Armagh pile misery on Kildare with dominant display

Kildare's woeful season plunged to new depths when they were comprehensively dismantled by Armagh in Carlow this afternoon, a result that leaves them without a point after three games and staring at relegation to Division 3.

After losing their opening two rounds, a well drilled and well-organised Armagh were the last kind of side that Kildare needed to face and their deficiencies were ruthlessly exposed.

There was an energetic start to the game by Kildare but their early endevours quickly evaporated as Armagh clicked into gear.

Kieran McGeeney's men had already scored the first two points of the game when Eoin Doyle and Jack Sargent got themselves in tangle when trying to move the ball out of the backline and Conor Turbitt got in for a goal in the seventh minute.

Once Rory Grugan rounded off a flowing pitch-length move with a delightful left footed finish low to the bottom right corner of the net to make it 2-04 to 0-03 after 19 minutes the final whistle could have been blown because the game was good as over.

The excellent Oisin Conaty scored the next two points before the equally excellent Turbitt converted a mark to push Armagh 2-08 to 0-04 clear by half time.

The second half was a tough watch for Kildare supporters with little in the way of a response from their team as an Armagh side happy with the result dominated possession while barely getting out of second gear.

Through that spell, Stefan Campbell was magnificent and kicked three super points with the Kildare players hoping to be put out of their misery by the final whistle.

Before that happened however, there was one last blow when key midfielder Kevin O’Callaghan picked up a straight red card for a high challenge on Joe McElroy.

That most likely will mean a suspension