Armagh captain Aidan Forker insisted afterwards that the All-Ireland champions had expected to find themselves "in a fight" in west Belfast.
That made a certain degree of sense. If the Saffrons' players weren't going to be fired up on this day of all days after fighting the 'Corrigan or nowhere' campaign, all during a period when they suffered relegation back to Division Four, then there was going to be something seriously amiss with them.
But for seasoned Saffrons watchers, the sight of them getting in the faces of Kieran McGeeney's players and indulging in some dark arts off-the-ball stuff, did induce an occasional elevation of the eyebrows.
Some of the Armagh fans below me vocalised their displeasure at Antrim's first-half tactics, with Antrim manager Andy McEntee's Meath background being referred to on a number of occasion by one gentleman.
It all made for an entertaining spectacle out on the pitch and in the stand.
Antrim's skipper Patrick McBride's shoot-on-sight policy from outside the 40-metre arc was the main feature of the first half as the Saffrons led 0-14 to 0-13 at the interval.
The St John's man kicked three stunning two-pointers from play on his home club's pitch and also notched another from a free for good measure as he deservedly went on to pick up the man-of-the-match award despite being on the losing side.
"I'm glad that rule came in. It's something I was looking forward when I knew it was coming in because I know I can kick them," McBride told BBC Sport NI afterwards.
"It gives you a chance especially against a team like Armagh, the All-Ireland champions, if one kick is worth two points, you may as well go for it. If it goes over, it's a big reward."
Forker, who came on as a blood sub for half-time substitute Oisin O'Neill shortly after the restart before being introduced for Andrew Murnin 15 minutes from time, admitted the All-Ireland champions "had got it very tight in the first half".
And it could have been even worse for the Orchard men at the break with replacement keeper Blaine Hughes saving Kavan Keenan's 20th-minute penalty in his first act of the match after Ethan Rafferty had been black carded for fouling Ruairi McCann in the small square.
"They took some exceptional scores, Paddy [McBride] and a few other boys," said the Orchard County skipper.
"We had four or five goal chances in the first half [that we didn't take] and they went up and hurt us. That's the game now. If you don't at least put the ball dead, you are going to be hurt the other end."
But the arrival of Armagh's replacement cavalry in the second half saw the Orchard men take control after the resumption as a 0-16 to 0-16 score-line became 0-16 to 1-22 within an eight-minute period as debutant Tomas McCormack's superb finish to the roof of the net and Oisin O'Neill's two-pointers put daylight between the teams.
"There was probably a good spread of scores and a lot of boys came in and made a decent impact," added the Armagh captain.
Amid a plethora of blood subs, subs, and black cards, one could have been forgiven for briefly thinking Rian O'Neill's much-discussed Armagh sabbatical had ended but instead it was elder brother ...
