Ulster SFC Preliminary Round; Armagh v Antrim
(Athletic Grounds, Saturday, 5pm, Live on BBC2)
AN Ulster Senior Football Championship opener on Easter Saturday is going to take a bit of getting used to, but regardless of the date, the objective remains the same as Antrim make the trip to the Athletic Grounds to face Armagh.
Cavan lie in wait for the victors in the Cathedral City and there won’t be too many predicting that will be Armagh despite their relegation from Division One this term.
The League clearly didn’t go to plan for Kieran McGeeney’s charges, but they remain a team that has ambitions of silverware this term and even without their talisman, Rian O’Neill, they have quality right throughout the team and indeed, only exited the All-Ireland series last year on a penalty shootout to eventual finalists, Galway.
That gives an indication of where they are in the grander scheme of things and they will start as the hottest of favourites on Saturday.
While Antrim have a serious task on their hands, that doesn’t mean they will lack confidence or ambition when they hit the road as despite finishing in the bottom half of Division Three, there were still some positives to take.
The manner of the defeats to Down and Fermanagh were gut-wrenching in the extreme, with the Saffrons looking home and hosed late on in both only to be stung at the death, but they managed to avoid an identical fate against eventual winners, Cavan, to maintain their status and there are signs that injuries may be clearing up at the right time for Andy McEntee whose squad was decimated over the past couple of months.
Adam Loughran, Kevin Small and Ryan Murray are all likely to be available and Antrim will need all hands on deck if they are to open the Championship with a shock victory.
The #Ulster2023 Senior Championship gets underway this Saturday! @Armagh_GAA 🟧⬜️ v @AontroimGAA🟨⬜️
— Ulster GAA (@UlsterGAA) April 4, 2023
5pm, Box-It Athletic Grounds
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“We are the first (Championship) game in Ireland - there are a few on Sunday - so there’s no respite as you’re straight into the Championship,” said Murray who picked up an injury in the win over Tipperary and returned during last week’s ‘dead rubber’ defeat in Longford.
“There maybe should be a wee bit of a bigger gap, but then as a player, you want to be playing matches. It’s crazy how quickly it’s come around, but you don’t have time to think about it.
“There’s a lot of chat about Armagh after the Tyrone game, but they’ve been playing at a level we aspire to.
“They’ve been in Division One, beat Dublin at Croke Park and then against Galway in the All-Ireland (quarter-final) was one of the best matches I can remember watching in recent years.
“Armagh are at the top level and open to more chat and debate from others, it’s not up to us to worry about that. We just need to get our heads right for the Athletic Grounds.”
The Lámh Dhearg clubman admits he isn’t the best spectator, so sitting in the stands for the majority of the League was especially difficult.
He is now one of the team’s more experienced heads and with such a turnover of players in recent season’s, there was always going to be a big task for McEntee to blood new players who are getting their first taste of inter-county football this season.
It was only natural that inexperienced players would have to learn the hard way, but there were some flashes of quality in the League as although they surrendered match-winning positions at times, they also managed to get themselves into that position to begin with.
“I’ve been with Antrim for 10 or 11 years and picked up a few niggly injuries but sitting in the stands watching this hasn’t been great, especially in the manner of how some of them finished,” Murray reflected.
“At the same time, it’s been good to see some of the things we’ve been working on come to the fore and have put in some good performances despite not closing some games out well.
“This is Andy’s first year in and it wouldn’t have been much to have been the other end of the table, but we found ourselves at the bottom.
“The lads put in a massive performance against Cavan and hopefully can build from that throughout the summer into next year.
Armagh made light work of Antrim in January's Dr McKenna Cup
“It was difficult losing matches in the manner we did, but then our fitness got us into those (winning) positions so you have to look at it from both sides.
“Against Cavan, they got a goal and came at us hard, but we managed to see it out.
“You need these things to happen to learn, so while disappointed we didn’t get promoted, in hindsight with the number of injuries and a new manager and squad, it was good from that regard.”
McEntee’s first game in charge was against Armagh in the Dr McKenna Cup and it proved to be a baptism of fire with the hosts romping to a 2-20 to 2-8 win.
The counties met in the Championship a couple of years back with Armagh again securing a handsome win, so the recent form points only one way this Saturday.
Still, shocks do happen in sport so turning up in Armagh with belief they can get on the front foot and tidy things up a little in defence is a must as Armagh have a number of players who can punish.
“We can go and have a crack at it,” Murray insists.
“The McKenna Cup game was the first time Andy got to see a lot of the lads, whereas Armagh had the panel available from the last few years so they knew what they were working with.
“Armagh is a great side and contenders for Ulster and the All-Ireland in many people’s books, but we will just have a go and see where that takes us on Saturday.”
ARMAGH: Ethan Rafferty; James Morgan, Aaron McKay, Aidan Forker; Ciaran Mackin, Greg McCabe, Barry McCambridge; Ben Crealey, Shane McPartlan; Stefan Campbell, Rory Grugan, Jason Duffy; Jemar Hall, Conor Turbitt, Tiernan Kelly.
ANTRIM: Michael Byrne; Eoghan McCabe, Peter Healy, James McAuley; Patrick McCormick, Joseph Finnegan, Marc Jordan; Conor Stewart, Kevin Small; Colm McLarnon, Ruairi McCann (Creggan), Patrick Finnegan; Dominic McEnhill, Ruairi McCann (Aghagallon), Odhran Eastwood.