All-Ireland champions Armagh crush Tyrone in dominant home win

Ross McQuillan scored of Armagh's two-pointers in a one-sided win over Tyrone

Armagh marked their first game back on home soil since winning the 2024 All-Ireland SFC title with a dominant 1-23 to 0-19 win over arch-rivals Tyrone.

After losing a Division One Allianz League opener in Galway last weekend, Armagh were a transformed team in front of 14,336 jubilant fans at the Athletic Grounds.

Playing with a strong wind in their favour in the opening half, they romped to a 1-14 to 0-3 lead against a shell-shocked Tyrone side.

The Red Hands were comfortable winners over league champions Derry in their first game, but were easily outplayed by a rampant Armagh side, who attacked relentlessly, doing most of the damage early on.

Two-pointers galore for Orchard County in dominant first half

Reinstated goalkeeper Ethan Rafferty managed 0-4 of Armagh's first half total with his two-pointers

The late inclusion of Ethan Rafferty, a goalkeeper who looks 'oven ready' for the new rule enhancements, was notable for Armagh and with that strong wind in the first half, their intent to go for two-pointers at every opportunity was obvious.

Rafferty scored 0-4 of Armagh's first-half total from two long-range scores.

With Aidan Forker and Ross McQuillan also scoring from outside the arc, Armagh managed a whopping 0-8 from four two-pointers before the break.

It would have been 0-10, only goalkeeper Niall Morgan got a hand to an effort from Andrew Murnin as the ball sailed over his head, which automatically reduced the score back to one point.

Tyrone were well off the pace in a first half dominated by the All-Ireland champions, back on home soil for the first time since lifting Sam Maguire last summer.

The fans expected, and Kieran McGeeney's side delivered with a performance brimming with confidence, cohesion and a new-found understanding of the new rules which seemed to be lacking in Salthill last weekend.

Murnin's goal came after 20 minutes. Oisin Conaty threaded a pass through to Rory Grugan, who squared the ball across to Murnin flying in at the back post, and he palmed it beyond Morgan.

Tyrone fight back in improved second half

Armagh led 1-5 to 0-1 at that point, with Tyrone taking a full 16 minutes to register their opening point through wing-back Shea O'Hare.

Tyrone had plenty of possession but were reluctant to shoot into the wind and looked fairly dejected as they sloped off at half-time trailing 1-14 to a paltry 0-3.

They were going to have to shoot the lights out to have any hope of making the second half competitive, but Armagh quickly showed they were in no mood to allow them back into it.

Within nine second-half minutes, they had scored a further four points – more than Tyrone had managed in the entire first half.

Darren McCurry at least got the scoreboard ticking with two two-point frees to get Tyrone into double figures, with Liam Gray, substitute Eoin McElholm and a two-pointer from play from Michael McKernan reducing the deficit to a more respectable eight points, with just under 10 minutes to play.

They cut the deficit to a respectable seven points by the end, but Armagh managed the game out and were always in control, putting on a real display on their jubilant return to the Athletic Grounds as All-Ireland champions.