McGeeney hails maligned defence after dispatching Dubs

Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney paid tribute to his team's oft-criticised defence following their landmark five-point win over Dublin in Saturday's Allianz Football League Division 1 opener in Croke Park.

First half goals from Rian O'Neill and a cheeky lobbed effort from Jason Duffy saw Armagh race into an improbable nine-point lead at half-time, their defence confining their illustrious hosts to a mere 0-05 in the opening 35.

From there, they comfortably kept the home side at bay in the second period, the gap never narrowing below five points - though a messy goal hustled home by substitute Lorcan O'Dell gave the Dubs the faintest glimmer of hope with ten minutes remaining.

Armagh's defence was widely pegged as a glaring weak spot in the team after they shipped 4-17 in last year's Ulster semi-final against Monaghan, conceding all four goals in the first half and eventually losing by two points despite their attack racking up 2-21.

However, McGeeney argues the criticism was over-stated at the time and failed to take account of key absences in their full-back line.

"They (the defence) did well now. Credit to (Ciaran) McKeever for that, he's been working on them," McGeeney told RTÉ Sport after the win.

"We were a wee bit unlucky last year. We lost Paddy Burns and Aidan Forker for that championship game (against Monaghan) and everyone had a pop at us over it. I thought they did very well tonight, just a bit unlucky with the goal.

"I think if people would actually look at the stats, we haven't been doing too bad. We were missing two of our full-back line last year.

'We got the balance right today' - Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney particularly pleased with his team's defence and counter-attacking in their win over Dublin #rtegaa