'We showed fight and pride' says Armagh's Rory Grugan after draw with Cork

Armagh fought back from a four-point deficit late on to rescue a draw away to Cork on Saturday night, preserving their unbeaten league run in the process.

“The easiest thing would have been to roll over because we’re already promoted and it’s not the end of the world if we lose but we thought we showed good fight, and we had good impact off the bench,” said Rory Grugan post-match.

“Jarly Og [Burns] kicked a point, [Aidan] Nugent scored and we won a big kick out, so it was good to see that bit of fight and we showed a bit of pride in the fact that we wanted to stay unbeaten and tried to get the win, but I suppose it was probably a fair enough result in the end.”

It was Grugan himself who hit the all-important goal on 68 minutes, which cut the gap from four points to one, before the excellent Oisin Conaty equalised deep into stoppage time.

With little at stake for either side, both teams played with freedom and it was a high scoring affair.

Armagh were in the ascendancy at the break, following Peter McGrane’s second goal in as many games, but following goals from Chris Óg Jones and Luke Fahy, Cork appeared to be on their way to victory.

However, the Orchard County will head into next week’s Division Two final still unbeaten after their comeback – finishing with five wins and two draws.

“It’s a funny one because there are positives to take from it and frustrations as well,” reflected Grugan on the campaign to date.

“If you’d been given at the start of the year to go unbeaten and be going to a league final in Croke Park, you’re probably happy.

“But it’s just a good sign that’s there’s frustrations there too that we didn’t come away with a win and aspects of our performance that we just wouldn’t be as happy with.”

For full match report and more reaction see this week’s Newry Reporter – in shops Wednesday March 27!