National GAA Leagues: Armagh impress with win over Monaghan but beat Cavan, Fermanagh and Antrim

It was an impressive first outing for Kieran McGeeney’s side, with 11 different players scoring as they cruised past Varney’s men by 12 points without getting out of first gear.

Andrew Murnane put the icing on the cake with a quick goal into the top corner of the net into the dying embers, taking his final tally to 1-3.

In fact, the game was over at halftime despite Monaghan’s 3-pointers in the second half, and they were always in second place.

Gabriel Bannigan was without all but one of his Scotstown squad as they reached the All-Ireland club semi-final with Ryan O’Toole starting and watching today the return of the others can’t come soon enough.

It was a rollercoaster of a first half of the opening stanza as both sides managed to take control of the season opener.

Orchard County began to pull away with three unanswered points, two from Connor Torbett and another from Andrew Murnane that opened up a three-point gap.

Monaghan went almost 10 minutes without scoring before Dylan Byrne played a brilliant ball inside to find Carl Gallagher. The former AFL recruit opted to fist-pump over the bar with a chance to score a goal.

It proved to be Monaghan’s final score of the half as Armagh scored six unanswered points to take a 0-15 to 0-4 lead at the break, with nine different scorers.

It could have been worse for Varney’s men going into the break as their opponents also registered seven first-half performances.

Armagh controlled the tempo in the second half, unfazed by two Monaghan throws in the space of minutes from Andrew Woods and Stephen O’Hanlon.

O’Hanlon raised the third orange flag soon after to cut the deficit to eight, but that was the best he had done for the hosts.

Murnin finished off a brilliant, flowing passing move straight into the top corner to add further polish to the win, with Armagh running out comfortable winners.