Armagh vs Roscommon: All-Ireland football quarter-final live

Armagh 1-03 Roscommon 0-04

A fairly low quality half all told. Both sides have had plenty of wides and underhit shots. Perhaps finding stable footing on the wet Croke Park surface is a problem.

Roscommon have been the bigger culprits but Armagh will be frustrated that they haven’t put them away to punish misses. As it stands, Roscommon have lost two players to injury and another, Fallon, to a red card which was contentious at best.

Still, despite the poor football, there are only two points in it at the break!

38 mins: Cox draws in a free beautifully that just about has the legs to get in over the bar. That’s the last kick of the half as the referee blows his whistle.

Half-time: Armagh 1-03 Roscommon 0-04

35 mins: RED CARD! Uh oh. Just as Roscommon got a settling score, Ruaidhrí Fallon is sent off. He puts a shoulder in on Rory Grugan. He’s very close to dislodging the ball but he hits him in his sternum. The referee is right in front of him and makes a big call, giving Fallon a second yellow. They’re down to 14!

Grugan gets off the turf to take the free but he’s put it wide.

34 mins: Armagh backed off and Niall Higgins punishes them. From range, he hits it flat and true over the bar. His first championship score for his county.

Armagh 1-03 Roscommon 0-03

Here’s that McCambridge goal which has done most of the Armagh damage so far.

31 mins: Chance! Turbitt hits the post for Armagh from distance. Conaty is first too it as he sends it across goal. Burns is on his own yards from goal, he probably had time to catch it and pick his spot but he instead tries to slap it home and is blocked on the line.

31 mins: A free brings to an end Roscommon’s run of wides. Conor Cox strokes the dead ball over the bar. That’s their first score in 13 minutes.

Armagh 1-03 Roscommon 0-02

29 mins: McCambridge is loving life roving forward. Smith gifts Armagh possession and a fast break with a loose turnover. Instead of taking a long range point, Armagh stay patient, working space for McCambridge who fists it over the bar from close range.

Armagh 1-03 Roscommon 0-01

26 mins: Rinse and repeat. Conor Cox finds space after some decent movement in the middle of the park. He curls a left-footer towards the Hill put pushes it wide. Four wides now for the Rossies.

23 mins: Roscommon could well have gotten away with one there. Ruaidhrí Fallon clatters into Ben Crearley late, his shoulder making contact with, let’s say the upper chest rather than neck of the Armagh man. It could well have been a black card, but the ref opts for yellow.

25 mins: Roscommon leave another shot short! Murtagh this time makes a decent connection with a firm strike. Hughes in goal has to do well to avoid having it burst through his hands but he keeps it from going over the bar.

20 mins: GOAL ARMAGH! The Ulstermen have raised the green flag. McCambridge turns a give and go with Grugan to beat his marker and, tearing in on goal, he sends it in off the crossbar. Roscommon’s misses are being punished!

Armagh 1-02 Roscommon 0-01

20 mins: Roscommon revert to type to miss a chance after their first point. Cregg finds himself in space within range but he leaves it short.

17 mins: Roscommon are finally on the board! It’s a lovely score. Ball movement and clever running aplenty. The chance looks to be gone after a heavy hit from McGrane but Cox stays composed to regather and strike quickly from a wide angle.

Armagh 0-02 Roscommon 0-01

15 mins: Another injury for Roscommon. Ultan Harney limps off and he does not look good. He tried to continue with some sort of leg issue but he crumples to the floor and has to be taken off. Ciarán Lennon is on for him.

15 minutes in and Roscommon have two injutries and five missed chances.

Meanwhile Niall Grimley points for Armagh down the other end. That channel down the middle of the park opened up far too easily for him.

Armagh 0-02 Roscommon 0-00

13 mins: Neither side wants to score at the moment. Armagh’s Turbitt this time pulls it wide after initially doing well to recover a loose ball on the floor. Three wides for both sides so far.

12 mins: Another wide. It’s Smith again. Five shots for Roscommon so far, three wides, one block and one which dropped short.

11 mins: Block! Armagh’s Conaty blocks Cregg’s attempted point brilliantly. He came from nowhere to get in his face, otherwise it was a sitter of a chance 25 yards out.

10 mins: Both sides can’t find the target. Rian O’Neill pulled his first one wide to the left, this time off a free he over corrects as it sails wide right.

9 mins: Another Roscommon wide and that’s the worst of the lot. Murtagh slips with the ball but does brilliantly to pass the ball over the swarming defence to Smith in space. It’s a tight angle but he should really score. Instead, he fists the ball wide.

7 mins: An early change for Roscommon. David Murray is forced off with some sort of injury. Dylan Ruane is on off the bench in the half-back line. Rian O’Neill restarts play with a 45 but he’s put it wide.

6 mins: More patient build-up play from Roscommon leads to a missed opportunity. They’re keeping the ball in and around the 45 without offering any real threat. Donie Smith eventually wriggles free of a marker to send in a left-footed effort from distance but it’s wide.

CHANCE! Down the other end, Armagh nearly get a goal. Brian Stack just blocks McCambridge as he dove in to try and bat a high ball into the net. Armagh haven’t had anywhere near as much of the ball but they look far more incisive.

3 mins: Murtagh gets the ball in space for Roscommon after plenty of patient build-up play. The conditions work against Roscommon again as he slips just as he drops the ball onto his left boot. He makes poor contact as the ball rolls along the floor and easily into the hands of Blaine Hughes in the Armagh goal.

1 min: We’re underway in Croke Park, Armagh get the ball early as Joe McErloy wins the throw-in. Armagh fly up the field, finding Conor Turbitt in a central position. His marker slips and that’s all the space he needs, curling one over the bar for the first score of the game.

Armagh 0-01 Roscommon 0-00

Both teams are as initially announced, no late changes!

On the face of it, this should be Armagh’s to lose. But Roscommon may confound the conventional wisdom about going into action a week after a big match, such was the bounce they must have taken from beating Tyrone in Omagh.

—  Seán Moran – GAA correspondent

Seán Moran previews all the weekend GAA action here, including this clash. He reckons it’s Armagh’s to lose (shock), but the bounce of beating Tyrone last week has to be a factor somehow.

[ All-Ireland quarter-finals: throw-in times, TV details and team news ]

For anyone wondering about the weather at Jones’ Road…

How did both teams get to this stage?

Ulster runners-up after losing to Donegal in the final, Armagh saw off Westmeath and Derry – famously exposing their roving ‘keeper strategy once again – before a draw with Galway last time out gave them their place in the quarters. It’s also worth remembering that Armagh have lost their last two All-Ireland quarter-finals, both memorably on penalties.

Roscommon, for their part, were knocked out of this year’s Connacht championship at the semi-final stage by Mayo. In the All-Ireland round robin, they were blitzed by Dublin before losing to Mayo again. Victory against Cavan kept their quarter-final hopes alive before a shock victory over Tyrone sent them into this weekend on a high.

They may well need the shot in the arm of some extra confidence. Roscommon haven’t won at Croke Park since 1980, and plenty won’t fancy them to snap that streak today.

Hello all and welcome to live coverage of the first of two All-Ireland football quarter-finals set to take place today.

It’s Armagh, it’s Roscommon, it’s Croke Park. Nathan Johns here to tell you all what’s what from HQ. Throw-in is at 4pm and we’ll be building up to all the action until then.