Armagh lost a man in the 43rd minute when Ronan Skelton was sent off for a heavy challenge on Ronan Coffey, but produced a stirring finish to collect two points at Crossmaglen yesterday.

In a young Armagh team only Stephen McDonnell and Andrew McCann had been on the side that won the Ulster title. Indeed the visitors looked the much more potent force in the first half and deservedly led by 0-7 to 0-5 at half-time.

But Wicklow, despite the superb efforts of Shane O'Neill at midfield, and Tommy Gill (who scored five points) in attack, found it difficult to make any real headway in the second half. Armagh's Gerry O'Reilly and Alan O'Neill began to exert their authority at midfield and Barry Duffy became the ideal target man up front.

Duffy provided the impetus for Armagh's victory surge when he flicked a McDonnell free to the Wicklow net in the 48th minute. A Keith Byrne point brought Wicklow level shortly afterwards, but McDonnell and newcomer Kieran Hatzer then shared a four-point scoring blitz that sealed the issue.

ARMAGH: P Hearty; J Toal, A O'Rourke, S O'Hare; J Byrne, A McCann, P McCormack; A O'Neill (0-1), G O'Reilly; M O'Rourke (0-1), K Hatzer (0-2), D Edwards (0-1); R Skelton, B Duffy (1-1), S McDonnell (0-4). Sub: P Dynes for D Edwards (59 mins).

WICKLOW: R Hollingsworth; S Cush, B Hanna, T Burke; B O'Donovan, M Coffey, C Toomey; D Coffey, S O'Neill (0- 2); K Byrne (0-1), T Harney (0-1), D Jackman (0-1); T Gill (0- 5), R Coffey, J Behan (0-1). Subs: G Doran for Jackman (51 mins); P Callaghan for Harney (56 mins); K Foley for O'Donovan (65 mins)

Referee: M Gibbons (Galway).