Holders Cork conceded a comfortable looking lead before needing to fight back themselves, as their Allianz Football League Division One opener with Armagh ended in a draw.
The 14-man Rebels scored 1-7 to the hosts’ 0-10 at the Morgan Athletic Grounds. Nine of the home side’s scores came in the second half, the entirety of which Cork had to play without the red-carded Paul Kerrigan.
Fiachra Lynch opened the scoring for the Rebels after they had already registered three wides, a failure to acquire any consistent accuracy dogging both sides throughout the first half.
That proved so for Armagh debutant Eugene McVerry and his team-mate Colm Watters, while Mark Collins and Kerrigan followed Fintan Goold’s bad example in missing the target for Conor Counihan’s men.
Armagh, depleted due to the absences of their Crossmaglen contingent, were struggling to get past Cork’s half-back line, and a dreadful error from a man in their colours helped the Leesiders go 1-1 to 0-0 clear. After a foul on Graham Canty, Kerrigan’s looped free-kick was deflected into his own net by the Orchard’s John Kingham.
Collins tagged on another Cork point before a free from Paul Carvill proved to be Armagh’s only score of the first half.
Cork, however, would lose a man before half-time when referee Syl Doyke showed forward Kerrigan a straight red card after a silly off-the-ball altercation with Armagh’s Finnian Moriarty.
Tempers threatened to boil over after the dismissal, with arms raised, Brendan Donaghy and Graham Canty also going in the book and Noel O’Leary hitting the floor after a clash with an opponent. Cork, however, regained some composure and led by 1-3 to 0-1 at the break, thanks to a beautiful over-the-shoulder point, kicked from the right by Donncha O’Connor.
Goold got things going after the break as the Rebels went a further point clear, however their one-man disadvantage all of a sudden began to tell as Armagh changed things around and managed to rattle off seven unanswered scores.
Aidan Forker got the first of them before three frees on the trot were converted by the earlier misfiring McVerry. While all this was going on Cork’s half back line, earlier sound as a pound, was losing all its discipline as Armagh’s Malachy Mackin started to cause them all sorts of problems.
Forker dragged his side to within one after Michael Shields was penalised for overcarrying, with a mistake from Cork sub Sean Kiely then allowing Mackin to steam in and drive a fine score between Ken O’Halloran’s high posts for the leveller.
That score, after 52 minutes, was Armagh’s first from play. However, McFerry quickly added their second to put Armagh in front for the first time. Kiely, from the corner forward position at the other end, replied with a fine score to make up for his earlier sloppiness and tie things up once more.
Forker put the hosts in front again before his goalkeeper, Niall Geoghan, denied Collins a goal. The ball came back to the Castlehaven man, however, and he wisely laid off to O’Connor to fist over and make it 1-6 to 0-9.
Time remained for Collins to put Cork back in front, but Donaghy’s block from O’Connor’s goalbound effort kept Armagh in it and they saved a league point when sub Brian Mallon scored at the far end.
The final whistle brought jeers for the referee from the two dozen or so Corkonians who had ventured north, as their side’s bid for three-in-a-row in Division One began with a share of the spoils.