Squad competition key for Keady says Toal

By Shaun Casey

KEADY started their Intermediate Championship campaign with an eye-catching away day victory over Grange.

They are on the road again in round two as they travel to Whitecross on Saturday afternoon.

Playing championship football away from home is always tricky, but Keady boss John Toal hopes his side are in a good position after blooding in some fresh faces to their squad throughout the Division 2A league campaign.

James O’Hara was the star man for Keady as they left Grange with eight points to spare, but they had seven different scorers contribute to their 0-25 to 1-14 triumph.

They will be without Tomas Galvin for the championship, who made his inter-county debut against Down this season, but he’s side to miss out through injury.

The likes of Jack Loughran, Danny Magee and Sean Woods, members of the Armagh minor team that reached the All-Ireland final in 2024, are now key members of the Keady team.

“It’s strange when you make the top four (of Division 2A), you’d nearly think you get more of an advantage but that’s the way it is” Toal said.

“All the teams are in the same boat, so you just have to deal with it. Whitecross, to go there, another difficult place but we’ll have got momentum from last weekend and we have good competition in the squad to push on. We are where we want to be at the moment.

“We used an awful lot of players, particularly younger players, throughout the league and they all did really well. Darragh McKee came on against Grange last week and he’s got hurt but he was excellent throughout the league.

“Danny Magee’s the same, Tiernan Doyle, those younger boys have blooded in and we know they are more than capable of playing here so the league was very beneficial.”

Keady are one of the favourites to go all the way in the Intermediate Championship and certainly did their credentials no harm in Grange, a notoriously difficult place to go.

Toal is back in the hotseat for the first time in over a decade, but the 2002 All-Ireland winning midfielder is enjoying his stint.

“I have been here a few times before but it’s probably 15 years from the last time I was involved with the senior team,” Toal added.

“I’ve been involved with the underage, but it’s been very good. They are a good bunch of lads and they’re keen to win and push so as long as you have that, my job is pretty easy.”