After extra-time, and perhaps with the fear of another penalty shoot-out for a team that has lost four of them, Armagh held off Kerry for a two-point win that sends them to their first All-Ireland final since 2003.
They will play either Galway or Donegal in a fortnight and whatever happens in that second semi-final, Kieran McGeeney will do well to dampen down expectations of a second All-Ireland title 22 years after he lifted Sam Maguire for their first in 2002.
Armagh teams of late, all managed by Geezer, have often been accused – and with some justification – of choking on the pressure days, but as they eyeballed Kerry down the stretch in regulation time, and again in extra-time, the men in black were not for backing down this time.
It was Kerry who had to mine a late equaliser in the 71st minute to send the game to extra-time, but once Jarly Óg Burns kicked his team back into the lead three minutes into extra-time, Armagh would not be denied.
In the maelstrom of those extra 20 minutes Armagh outscored Kerry by four points to two, with Conor Turbitt rejoining the game to ice the win with a late fisted score a rapturous Hill after Kerry were turned over by a team full of self-belief.
Kerry, of course, will rue several areas where this one got away, but perhaps the statistic that will gnaw most at Jack O’Connor and his players over the winter will be the two scores from 11 chances they converted in extra-time.
That wasn’t good enough from David Clifford, Sean O’Shea et al but that wasn’t Armagh’s problem. Their concern was to get it over the line, which they did for their first Championship win over Kerry since the 2022 All-Ireland final.
The terms of engagement were set down fairly quickly with a point apiece scores inside the opening 45 seconds, Seán O’Shea pointing for Kerry inside 10 seconds and Armagh getting on with their business in quick response through corner back Peter McGrane who converted into an orange Hill.
Thereafter the game did settle into a more familiar shape and routine, with Armagh setting up with a very structured defence, in which Barry McCambridge took up detail on David Clifford.
With the end coming in over the Hill at their backs, Kerry were able to shoot from distance into the Davin End goal, with Paudie Clifford clipping a point in the sixth minute for the Kingdom.
Referee David Gough spotted a foul on an Armagh forward off the ball, awarding a 14-metre free that Conor Turbitt converted, and less than a minute later Tony Brosnan tried his luck at the other end from 45 metres out and raised a flag to make it 0-3 to 0-2 for Kerry.
Inside 10 minutes the entire Kerry half forward line had scored from play when Dara Moynihan franked some patient Kerry passing with a score.
Three minutes later David Clifford iced a free kick on the angle of the 13-metre line and sideline, and when Clifford assisted O’Shea for Kerry’s sixth point, the Munster champions led 0-6 to 0-2, a not insignificant margin even with just 13 minutes gone.
If Armagh played that opening quarter as tight as a bodhrán skin, they significantly loosened up in the second quarter, engaging Kerry much more aggressively in the tackle, counter-attacking at speed and taking the game to the Kingdom with better urgency higher.
Two points from Niall Grimley, and a third from Rian O’Neill had Armagh back to within one, before David Clifford knocked over two frees – the second needing Hawkeye’s confirmation, though the Footballer of the Year was telling David Gough to “write it down” even while the trigonometry was being calculated.
Turbitt converted another free awarded for some off the ball mishandling, while Diarmuid O’Connor sent over a boomer at the other end and Sean O’Shea converted a free to leave Kerry 0-10 to 0-6 ahead at half time.
In the 46th minute Paul Murphy bundled in a Kerry goal to make it 1-11 to 0-9 but nine minutes later McCambridge swiped at the loose ball after Shane Ryan had dropped it and the ball reached the far corner of the goal to make it 1-12 to 1-11 to Kerry.
Rian O’Neill raked over a 50-metre point to give Armagh the lead for the first time, 1-14 to 1-13, in the 66th minute and it took Dylan Geaney’s 71st minute score to send it to extra-time.
It was the Ulstermen who came out stronger, fashioning a three-point lead before Kerry reduced that deficit to one point.
Turbitt, however, made sure of Armagh’s victory at the end when he raced through and fisted the ball over the bar to scenes of delirium among the Orchard fans at Croke Park.
There, the Orchard county saw it to the end, the sweetest for them, and a most bitter end for Kerry.
Scorers – Armagh: C Turbitt 0-5 (3f), R O’Neill 0-3, B McCambridge 1-0, A Forker 0-2, N Grimley 0-2, S Campbell 0-2, P McGrane 0-1, R Grugan 0-1 (f), Ross McQuillan 0-1, Jarly Óg Burns 0-1. Kerry: D Clifford 0-4 (3f), S O’Shea 0-4 (1f, 1 ’45’), P Murphy 1-0, P Clifford 0-3, D O’Connor 0-1, T Brosnan 0-1, D Moynihan 0-1, D Geaney 0-1, C Burke 0-1.
Armagh: B Hughes; P Burns, A McKay, P McGrane; B McCambridge, T Kelly, A Forker; N Grimley, B Crealey; O Conaty, R O’Neill, J McElroy; R Grugan, A Murnin, C Turbitt. Subs: Stefan Campbell for P McGrane (ht), Jason Duffy for O Conaty (49), Aidan Nugent for B Crealey (57), Ross McQuillan for A Forker (60), Oisin O’Neill for A Murnin (62), Jarly Óg Burns, C Turbitt for A Nugent (et, 80), Oisin Conaty for R Grugan (84), J Óg Burns for C Turbitt (et).
Kerry: S Ryan; P Murphy, J Foley, T O’Sullivan; B O Beaglaoich, T Morley, G White; D O’Connor, J O’Connor; T Brosnan, P Clifford, D Moynihan; D Clifford, S O’Shea, P Geaney. Subs: Cillian Burke for D Moynihan (48), Killian Spillane for P Geaney (48), Dylan Geaney for T Brosnan (59), Graham O’Sullivan for B Ó Beaglaoich (64), Barry Dan O’Sullivan for J O’Connor (70), Dylan Casey for T O’Sullivan (temp, et, 74-78), Tom O’Sullivan for J Foley (78), Stephen O’Brien for D O’Connor (et, ht), Sean O’Brien for P Murphy (84), M Breen for G White (et).
Referee: David Gough (Meath).
Today’s News in 90 seconds – Saturday, July 13