.

Antrim started impressively as they led 0-6 to 0-2 after nine minutes but Lee Chin's nine points helped the home side fight back to lead 0-14 to 0-10 at half-time, despite having Jack O'Connor sent off on 21 minutes.

Chin went on to finish with 0-16 for Wexford although the key goals which effectively ended Antrim's hopes were scored by Kevin Foley and Cian Byrne in the 53rd and 60th minutes.

Antrim's early lead could have been even bigger with Nigel Elliott going close to notching a goal in the opening seconds and Gerard Walsh then firing a penalty over the crossbar for the opening score.

Walsh lined out despite the death of his younger sister Fionnuala last week and he went on to tally 0-4 for the Saffrons.

However after trailing 0-6 to 0-2, Wexford responded with six unanswered scores as Chin hit four straight points before two more Rory O'Connor efforts.

Jack O'Connor's sending off for an apparent strike looked to be a major boost for Davy Fitzgerald's side on his return to Wexford Park after being in charge of the county between 2016 and 2021.

But with Chin continuing to fire over points from frees and play and Conor Hearne also notching two scores, Wexford led 0-14 to 0-10 at the interval.

Two superb James McNaughton scores helped reduce Wexford's lead to 0-15 to 0-13 but the home side regained control with four straight scores, with included two more frees from home skipper Chin.

Keelan Molloy then had a goal chance for the Saffrons but Wexford keeper Mark Fanning made a brilliant save to divert the sliotar over the crossbar for a point.

The Saffrons were still in touch at 0-20 to 0-16 down but Foley's goal after he won the ball from a puckout and ran straight through the middle to fire past Ryan Elliott put Wexford in control.

Any remote hopes of a late Antrim fightback were ended by Cian Byrne's goal which was set up by Cian Molloy seconds after the Saffrons had been reduced to 14 men themselves following Conor Boyd's second yellow card.

After his side had appeared to be the victims of several harsh refereeing calls, Antrim boss Fitzgerald was yellow carded for protests in the closing stages.