Champions Armagh picked up their second win in three Division 1B outings as they came from behind to win by 2-09 to 1-11 at Newry.
The Orchard men were forced to scrap for the spoils in front of an attendance of 12,000, and they showed their tenacity to come back with Malachy Mackin fisting home a crucial goal just short of the hour mark.
Down got off to a lightning start when Eoin McCartan and Ambrose Rogers combined to set up talismanic captain Benny Coulter for a well-worked goal after only 16 seconds of play.
Armagh should have hit right back but they remained pointless for the opening 16 minutes. Paddy O’Rourke’s Mourne men added points through Dan Hughes, Liam Doyle and McCartan to push 1-03 to no score clear.
Oisin McConville finally got Armagh off the mark with a well-taken point and on 27 minutes, the travelling support toasted a goal when Brian Mallon bulged the Down net. Mallon’s score reduced the gap to two for Armagh and that was the way it stayed until half time as the sides landed a further two points apiece – Hughes (0-02) and McConville and Ronan Clarke swapped points late in the first half.
1-05 to 1-03 in front, Down used the early part of the second half to move five points clear with substitute Ronan Murtagh landed a hat trick.
The seesaw nature of the game continued when Armagh scored 1-04 between the 58th and 62nd minutes. The fit-again Clarke laid the platform for Mackin’s goal.
Two points to the good, Armagh looked like holding on, but they were given a scare in a climatic final few minutes. Hughes broke free and was hauled down in the square, earning his side a 68th-minute penalty. Newry Shamrocks clubman Damien Rafferty stepped up to take the spot kick but he blazed his effort just over the Armagh bar.
